Understanding the Differences Between Models, Projects and Workspaces

It is really important to understand the differences between Models, Projects, Workspaces, and Perspectives. See the Eclipse and Workspace management section with

Official definitions of Eclipse basic concepts.
Tips and tricks about common graphical manipulations such as closing, restoring, minimizing views or rearranging the perspective.

Capella Model

When not fragmented, a Capella model consists in two files: one for the model itself and another one for the representations (diagrams and matrices).

<model name>.capella (semantic model)
<model name>.aird (representations)

Capella Project

All Eclipse resources are managed in Projects. Projects map to directories on the file system.

Most of the time in Capella, a Project contains only one Model. A Capella Project thus contains all the resources for a given project (for example fragments when the model is fragmented, images, etc.).

Using the contextual menu on the Project element, one can display the properties of the Project, including its physical location on the file system.

Project directory on the file system:

Eclipse Workspace

The workspace is the central hub for the user’s file. The workspace allows storing global settings and preferences (in an hidden file called .metadata).

Projects can be physically located in a Workspace or be referenced through a Workspace. The following scheme illustrates a typical organisation where several users access one Capella Project through different Workspaces.

Many alternatives are possible:

A given user could access the same Project through two different Workspaces, each one having a specific set of settings and preferences.
A user could mix in his Workspace referenced Projects and locally stored ones.
Etc.