File locking

**braikes** · 20 September 2007, 12:37 PM

I can't quite believe it - it seems that Xara has no file locking of any sort, so if one user is editing a file, another user can also access it and make changes. Whoever saves last, wins! And there are no warnings that changes may be overwritten.

This makes it very difficult for me to recommend Xara to our company for graphics.

Does anybody have a fix for this?

It also surprises me that Xara support doesn't seem to think it's the job of the application to do this and that some other desktop software should handle it!

**RTK** · 20 September 2007, 01:38 PM

Don't have a direct solution for your "problem" (or is it a feature?). I'm curious though as to what kind of environment you work in where people have the need to edit (and over write) each other's files, left, right and center? Especially at the same time? A manual hand-off and version control should be easy enough to implement, no?

Simply over-writing other people's files and work dosn't seem very "nice"... This can be done even with a file "lock". Wouldn't a simple "save as" with manual version control (thought out files names) solve your "problem"?

Isn't it a benefit that you as a designer can edit the same file (or many) on several different machines at the same time, as long as you know what you are doing?

Risto

**handrawn** · 20 September 2007, 01:45 PM

Following on

It matters not.
What matters is that the work flow is organised, surely.
If its not, it isn't going to matter whether people access a file at the same time or a miilsecond or three afterwards, - you're still not going to know are you?

Or am I missing something too?

And it does have advantages, like Risto says - this has been discussed elsewhere on the forum, I'm sure.

**RedWombat** · 20 September 2007, 01:51 PM

I personally don't feel that File Locking is the place of the graphics app, but an over write warning would be nice. Illustrator only warns you. Corel does prevent you from saving over the same file.

A checking in and checking out is usually done by an additional application. A document repository if you will. Some apps for web work check in and out, like Dreamweaver. But I think that versioning is a better option, but you could do that by using Save As.

**Soquili** · 20 September 2007, 02:08 PM

I don't have experience with graphics being used in a corporate environment.

But, I do with software source code.

A 3rd party application is used to maintain source code control and not the development software.

File locking is most often used in databases and can be used with spreadsheets.

**RTK** · 20 September 2007, 02:18 PM

I also only have experience with source code and builds in a corporate environment.

The tool of choice for many organizations is Rational's ClearCase. http://www-306.ibm.com/software/awdtools/clearcase/ Never again, will you lose track of a file - nobody can mess anything up accidentally.

It's pretty flexible and I'm sure you can manage xara files and any other documents your organization has problems with. It's a bit pricey and it requires some training...

But as pointed out - simply using 'Save As' and proper file naming should help you on your way.

Risto

**braikes** · 20 September 2007, 02:31 PM

Thanks for the comments. Maybe I've got used to this kind of feature in other packages.

Even a warning would be a significant improvement!

**David O'Neil** · 20 September 2007, 02:33 PM

File locking is a good concept, and I agree that it would be nice to have something like it if you were working in a corporate environment, but it has one huge problem. If you are working on a document and the program crashes, or your network goes down, the file can become permanently locked. Not good! I have had it happen to me long ago, and I wasn't happy at all.

**RTK** · 20 September 2007, 02:48 PM

Originally Posted by braikes

Maybe I've got used to this kind of feature in other packages.!

Which other vector application has file "locking"? Corel Draw or Adobe Illustrator doesn't have it either. Killing your productivity for a file "locking" feature seems like a poor business decision to me.

Risto

**braikes** · 20 September 2007, 04:57 PM

You're right, the old version of Corel, that I have doesn't have it, either.

I guess it's because the new features of Xara Pro with multiple pages make it very likely that more than one person will need to contribute to a document, so we're using it instead of InDesign and Pagemaker in some applications. These document programs do have the feature.

I'm not sure how the feature would kill productivity, though?

Bob