The Features Management function allows Bentley to deliver application features on a more frequent and selective basis. That is, “preview” features allow you to explore upcoming product enhancements in a Test environment. Features that are “generally available” can be turned on and off as needed.
Enabled and Disabled States
By default, new features are disabled when they are delivered in a product release. A feature must be manually enabled at the enterprise level before you can use it in APM. Features Management performs the following functions:
- Hides the UI and disables the functionality for features that are disabled
- Shows the UI and enables functionality for features that are enabled
- Hides the UI and disables existing functions that are supplanted by newly enabled features
Availability Statuses
A feature’s availability status indicates how you should use it:
- Available – Generally available features are functionally complete and have been fully tested. You might wish to enable a feature that promises useful functionality and pass on features that are not suitable to your APM implementation
- Available for preview – Technology preview features provide early access to upcoming product innovations, allowing you to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process. Technology preview features are not fully tested and might not be functionally complete. As such, they are not suitable for deployment in production. However, you might find them useful in a non-production environment. We welcome your feedback and suggestions for improvement as it is our goal to fully support them in the future
NOTE: We recommend using APM security to ensure that only appropriate users have access to the features management function.
To view available features from the Site window, click the Administration or Help menu and then APM Features. The Available APM Features dialog displays all features with the availability status "Available" and "Available for preview".
To enable and disable features, open the Enterprise window, select the Features view and the Enabled Features tab.
NOTE: When APM is running as a smart or remote client, you must click Refresh Enabled Features, on the Features View/Enabled Features tab in Enterprise. Then restart the client to use the functionality in the product.