XPJ checked out of source control, other authors get error

Forum|Forum|16 years ago
March 5, 2009
2 replies
1557 views

Hi all,

We have three people on my team who update help topics. We use RH 7 and Microsoft Visual Source Safe with auto check-in/check-out. When one of us is in the help project and one of the other two also enters the helps project, the second person gets an error message saying "The files in the list below could not be checked out from version control. Exclusive access to these files is required to execute the selected action," and our xpj file for the project is listed. The second person closes the dialog box and proceeds to work. We know that when the first person enters the help project, the XPJ file is checked out, but we're worried that this error means something is wrong. Isn't the whole point of using source control so that multiple people can work in the same project? We don't understand why we're getting these error messages. Nothing seems to have gone haywire with this, except that we are having problems with conditional build tags getting out of sync between our systems. We don't know if our tag problem is due to the XPJ check-out issue. Are we not supposed to be have our XPJ file in source control? Would this cause the tag problem?

I'm going to post a separate message about the tag problem.

Thanks in advance for any help!
Lisa

This topic has been closed for replies.

RoboColum_n_

Brainiac

Hi Lisa.

I'll let Dhiren or someone else answer the multiple checkout question as I too am a little confused as to why you'd want this.

The XPJ file just contains details of the project (e.g. primary single source layout, project title, etc.). It also contains the names of the underlying project files (e.g. baggage, windows, folders, build tags, colours, etc.). Open it up in Notepad and take a look at it in alll its glory.

So in theory I guess multiple authors could work on the project provided they only create new output. As soon as two or more authors work on the same content, I'd go into a cold sweat.

A

Anonymous

Hi Collum and Dhiren: Thank you for your assistance so far.

Update: Not all of our help projects' XPJ files get checked out -- only this one project. Also, it appears that the problem with our tags not sync'ing is related to the XPJ being checked out by the first person to launch the project.

Specifics:
We actually have three help projects, one of which we all work in regularly (hereafter called "Project Bad"), and two others that only one or the other us works in regularly. I noticed that the other help project I work in does NOT check out the XPJ file when I open it (hereafter called "Project Good."). With Project Good, I never get a message saying that it's checking the XPJ file back in, and the VSS never shows that the XPJ file is checked out when one of us is in it, although VSS always shows the correct modified date when it was last modified. This a.m., I had one of my co-authors test Project Good with me. We both opened it, created new conditional build tags, applied tags to text, check things in and out and in again, and not once did either of us get a message about the XPJ file being checked out, nor did we have any problems with our conditional build tags. Everything updated beautifully, and yet, the topics are checking out correctly. Also, we don't have "allow multiple check-out" selected for Project Good.

So, now I wonder if the settings are different between the two projects, but I looked at the Properties for both projects and XPJ files, and I see no differences between them.

One thing that does come to mind: Regularly, one of us gets a VSS error message when working in Project Bad. I don't usually get it, but the others do. I didn't realize how common it was until one of the authors just told me. The message reads: "SourceSafe has detected that a previous operation against the 'XYZ' database was unexpectedly terminated. To remove from the failure, please ask your SourceSafe Administrator to run the Analyze Utility." Might this have something to do with the problem? This message is referencing our entire database where all three help projects reside, though, and the problem is only with one of the help projects, so I'm not sure this is part of the problem. I will try running the Analyze Utility today just in case, but I tried to do it months ago and it failed. I gave up and didn't try again.

Does anyone have any ideas about this problem based on these latest developments? I welcome any and all input.

Thanks,
Lisa

RoboColum_n_

Brainiac

The XPj file only contains the location/file name of the project files and as such would not be referenced by adding a build tag to a topic. If you added a build tag I'd expect the rhbag.apj file to be updated. I assume you each created different build tags? Out of interest if you view the history of the project files does that indicate two checked in versions of your Project Good?

D

Dhiren_Jani

Participating Frequently

A reason for the message could be that ‘Allow multiple check-outs’ has not been selected.
While the message is not an error message, it just notifies the user that presently the file is checked out to some other user.
To prevent such a scenario the user can allow multiple check-outs to happen simultaneously by checking ‘Allow Multiple Check Outs’ from VisualSource Safe Administrator menu Tools->Options.
--------------------
am quoting Vega here, a member of the Adobe RoboHelp Team

Dhiren Jani
RH Product Manager

A

Anonymous

Thank you for your response, Dhiren. Two thoughts:

Is it really a good idea to allow multiple checkouts, though? Won't selecting that option allow multiple checkouts on all files (like topics), not just the XPJ file? What would happen if two authors checked out the same topic and made changes to it, and then checked it back in? Which version would "win"? Would the two versions be merged? I'm not convinced that allowing multiple checkouts on all files would be a good idea. I was just asking why we were getting that error for the XPJ file, when we're all supposed to be able to work in the XPJ file at the same time.

I'm not clear on what the purpose of the XPJ file is. I know it's the project file, but does it actually contain anything that is modified everytime someone opens and makes changes to anything in the project? Since this message is not really an error, and the author can still make changes, maybe this message doesn't matter -- nothing will be lost or broken by proceeding with working in the XPJ file that is already checked out. Is that correct?

Thanks for your help, Dhiren...
Lisa

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded