How do attachments work?

You can enhance an artifact instance by including relevant documentation, screen shots, email threads, code, or any other supporting file.

You can view attachments associated with artifacts in a web browser. How an attachment is rendered in the web browser is dependent upon the attachment type selected during the attachment creation process. You can select any of the attachment types found in the type list or you can have the application automatically detect the attachment type. Since the attachment is rendered based on the attachment type selected you must use a compatible attachment type. Using an incompatible attachment type may result in failure to view the attachment in a web browser. For example, if you save a .doc file as a .bmp type and then try to view the attachment a blank page will appear. Files with size equal to 0 are not compatible with Project Tracker. Attempting to attach an empty file will result in an error message.

Opening an attachment file

When you open file attachments with extensions like DOC, XLS, PPT, and PPS, the files open differently in various browsers. When using Internet Exlporer, they open in the same window. But when using Mozilla and Netscape, the attachment file either opens in a new window or opens a dialog box requesting the user to click the radio button titled Open With and Save to Disk option. The Open With option is further categorized into "Open with default application" and "Open with the application we specify." On doing any of the above, two windows open up which display:

File attachment in a New Window appearing as a Local file.
The current window remains open with the same content.

Note: However, a new window remains open but blank (this however depends if you open the attachment in a new tab or window).

The behavior is different in various browsers. However the same works consistently for attachments with extensions like TXT, JPG and GIF. This is caused by the individual browser settings.