FrameMaker and read-only files

[Fred Ridder]

FrameMaker's "Network File Locking" feature is very rudimentary.
All it does is check for the presence of a "lock" file with the same
name as the document but a secondary .lck extension in the same
directory as the document. If it finds a .lck file it displays a dialog
that tells you the file is locked; if there is no .lck file it opens the
document without a message and creates a .lck file so that anyone
else trying to open that file will see a "locked" message.

Bust since a CM or VM system makes a working copy of a file on
your local hard disk when you check it out, the .lck file mechanism
would only work if the CMS is "smart" enough to create a .lck file
on your local drive if and only if the file is locked in the repository.

My opinions only; I don;t speak for Intel.
Fred Ridder
Intel
Parsippany, NJ


>From: "Patterson, Jan" <Jan.Patterson at esph.com>
>To: "Gordon McLean" 
><Gordon.McLean at GrahamTechnology.com>,<framers at frameusers.com>
>Subject: RE: FrameMaker and read-only files
>Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 12:21:28 -0500
>
>Gordon --
>
>Are you saying the setting for Network File Locking in
>File>Preferences>General doesn't work in this situation?
>
>jan.
>jan e patterson
>sr technical writer - environmental systems products - tucson, az
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: framers-bounces+jan.patterson=esph.com at lists.frameusers.com
>[mailto:framers-bounces+jan.patterson=esph.com at lists.frameusers.com] On
>Behalf Of Gordon McLean
>Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 8:55 AM
>To: framers at frameusers.com
>Subject: FrameMaker and read-only files
>
>Hello all,
>
>
>
>We are using Tortoise SVN to version control our FM files. It's mainly
>working fine but we are having problems getting FrameMaker to detect a
>locked file. You can set files to be locked when you edit them, but
>FrameMaker doesn't seem to pay any attention to the lock UNTIL you try
>and save the file. So you could open a locked file, work on it for an
>hour or two and only be notified when you try and save it. Not ideal.
>
>
>
>What we think is happening is that the file being locked is set to
>'read-only', but FrameMaker isn't detecting that, as it has an internal
>locking mechanism which looking for files that are currently being
>edited by others. So it seems to be ignoring the read-only files.
>
>
>
>My question is: Is there anyway to get FrameMaker to flag, ON OPEN,
>whether a file is read-only or not. Or is this not a FrameMaker issue at
>all but a 'nuance' of Tortoise?
>
>
>
>Any and all suggestions gratefully welcomed. This isn't a showstopper
>but very much in the 'annoyance' category!

_________________________________________________________________
Get in the mood for Valentine's Day. View photos, recipes and more on your 
Live.com page. 
http://www.live.com/?addTemplate=ValentinesDay&ocid=T001MSN30A0701