Check in, check out and auto saving
1. Overview
To facilitate collaboration on projects, every item you can open for editing in Dundas BI uses a check in / check out model, including data connectors, data cubes, dashboards and more. This allows multiple people to make changes to these items without risk of overwriting or losing any changes. The change history is also saved and can be rolled back if needed.
The workflow is generally as follows:
- Check out or create an item
- Edit the item and apply your changes
- Check in the item so others can see your changes
You might have noticed there is no Save button in the Dundas BI toolbar. That's because Dundas BI saves your work automatically so you don't need to be worried about losing your changes. You still need to check in your work though so others can see it too.
Related video: Auto Save and Version Control
2. Check out an item
To check out an item for editing, go to Open in the main menu or to the Explore window, right-click (or long-tap) your item, and then choose Check Out.
When you check out an item, you are reserving the item for editing for yourself. When others view the item, they will see only the last checked-in version.
The item now appears with a green checkmark icon which indicates it is checked out to you.
Next, right-click/long-tap again and select Edit to begin modifying the checked-out item.
You can also open an item without checking it out first. For full screen items, you can then click Check Out in the toolbar, or just click with a mouse on the grayed-out part of the screen below for an automatic check out.
2.1. Item is already checked out
If an item is already checked out by another user, the item will appear with a red 'minus' icon.
You'll need to wait for the other user to check the item back in or undo their check out.
To find out who the other user is, see Checked Out To in the file's read-only properties.
3. Auto saving
While editing a dashboard or other full screen item in Dundas BI, your changes are automatically saved as needed.
The status bar at the bottom displays a message whenever Dundas BI has performed an auto-save operation.
4. Check in an item
Check in your changes so that others can see them or check out the item themselves. Newly created items are also not visible to other users before it's checked in the first time.
Go to Open in the main menu or to the Explore window, right-click (or long-tap) the item, and then choose Check In.
You can also Check In an item from its toolbar while it's open.
In the Check In dialog, optionally enter a comment and then click the submit button at the bottom.
Each time an item is checked in a new entry is recorded in the item's revision history and a new version of the item is created. You can restore a previous version of an item from the Revision History dialog. For more information, see the File and folder properties article.
5. Undo a check out
If you aren't happy with the changes you made to an item, you can undo the check out.
This will discard all of your changes since you checked out the item for editing, and the item won't be checked out to you anymore.
You can undo a check out from the toolbar or the right-click menu.
