Checking In and Acquiring Resources

This section provides the typical steps involved in interacting with the XML Canon repository, beginning with the initial association of the TIBCO Designer project with an XML Canon category.

Step 1: Specifying XML Canon as the version control system for a given project

Note: This step is performed once for a given project. Each project should be associated with a unique XML Canon category.

To specify XML Canon as the version control system for a given project, select Project > Save As to display the Save Project window. When you open a new empty project, the Save Project dialog appears automatically by default.

Select the XML Canon tab, which requires you to specify these fields:

Proxy server—You may access XML Canon via a proxy server that does not require authentication. Not all proxy servers support the WebDAV extensions to HTTP that XML Canon uses. Make sure the proxy server supports required additional functionality.
Note: If you click the Browse button for the XML Canon category field, the proxy server you specified is taken into account. As a result, it is essential that you specify the proxy server before you click Browse.
XML Canon category—the URL (http://hostName:portNumber/categoryName) of an empty XML Canon category, which will serve as your top-level project folder.
User name—an XML Canon user name.
Password—password associated with the user name.

The following figure depicts the XML Canon tab filled in with the required information.

XML Canon tab

If you do not know the location of an empty category, click Browse. The Browse for Project Folder will appear. Enter the URL for the XML Canon server and click Connect. You will be prompted to enter your XML Canon user name and password. Upon successful authentication, you will be presented with all of the top-level categories, as depicted in the following figure.

Browse for an XML Canon category

Double-click a category (or use the Open button) to view its child categories. New categories can be created using the new folder icon. When you have selected the category in which to store the project, click Select Folder.

Note: Some XML Canon users may not have the ability to create a new category. If you are unable to create a new category, see your XML Canon administrator.

When a URL, user name, and password have been specified on the XML Canon tab, click OK. The specified XML Canon category will now be used to store the project. See Step 2 to learn how to make the existing resources in the project accessible to all XML Canon users with the permissions to work within the category.

Step 2: Check in the project

The folders and resources existing within the project prior to Step 1 can be checked into XML Canon by way of the Check In Changes option of the Multi-User menu. The XML Canon Check In dialog appears, listing the folders and files that have been added, moved, modified, or deleted since the project was last checked-in. The XML Canon Check In dialog is shown in the following figure.

XML Canon Check In Dialog

Note: Global variable settings will appear in the dialog as "defaultVars".

Check-in options are controlled with the following buttons:

Button

Description

Close

Closes the window without checking in any files.

Undo Changes

Reverts the selected folders or resources to their status prior to the last acquire-check out.

Check in selected

Checks in the changes associated with the selected files or folders.

Check in all

Checks in all of the changes.

Properties

XML Canon augments standard WebDAV functionality by allowing you to specify additional properties when a document is saved. By default you may specify a comment, a revision label, and a stage. If the XML Canon Administrator has configured your server to use custom properties, you may also specify those custom properties.

To set all properties, you:

Procedure 

Select a file in the "Check In" dialog, then click "Properties...", or
Double-click an item.

Items for which the user has already specified custom properties are shown in bold in the dialog.

Depending on how the server is configured, it may not be possible to save changes to XML Canon unless you have specified extended properties. This can happen for two reasons.

The "stage" that the document is currently in does not allow a transition to itself (for example, a "production" document cannot be modified without taking it out of "production"), or
The administrator has specified "custom properties" that are required, and the document may not be saved unless those properties are specified.

A lock icon in the project panel, indicating that the files are not acquired and cannot be edited, marks checked-in items. The following figure depicts a project checked into XML Canon.

A project checked into XML Canon.

Note: If you are unable to check in changes, your XML Canon user profile may not have the appropriate permission settings. See your XML Canon administrator.

Step 3: Acquiring folders or resources and making changes

Once a project has been associated with XML Canon (see Step 1) and checked-in for the first time (see Step 2), its resources can be acquired (checked out) by other users with access to the XML Canon server and with permission to work within the category associated with the project.

To open a project stored on XML Canon

Procedure 

  1. Select the XML Canon tab from the Open Project dialog.

  2. Specify (or browse for) the XML Canon category in which the project is stored.

  3. Supply a user name and password.

Upon successful authentication, the project will be opened.

Tip: Upon opening a project shared through XML Canon, you should synchronize the project (Multi-User> Synchronize Project). Synchronize often to ensure that your project tree reflects any resources you have added outside of TIBCO Designer (through a WebDAV folder or the XML Canon interface, for example) as well as any changes made by other users.

Folders and resources marked by a lock icon are read-only until acquired.

To acquire a resource

Procedure 

  1. Select the resource in the project tree.

  2. Select Acquire-Check out Resource from the right button menu or the Multi-User menu.

When a resource is acquired, its lock icon disappears, indicating that you may edit the file.

Note: Use the global variables display to acquire global variables. Global variables are acquired through the Acquire-Check out Global Variable Group option of the right-button menu.

Once a user acquires a resource, other users cannot modify it. (Other users can view the resource, but cannot make changes to it.) If you attempt to acquire a resource that is under the control of another user, the message shown in the following figure appears.

Acquire failed

Step 4: Checking in (or reverting) the changes made to an acquired resource

Changes made to acquired resources can be checked into XML Canon, following the same procedure outlined in Step 2.

Reverting Changes

There are two options for returning a folder or resource to its status prior to your acquisition:

  • Select the change(s) within the Check In Changes Dialog and click Undo Changes.

  • Select the modified folder or resource within the project panel and select the Release-Revert Resource option, available via the right-button menu and the Multi-User menu.