Author rights in XMetal - simultaneous users

[joehansen]

Hi

We are a project group working on a project to implement a CMS system using XMetal 6.0.0.122.
We have an issue with our Dita map and Xmetal. We are currently working on a file based system, as we have not yet implemented the CMS system.

We create topics in Xmetal - and link them into our Dita map. The map file is stored on a network drive. This means that more authors have simultaneous access to the map file.
 
If an author in XMetal opens the map and adds new topics to the map while another colleague already has opened the map, no warning is issued when saving the map file.

Later on the topics are not shown in the map and are not saved. Apparently because a colleague has opened the map first. This means that you do not get any warning message like "the map file is already used by another user and cannot be saved" or similar.

Shouldn't Xmetal give a warning?
 
Are there any rules in Xmetal that says that the first person that opens the map also has the author rights? Meaning that he/she is the only one who can save topics in a map?

Hope you can help us.

Best Regards
Joe

[Derek Read]

We are planning a webinar to answer these types of questions. You may wish to keep an eye out for it on our Announcements Board.

Here's my brief answer for the three types of storage (as I classify them) that you might consider. I'm listing them in order of preference from "best solution" to "not really recommended for teams".

Integration with a CMS System or Other File Management Software:
   File management, including file locking via "check-in" and "check-out", versioning, and potentially other features specific to the CMS product which might include search, linking, chunking, "where used", publishing integrations, etc. See the following for a list of CMS systems XMetaL is known to have an integration for: http://forums.xmetal.com/index.php/topic,608.0.html

WebDAV:
   Basic file locking using the WebDAV protocol for files stored on a WebDAV server (such as Microsoft IIS, Apache Tomcat, or IBM WebSphere). Supported by XMetaL Author and XMAX for most customizations except our DITA solution (the reasons for this are complex).

Local File System (LFS) or Network Share:
   No file locking, file lock checking, read-only attribute checking, or anything similar.

In theory a solution could be created that would provide this functionality (using various APIs provided from the 1200 or so that we include with the product or by using "XMetaL Connector"). One of our partners (or a client) could probably do this work. We do not provide such a solution, preferring to concentrate work on the three CMS systems we maintain integrations for (Documentum, FileNet and SharePoint) as well as our "XMetaL Connector" layer, which is used by these three integrations and by most of our partners to integrate XMetaL with their CMS and other similar systems.