Create or Open a Project Folder

When you want to start working in Forge, you will first need to create or open a project folder (i.e. the working directory containing your profiles).

Note

When you select an item from your recent files, Forge will automatically open its associated project folder.

Attention

When you already have a project on Simplifier.net or you want to start using Simplifier for your FHIR projects then read the chapter Integration with Simplifier first.

Create a new Project Folder

Click Create FHIR Project Folder....

Create a folder in Forge

The Create FHIR Project Folder dialog is opened.

Create FHIR Project Folder dialog

Enter a name for your new FHIR project folder here. You can change the default parent folder for your FHIR project. The core package will be be added as a dependency to your project automatically.

The following project settings are available:

  • Resolve resources from subfolders

  • Preferred file format (XML or JSON)

Click OK to create your FHIR project.

Open an existing Project Folder

Click Open FHIR Project Folder... and select your working directory.

Open a folder in Forge

Note that although Forge allows you to select any folder, it is not advisable to select a general folder like This PC > Documents as your project folder. If you are managing multiple projects it is good practice to organize all of your projects under the same parent folder: for example FHIR.

If you don’t have a specific folder for your project yet, please create one first. Let’s open the project folder called MyForgeProject.

Select a folder in Forge

Click Select Folder to open your folder. Now Forge will show you all files contained in your folder.

Project Settings

A dialog with settings for your project folder can be opened from the Project menu.

Project SettingsS

Deselect the Resolve resources from subfolders option if you want to exclude all subdirectories of the selected folder. This may be convenient if you have a subdirectory containing old versions of your profiles. In that case it would be better to ignore the subdirectory.

Project View

The session explorer in Forge

When there’s a lot of content in your folder, you may want to use one of the available filters:

  • Resource type (e.g. StructureDefinition)

  • Structure category (e.g. profile or extension)

  • Structure type (e.g. Patient).

The project filter in Forge

You can also switch views. By default the List view is shown, showing all content in the folder and all its subdirectories (when these are included). The Folders view allows you to browse the subdirectories one by one as if you’re using your file explorer.

The project view in Forge

Select one of the structure definitions from the content list and choose Open to open it in Forge. Choose New... to add new structure definitions to your project. Note that they will not be saved automatically. To add a newly created structure definition to your project, select Save and save it to your project folder. The new file is autmatically added to the content list.

In the Session Explorer, you can choose Open... to open another project folder. Note that this will not automatically close your current project folder. To close a project folder, select the folder in the Session Explorer and select Close. Or select a single item in your project to close.