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# External File Restrictions

## What are External Files?

An unmanaged, external file is a file resident on disk outside of the current StreamBase Studio workspace, and opened by Studio with File → Open File.

In all cases, if your goal is to add an existing external file to the current StreamBase or LiveView project, use File → Import. You can also drag a file from a Windows Explorer or macOS Finder window to the appropriate folder in the current project.

You might also be attempting to add Java function, operator, or adapter code already resident in another Studio project to the current StreamBase or LiveView project. To do this, configure your incoming Java project as a Maven project in Studio. Then set up a Maven dependency from the StreamBase or LiveView project to the Java project.

If you use File → Open File to open a file in another project in the current workspace, that file is not flagged as an external file. However, such a file does not become part of the current project until you File → Import the file, or make the other incoming project a dependency of the current project.

## Limitations

External files can be viewed and edited in Studio, but they are not members of any project in the current workspace, and therefore cannot become working participants of an EventFlow or LiveView fragment project.

What you CAN do with external files

  - You can make basic edits with the EventFlow Editor on an EventFlow module file with `.sbapp` extension.

  - Similarly, EventFlow interface files with `.sbint` extension open in the Interface Editor for basic changes.

  - HOCON configuration files open correctly in the HOCON editor, but do not become part of a project until imported.

  - External Java files open correctly in the Studio Java editor, but remain untethered to a project.

  - In all these cases, you can save edits only if the external file's permissions allow it.

What you CANNOT do with external files

  - External LiveView configuration files with `.lvconf` extension do not open at all.

  - You cannot reference embedded Java code that already exists in the current project in the external EventFlow file.

  - If you open an external file that already contains a Module Reference or Java Operator, you can open and view the component's properties, but you cannot edit the properties or run the application.

  - You cannot use Studio's run or debug launchers to run an external EventFlow module.

  - If you select a set of components on the canvas of an external application and right-click the selection, Extract As Module is not available in the menu.