What kind of method should be used to lock and unlock a document on web.
Any idea ???
Thanks in advance.
Baris
Subject: document locking on web
Subject: RE: document locking on web
Hi,
FYI.
Xetrion Lock Manager is a good tool, but has some inherent problems…such as
-
It opens a popup window when the document you want to lock is being opened. So u have to ensure that users do not have any popup blockers ON, otherwise the document does NOT open at all.
-
Does NOT work properly when the user has a firewall implemented on the laptop and trying to access from there.
-
Does not work properly with Windows XP Service Pack 2 installed.
Regards,
Sudhakar
Subject: RE: document locking on web
Hi Sudhakar,
please let me comment on your points concerning Xetrion Lock Manager:
- Yes, Lock Manager needs to open new IE windows, otherwise it will not work. Thus popup blockers can be a problem for Lock Manager, but only, if they are not properly configured.
Please add your Web site to the list of Web sites which allow popups and Lock Manager will work.
We are currently working on a popup blocker check for the next release of Lock Manager (giving users a message if a popup blocker is installed and not properly configured), but this does not avoid the users to change their popup blocker settings.
- Xetrion Lock Manager should work with personal firewall systems without any problems.
Lock Manager uses the same protocol (http or https) as the underlying Web document, i.e. the same ports as the Web application.
I personally know of two customers using different personal firewall systems on their laptops and working with Lock Manager without having problems.
Lock Manager also works with the integrated Windows Firewall in Windows XP SP2.
What firewall software are you using?
- Xetrion Lock Manager works with Windows XP SP2 without any problems, as long as the integrated popup blocker is properly configured.
Please add your Web site to the list of Web sites which allow popups (Internet options dialog in Internet Explorer) and Lock Manager will work.
We have many customers using Lock Manager with XP SP 2 without any problems.
Best regards,
Verona
Subject: RE: document locking on web
Hi Verona,
Thanks for the response. I would like to know when do you plan to release the next version of the Xetrion tool. An approximate date, like Jan 2006 or Mar 2006 would help us.
Waiting for your reply.
Thanks.
Sudhakar
Subject: RE: document locking on web
Hi Sudhakar,
we plan to release the next version 2.8 of Xetrion Lock Manager at December 2005.
Verona
Subject: RE: document locking on web
“Properly configured” should mean “blocking pop-ups”. Allowing pop-ups from a particular site may not be under user control, nor can you assume that administrative settings in one organisation can be dictated to a client IT environment. You should consider taking a look at other alternatives for your product – particularly background XMLHttpRequests. It should be possible to raise a request without raising a window, and that should be the preferred behaviour when the option is available. Consider a pop-up a fallback condition.
Subject: RE: document locking on web
Hi Stan,
thanks for your comments.
We know the problems of using Lock Manager with popup blockers in Internet Web applications (Intranet Web applications are normally not a problem due to reduced security level settings in IE) and you are absolutely right that IE settings are not always under user control.
We use AJAX technology in many of our customer projects and thus we know XMLHttpRequest as well.
Unfortunately this does not help for Lock Manager. It is not a problem of raising requests with new windows. Lock Manager need an extra window to overcome the stateless HTTP protocol and to unlock documents immediately, e.g. if browser window is closed or you navigate away from the document. Up to now we have not found another solution for this issue.
Verona
Subject: RE: document locking on web
Have you considered making the lock a “lease” that needs to be renewed at, say, ten- or fifteen-minute intervals? That way the lock is default removed unless the lease is renewed. (The renew request would cycle at about 70-80% of the expiration time with a repeat-on-fail in order to minimize the possibility that an availability blip could cause overlapping edit sessions.)
A pop-up doesn’t do a whole lot about statelessness – you are still relying on well-behaved users in an optimal environment since the “state” is maintained in a different window. The XMLHttpRequest method can maintain a “near-current” state on the server for extended leases. Locks would still be released immediately post-submit, and can be released in a reasonably short time (at most, the expiration interval plus the schedule interval) when a document is abandoned.
That’s just thinking out loud, of course…
Subject: RE: document locking on web
One of the features our customers appreciate is that documents are unlocked immediately after “closing” a document in edit mode. This is independent if you save (submit) the document or not, if you close the browser window or just navigate away.
Lock “refresh” requests would impact server and network performance, especially in heavy used databases.
And, Lock Manager does not rely on well behaved users …
Maybe you want to check the functionality of Lock Manager by downloading the sample database at http://www.xetrion.com/Downloads/LM.htm
But this is just a suggestion … 
Subject: RE: document locking on web
Hi Verona,
Sorry to diggress from the topic of discussion…
I wanted to confirm this with you…when i have opened a document in edit mode, Xetrion LOCKS the document for me…and if some other user “A” tries to open the same document, he gets a message saying that i have locked the document…if user “A” attempts to open the same document in read mode, will Xetrion allow the user to open the document or will it display the prompt saying i have locked it…
if it does NOT allow “A” to open the document, dont u think that it shud allow to do so in read mode…please let me know your thoughts on this…
Regards,
Sudhakar
Subject: RE: document locking on web
I can’t say for sure how Xetrion’s solution works, but locking is normally done to prevent save conflicts, so it does not prevent one user from reading a document while another is editing. Don’t confuse this with row locking in a relational database, which may prevent all access while the data are “volatile”.
Subject: RE: document locking on web
Yes, Stan is absolutely right.
Xetrion Lock Manager prevents that more than one user (or agent) is editing a document at the same time, thus preventing save conflicts and data inconsistency (i.e. if in a Domino Web application two users are editing a document at the same time one user can overwrite the changes of the other user without noticing it).
Read operations do not change data so Lock Manager does not lock (or check for locks) if a document is in read mode.
Subject: RE: document locking on web
Why do you offer of your program in this forum !!!
This is not solution of the problem (document locking), this is a marketing !
Go to your web site, and market your product in your site !
Subject: Domino supports this for web clients just fine out of the box
Using webqueryopen and webquerysave agents, they can lock/unlock/check the lockstatus of documents via the Backend classes via Lotusscript, take a look at the “lock()” method:flag = notesDocument.Lock( [ name ] [, provisionalOK ] )
Thomas - IBM
Subject: Question for Thomas => Domino supports this for web clients just fine out of the box
How do you suggest handling when the user cancels editing the document and does not save their changes?
Thanks,
Ginni