title: con:settings Elements in Workspace and Project Files
body: <p>I am using the free edition of SoapUI (version 4.6.1) with multiple workspaces.  One of my frustrations is that SoapUI does not seem to support workspace-level custom properties.</p>
  
  <p>The <code>*-soapui-workspace.xml</code> files I have reviewed contain an empty <code>con:settings</code> element (i.e. <code>&lt;con:settings/&gt;</code>).  Same in the <code>*-soapui-project.xml</code> files I have reviewed.</p>
  
  <p>My intuition &amp; hope is that these elements allow workspace- or project-level additions to or overrides of settings I see in my general <code>soapui-settings.xml</code> file - e.g. additional global properties that I want when a given workspace is loaded.</p>
  
  <p>However, when I create a settings file <code>SomeService Tests-soapui-settings.xml</code> that contains...</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?&gt;
  &lt;con:soapui-settings xmlns:con="http://eviware.com/soapui/config"&gt;
  &lt;con:setting id="GlobalPropertySettings@properties"&gt;&lt;![CDATA[&lt;xml-fragment xmlns:con="http://eviware.com/soapui/config"&gt;
    &lt;con:property&gt;
      &lt;con:name&gt;WorkspaceCustomPropertyTest&lt;/con:name&gt;
      &lt;con:value&gt;some value&lt;/con:value&gt;
    &lt;/con:property&gt;
  &lt;/xml-fragment&gt;]]&gt;
  &lt;/con:setting&gt;
  &lt;/con:soapui-settings&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>...and set the <code>con:settings</code> element in the <code>SomeService Tests-soapui-workspace.xml</code> file like so...</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?&gt;
  &lt;con:soapui-workspace name="SomeService Tests" soapui-version="4.6.1" projectRoot="${workspaceDir}" xmlns:con="http://eviware.com/soapui/config"&gt;
    &lt;con:description&gt;Workspace to organize all SomeService test projects.&lt;/con:description&gt;
    &lt;con:settings&gt;SomeService Tests-soapui-settings.xml&lt;/con:settings&gt; &lt;!-- Reference the workspace settings file. --&gt;
    &lt;con:project name="SomeService Authentication Tests"&gt;SomeService Authentication Tests-soapui-project.xml&lt;/con:project&gt;
  &lt;/con:soapui-workspace&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>..., nothing happens.</p>
  
  <p>I do not get an error upon loading the workspace, but I also do not get any indication that the <code>con:settings</code> element is doing anything either.  For example, SoapUI Preferences > Global Properties does not list a <code>WorkspaceCustomPropertyTest</code> property.</p>
  
  <p>I can keep tinkering of course, but an explanation of the workspace- and project-file <code>con:settings</code> elements would help.</p>
  
  <p>Searching SO, the <a href="http://forum.soapui.org/" rel="nofollow">SmartBear SoapUI forum</a>, and more broadly for an explanation of the workspace- and project-file <code>con:settings</code> elements has yielded nothing so far.</p>
  
  <p><em>Can anyone explain how to use the workspace- and project-file <code>con:settings</code> elements?</em></p>
  
  <p><em>Alternatively, can anyone shed light on how to achieve a similar result (i.e. workspace-level custom properties) with the free edition of SoapUI?</em></p>