Impact of structural changes on S/R

[Sargon Hasso]

I have added some structural changes to the dictionary (adding a new pronunciation field and adding a new vernacular writing system), I have not sync'd up these changes yet, are these changes OK during S/R? I can foresee similar future changes as the need arises, what constitute breaking changes that I should be aware of?

Thanks,

Sargon

[Bart Eenkhoorn]

Hello Sargon,

The warning Flex gives is to make other users wait with edits until an overall S/R is complete. That is for a newly created customised field or a new list etc. Adding a new WS worked flawlessly in our case. I did make sure all team members did S/R within a day of that change and do any edits until all had done S/R. One thing I did noticed is that if for some reason you have to restore the (a) backup project that is a multi user project, the project messages are lost! While adding a new list FLEx crashed and it did so repeatedly. No problem because my backups are numerous. But restoring a backup is a problem with S/R projects. So, instead of a restore, I was able to revert to the .BAK file, which worked. We were so glad the messages were still in tact as these contain our todo list within the project.

But, adding a new WS is no big deal in a S/R project in our experience, as long as team members do not wait long to receive the changes ..

That is my two cents worth,

Bart.

Virus-free.www.avast.com

[Sargon Hasso]

Thanks. Are you suggesting that I should do a backup before doing S/R first? and do a backup restore after doing S/R, just in case? I do have project messages and some are TODOs that are yet to be addressed by team members. 

Sargon

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From: flex...@googlegroups.com <flex...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Bart Eenkhoorn <bart_ee...@sil.org>
Sent: Monday, April 22, 2024 3:59 AM
To: 'Oumar Bah' via FLEx list <flex...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [FLEx] Impact of structural changes on S/R

 

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[Kevin Warfel]

Sargon,

 

I’ve been hoping that someone more knowledgeable than I would respond to your question, but I feel it’s time for me to at least contribute something.

 

Backup/Restore is virtually incompatible with Send/Receive. I don’t fully understand how Bart got it to work in his case, but these are intended to be virtually separate forms of a “safety net” to FLEx users. Backup/Restore creates a local copy of the project, while Send/Receive creates a remote copy. A FLEx user can restore from a local backup, but this creates a copy of the project that is independent of the S/R version of the “same” project. It is also possible to “restore” from a S/R event; I think of this as “reverting to a restore point”, but it functions much as restoring from a backup does, in that changes made after that point are lost. To “revert to a restore point” in a S/R project requires technical help; it cannot at this point be done by the project owner alone.

 

My best guess is that this is the step-by-step process that you should use when structural edits are planned (but note below that you’ve already deviated from this path):

1. Each of your collaborators (those who also Send/Receive the same project) should Send/Receive, then close the project on their machine and wait to hear from you before opening it again.

2. You yourself do Send/Receive. Mark this as the “version prior to structural edits” (or some such). (You’ll have everyone’s edits at this point.)

3. Make a backup of your project (solely as an extra precaution; it’s very unlikely that you would use it, since there are other ways to revert to the state of your project prior to the next actions)

4. Make the structural changes desired in your project.

5. Do Send/Receive. Mark this as the “version with structural edits”.

6. Each of your collaborators do Send/Receive.

If something bad happens to your project messages, get technical help from the FLEx support team.

 

Since you have already made the structural edits in your own project, the above sequence may not work. (You’d essentially be collapsing steps 2, 4, and 5 into a single step, giving your project no clear ‘restore point’ prior to the structural changes.) If the structural changes are not too difficult to redo, you might consider ‘throwing away’ any work you’ve done since the last time that you did S/R. If you choose to go this route, then I think these are the steps for you to follow:

 

1. Make a backup of your project as it is currently. (This will, at the very least, provide a copy that can be referred to.)

2. Delete the project from your computer.

3. Each of your collaborators (those who also Send/Receive the same project) should Send/Receive, then close the project on their machine and wait to hear from you before opening it again.

3. Use the S/R ‘Get project from a colleague’ option to get the project from the S/R repository. (You’ll have everyone else’s edits at this point. Yours were lost in step 2.)

4. Make the structural changes desired in your project.

5. Do Send/Receive. Mark this as the “version with structural edits” (or something like that).

6. Each of your collaborators do Send/Receive.

If something bad happens to your project messages, get technical help from the FLEx support team.

 

I have a lot of experience with S/R and how it interacts with Backup/Restore, but I am not aware of specifics with regard to custom fields and Messages.

 

That’s my perspective on your situation. I wish you well!

 

Kevin Warfel

Associate Dictionary & Lexicography Services Coordinator

Rapid Word Collection workshop consultant

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