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Weird problem with webtop-DA and link/checkout/checkin operation

SarmaP

Webtop experts out there,

Off late, I observed a weird problem with webtop and the way our users are using link/checkout/checkin feature.

Here is how our business users use webtop. Remember, during this entire process, user is always looking at "Show Files and Folders" in webtop. He never selects "Show All Objects and Versions" in webtop.

1) Every morning, they go to a common workpool folder and selects 25 objects/documents to work with

2) They add 25 selected objects to webtop clipboard

3) They then go to their home cabinet and paste these 25 objects as links in there. So, they now have 25 links pointing to common workpool folder in their home cabinet

4) Now, they checkout these 25 objects (just to tell other team members that they are working on these and to prevent concurrent updates). Effectively, 25 objects are checked out in workpool folder as well.

5) In his home cabinet, user works on these 25 objects. Updates meta/content or both. Then checks them in as minor version.

6) Now, internally, 25 more objects are created with version "1.1, CURRENT" and user sees 25 objects of this version in his home cabinet. 25 objects of version 1.0 are hidden from view now (remember, user is still in "Show Files and Folders" view).

7) Now that he is done with processing, he removes the links from his home cabinet by deleting them and selecting "Just the link to Home Cabinet" option.

8) So far so good right ?? Now, go to user home cabinet and select "Show All Objects and Versions".

9) You should see 25 orphaned objects that are of version 1.0 and in "Immutable" state. They are immutable because there is a newer version (1.1 or 1.2) and content server automatically locks older versions for sanity reasons.

User never knows that he is creating tons of immutable objects. It is a lot more difficult to identify and delete all these obsolete links from user home cabinets.

Any better ideas to improve this process? Thanks for your time in reading my lengthy post.

-Sarma.

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Haroon_A

Have you explored the 'subscription' feature?

You can instruct your users to subscribe to those 25 objects and the remaining operation can stay the same, i.e. check out, modify (content, metadata) check-in, etc... When users subscribe to those 25 objects, those objects will appear in the subscription node, where they can have quick access (as oppose to their home cabinet) and once they are done, they can simply unsubscribe them, which will remove them from their subscription node. This way, you don't have to deal with linking/un-linking and removing of those orphan links.

All comments

christopher.imes

Please consider moving this question as-is (no need to recreate) to the proper forum for maximum visibility. Questions written to the users' own "Discussions" space don't get the same amount of attention and can go unanswered for a long time.

You can do so by selecting "Move" under ACTIONS along the upper-right. Then search for: "Documentum" and select the very first result that appears. This will relocate it to the Developer Network space of the Documentum community.

Documentum

For further guidance on engaging with the communities for Documentum and related products, please refer to the

IIG Communities Getting Started Guide.

SarmaP

Chris,

Thanks. I moved it to Documentum now.

-Sarma.

PanfilovAB

Don't move anything to home cabinet - take advantage of sorting instead:

3-01-2014 4-45-48 AM.jpg

SarmaP

Hello Panfilov,

Sorting is an option but it would be too cumbersome for end users to always check which one is a lock (checkedout by others) and which one is a key (checkedout by self). Remember, these end users do not have the technical know-how. Also, objects in this main queue folder grow rapidly and users will be spending most of the time sorting and checking these locks and keys.

Thanks for your suggestion though.

-Sarma.

PanfilovAB

There is no other option. You're trying to replace typical workflow case by your own square wheel, it's expected that something goes wrong.

SarmaP

Andrew,

Ha ha, square wheel in a round workflow process. Love that comparison

There is nothing wrong with our current process and it works very well with end users. They feel that they own those 25 objects and they release them at the end of the process. It feels to them that they are getting files from a file cabinet, working on them and putting the files back.

My only concern is about the tons of hidden, immutable versions being created in home cabinets.

-Sarma.

PanfilovAB


My only concern is about the tons of hidden, immutable versions being created in home cabinets.

Try to write job that will remove old versions from home cabinets periodically. Base query:


select doc.r_object_id, fld.r_object_id as folder_id 
from dm_document(all) doc, dm_folder fld
where any doc.i_folder_id=fld.r_object_id
and doc.i_has_folder=0 and any fld.r_folder_path
in (select default_folder from dm_user where r_is_group=0)
and any fld.r_folder_path <> '/Queue folder'
and folder('/Queue folder')

Unlinking:


API> set,c,l,r_immutable_flag
SET> F
...
OK
API> unlink,c,l,folder_id
...
OK
API> save,c,l
...
OK
API> set,c,l,r_immutable_flag
SET> T
...
OK
API> save,c,l
...
OK

SarmaP

Andrew,

Thanks again for your time in writing that DQL and APIs. Appreciate it.

However, I've already found a better way of finding how many links a document has and where all those links are.

select r_object_id, object_name, i_folder_id, i_reference_cnt from dm_document(all) where folder('/userhomecabinet', descend)

This query gives me a list of all objects in user home cabinet with link counts. If ref count is more than 2, that means it's a possible candidate for deletion. Then I identify which folder ID of r_folder_id repeating attribute points to original folder and delete all the remaining links. This has been working fine so far but I had to manually set the r_immutable_flag to false before deleting the older versions. Also, we have TBOs that kickin on each change that are causing issues while deleting older versions.

I am still working on a complete solution and once done, I will make it as a scheduled job.

-Sarma.

Haroon_A

Have you explored the 'subscription' feature?

SarmaP

Ahmad,

I think "Subscriptions" is a great idea. If I remember correctly, content server sends emails whenever there are changes to subscribed documents. I will have to check and disable those emails otherwise user inboxes (email inboxes) will be bombarded with these emails.

I will give this a try and let you know. I will also award points nevertheless.

Thanks,

Sarma.

Haroon_A

If I remember correctly, it is the 'turn-on notification for read/write' feature that is responsible for sending notifications. You should be able to test it quickly, which one is it.

SarmaP

Ahmad,

Yes, you are correct. "turn on notification" sends emails to users whenever the object changes.

I did try the "Subscriptions" feature and spoke to couple of user supervisors. They seem to have liked the idea so far.

I would have to customize webtop to show custom columns etc in "Subscriptions" view but other than that, I think this is a good sell.

I will update this thread if I see any issues in implementation.

Thanks,

Sarma.