Vault basic 2018 causing file version issues

[pjvdstoel]

Hello,

Not sure if this is the right place to post but I'll give it a try.

Yesturday, and also before we were experiencing some very nasty behavior while using the Vault. I'm working together with my collegue on a machine in Inventor 2018. Both opening (NOT checking out) a part of the machine and only checkout the components you are working on. Sometimes we're not able to save the file because of an error: "Newer version already exists created by: [person who is working on the file]". We've found that you can only save a copy of the parts you were working on. This lead to half an hour of renaming, replacing and moving parts around to get all the assemblies back to work...

It looks like this happens if you try to refresh a file from the vault to get the latest version local. If the file you're refreshing is open and you then check out a component afterwards it looks like we're getting conflicts.

How is it possible that we're not able to save a file which is checked out by a user? This was very very frustrating.

Any best practice tips on how to work with one master assembly on two machines with two people without getting strange issues? My understanding is that the vault is exactly made to do this. Checkout the part you're working on and check it back in later... But apparently we're doing something wrong.

Kind regards,

Pieter Jan

[Senthil_Kumar]

If you are checking out the right files that you want to edit and work then you should not see the conflicts. Because Vault will NOT allow others to check out the same file that you have checked out. If you still see the issue then you might have to post a video showing the issue. That will help us to understand the issue better.

[pjvdstoel]

I should have made a video when it happened. I guess I was too frustrated that I couldn't save checked out documents. I had to rename about 15 components, then replace them in the assembly, check them back in and remove the old files. I'm pretty sure that the files were not correctly refreshed upon checkout. I'll try to catch the problem again and make a video.

[pjvdstoel]

I think this is where the problem starts.

I've modified a file in the vault (edit a property). Opened the file from my workspace (=old version file). Then checked out the file. I'm now in this state:

"File is checked out

Local copy is out of date, use refresh file"

I'm allowed to edit the file without warning, and I can make modifications in the file. And I can check the file back in. Now the property edit has been undone.

I believe this is a state where one should not be able to get into. Upon checkout you should ALWAYS get the newest file from the vault if available.

[pjvdstoel]

After further investigation we also have issues to sync the latest files.

I've just edited some files, checked them in. On another PC i've tried to open the file but it takes the old file. A "Refresh file" action had no success to get the latest file. It didn't show that it was out of date.

Deleting the modified assembly and modified part in the local vaultworkspace and opening the assembly from the vault (Vault tab -> open) gave an issue that it couldn't find the correct part file. after continuing and linking the file to the file in the vault it finally had the correct file.

This sort of behaviour is highly unacceptable for this type of product!

[karthur1]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I've modified a file in the vault (edit a property). Opened the file from my workspace (=old version file). Then checked out the file. I'm now in this state:

"File is checked out

Local copy is out of date, use refresh file"

I'm allowed to edit the file without warning, and I can make modifications in the file. And I can check the file back in. Now the property edit has been undone.

---

I have seen this issue as well and have a support case against this (Case ID: 12902041).  My issue is that when I tried to edit an idw (older version), in some cases, I would not get a prompt that I am trying to edit an older version. See the screencast below showing my issue.  They created this support blog discussing the issue, but it was never actually resolved. For whatever reason, it seems to not show the prompt when Version 1 is edited.

I see this as a bug.  It happens to me all the time and when it does, I have to overwrite my changes with the latest version in vault before I can continue....... very frustrating.

Kirk

[karthur1]

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@Anonymous wrote:

After further investigation we also have issues to sync the latest files.

I've just edited some files, checked them in. On another PC i've tried to open the file but it takes the old file. A "Refresh file" action had no success to get the latest file. It didn't show that it was out of date.

Deleting the modified assembly and modified part in the local vaultworkspace and opening the assembly from the vault (Vault tab -> open) gave an issue that it couldn't find the correct part file. after continuing and linking the file to the file in the vault it finally had the correct file.

This sort of behaviour is highly unacceptable for this type of product!

---

1. Are you allow non-unique filenames in Vault? I would recommend that you set the marker in the ADMS to "Force unique filenames".  Especially when working with a group.

2. Are you familiar with the "single-project" workflow?  I would recommend that you use only one Inventor project file (ipj).  This file is shared by everyone in the design team.

If you checked the files in (and you know where they went), when you go to a different workstation and it gets the old file..... I would say the mapping is incorrect on one of the workstations. Make sure that the workspace on both systems are mapped the same way.  Under vault>options, turn on "Show Working folder location".  You can compare this to both systems and it will tell you if the mapping is correct or not (they both should be the same).

Kirk

[pjvdstoel]

I see this as a bug as well. I'm glad others are experiencing the same issues. Hopefully they'll start resolving these issues...

---

@karthur1 wrote:

1. Are you allow non-unique filenames in Vault? I would recommend that you set the marker in the ADMS to "Force unique filenames".  Especially when working with a group.

2. Are you familiar with the "single-project" workflow?  I would recommend that you use only one Inventor project file (ipj).  This file is shared by everyone in the design team.

If you checked the files in (and you know where they went), when you go to a different workstation and it gets the old file..... I would say the mapping is incorrect on one of the workstations. Make sure that the workspace on both systems are mapped the same way.  Under vault>options, turn on "Show Working folder location".  You can compare this to both systems and it will tell you if the mapping is correct or not (they both should be the same).

Kirk

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1. No we are allowing non-unique file names in the vault. Even though we are working in groups. However this shouldn't be a problem as our parts are named by <partnumber> <description>. Therefore the chances of creating two files with the same name is very very rare. I have a discussion running internally to remove the description from the filename and disable unique file names in the vault.

2. Yes I am. We use one project file which is users are forced to use trough the vault.  We are all using exactly the same folder locations (most are on a server) Only the vaultworkspace is on every PC in the folder C:\Vaultworkspace so the path is equal for everyone.

[Senthil_Kumar]

@karthur1 and @pjvdstoel

Please take a look at the attached video. I do see prompts and Getting the latest while check out. Am I missing anything?

[karthur1]

Senthil,

The issue that I am having (just tried it again in Inv 2018.1 and Vault Pro 2018) is with an idw file.  It seems that if the idw that I have open is version 1, Inventor will not give me a warning that the file needs to be refreshed when I attempt to edit the idw.  I do get the warning if I try to edit any other version that is not the "latest" version. 

Kirk

[Senthil_Kumar]

@karthur1 IDW issue we are aware and we are working with Inventor on resolving that. Will keep you updated once we have a resolution. Thanks.

[pjvdstoel]

I've had a call from Autodesk yesturday. In a teamviewer session we were able to track down the problem. The problem is as follows: When you have an out of date file open, and inventor has seen any change so it needs a save, you won't be able to get the latest file using refresh file. This is because Inventor will keep using the file in memory. If you keep using the file in memory you'll likely be able to end up in a situation where you have serious troubles...

They are going to create a knowledgebase article for this.

Easy way to replicate:

1) open an out of date file

2) checkout the file (with force get from vault enabled!)

3) do some changes

4) undo checkout

5) refresh file -> You won't get the file from vault

I'm not entirely sure this is the only issue, or the only place where it occurs, but it is an easy method to replicate the problem.