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If I'm understanding it correctly, this isn't unique to 2015 R2 and isn't in any way related to the project file.
You're right though, what you're suggesting can easily happen. I'm not in any way afraid to criticise Vault when it's failings cause problems, but I think in this case it's not really a Vault problem.
I personally think it's the responsibility of the user to make sure what you're describing doesn't happen. The prompts (and there are lots!) are there to prevent and/or warn a user, like a disclaimer saying hey STOP, you shouldn't be doing this but I'm gonna let you but don't say I didn't warn you! If the user doesn't know what he's clicking and just thunder stomps on through eventually editing a released part, that's on them, Vault warned them countless times. There's all kinds of warnings and notification icons to show you're looking at the wrong version of a file.
Having said that, I totally 100% agree that you shouldn't be able to download and physically alter a released file, but like I said above you have to skip & jump through a load of warning hoops before getting to that point. The alternative would be to completely ban and prevent someone from downloading released data, that would likely cause more problems than the way things are now.
The way I look at it is only Vault knows a file is 'Released'. If you download a released file into your workspace, then completely uninstall Vault from your PC, what have you got? Just a file in the workspace, no different to any other.
So this concerns me since we are moving up to Pro to get the release / locking capabilities.
At this point using Basic I "release" designs and lock them using a fake user. So as a test to see what happens here I worked with one of my "released" files to see what it would let me do.
- I have a fake user named "1-ME Release" that I check released parts/drawings out to but do not download the files. So with it checked out you can pull it down but it should be protected from the Vaulted version being changed.
- However, when I pull down the file from the Vault I can select to check it out and I get NO warning. I feel that should not happen since it is still checked out to someone else. I feel it should ask to do a save as in this case.
- So now when I do the first edit to this part, delete a feature / add a sketch, I get the warning that it is checked out to another user and that changes will not be save to the Vault. If I say no here whatever edit I am doing will stop. If I say yes it allows me to do the edit AND save the file.
- Now I have local copy of a file checked out to someone else that has allowed me to edit and save it. When I open the IDW for this from the Vault I get the message that the local copy is newer and that I am about to replace it with what is in the Vault. In a WIP situation I would say no here because I want the drawing to update to the local copy. But in this situation where it is a "released" part I would say yes to get the proper version for the drawing from the Vault. So with a releasing Vault like Pro, you would say Yes here to always have the correct "Released" version from the Vault. However, if you do say no and your drawing updates to the incorrect local part all you have to do is refresh from the Vault to correct it.
So it is correct that a user has to go through a succession of dialog boxes picking the incorrect way to actually edit the part and update the drawing. And even though the drawing could update incorrectly to the local part it can not be pushed back into the Vault to mess up the released version.
However what is most disturbing to me and what I thought the Pro version would handle differently than my "dummy user" method is that it originally allows me to check out a part that is checked out to someone else. It does not warn me at that point to do a save as if I want to make changes. I thought this was just a limitation in my made up method of releasing with the Basic Vault but it sounds like the same situation actually can happened on a true releasing Vault Pro.
If there is a method for a user to mess something up like this it will happen.
As was stated, people tend to click through dialogs before they realize what they have messed up.
Vault Pro works a little differently. It's not perfect but it's somewhat better. If a file is in Vault on a state which is categorised as Released, it can't be checked out or psuedo checked out in any kind of way:
However you can still download the files, open them, bypass the prompts and continue to edit it. It just won't let you check it back in.
The dirtying of local files which are Released is something that I've logged with and shouted/raged/ranted at Autodesk about for years now. In a perfect world, a released file should be completely untouchable in the workspace but there's clearly a crossover between Inventor & Vault. Internally within Autodesk they are two completely separate teams developing two products which have an interest in one another, and although they've done a great job in most areas there is still a lot of work to be done to get around this issue. But as stated above, there are mechanisms in place to prevent this situation from happening.
There's also a discussion to be had about the requirement to open released data in the CAD client for final printing. If that's your goal, you'll probably need to have work instructions & guidelines in place to govern how that is done. In most Vault Pro sites, an automated print system will generate the final plots triggered on release without the need to open the files manually in a client CAD app. That doesn't excuse the original issue but like with anything, a procedure needs to be implemented and enforced to get things done the correct way.
Yea you're right, only one prompt will appear for that operation. You wouldn't wan't anymore than that, the feedback I get from most users is there's already too many prompts. Most prompts serve a purpose, but some could be improved. Like for example the 'Do you want to update the properties' prompt on open which is there for every single file you open, regardless of whether or not there's even anything to update.
I don't think there's an answer to what this thread is about, it is possible to locally edit released parts and be looking at an incorrect drawing if you go through the prompts to get to that point.
Should this turn into a discussion more about how to correctly create your final plot?
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