Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Atoll 2.8.2 : Archiving the Modifications of an Atoll Document in the Database

Archiving the Modifications of an Atoll Document in the Database

When you are working on an Atoll document that is attached to a database, you should from time to time archive the modifications you have made to the data on the database. How frequently you should archive your document depends on several factors: the amount and size of changes you make, the number of other users using the database who may benefit from your modifications, etc. What you can archive depends on the user rights the database administrator has given to you. For example, you can have read access to the antennas table, allowing you to create a new Atoll document with the given antennas. However, because only the administrator can modify the properties of the antennas, you will not be able to archive any changes you make to the antennas without write access to the table.

The Atoll archiving process is flexible. You can archive all your modifications or only the site-related modifications. As well, when you are archiving, Atoll shows you all modifications that will be archived and, if you wish, you can archive only some of them or even undo modifications you have made locally. Occasionally, other users might have modified some of the same data and, when you archive your changes, Atoll will inform you of the possible conflicts and help you resolve them.

In this section, the following are explained:


"Archiving All Modifications in the Database"

Archiving All Modifications in the Database

To archive all your modifications in the database:

1. Select File > Database > Archive to the Database. The Archive dialogue appears (see Figure 2.13).

2. In the Archive dialogue, you can do the following:

- Click Run All to archive all your changes to the database.

- Select one item under Pending Changes and click Run to archive the selected modification to the database

- Select one item under Pending Changes and click Differences to view the differences between the local item and the item on the database.

- Select one item under Pending Changes and click Undo to refresh the modification with the original data from the database.

Figure 2.13: The Archive dialogue

3. If some of the data has been modified on the database since you last refreshed, Atoll stops the archiving process and asks you to resolve the conflict. For information on managing conflicts.

4. When you are finished archiving, click Close.



"Archiving Only Site-Related Data in the Database"

Archiving Only Site-Related Data in the Database

Archiving Only Site-Related Data in the Database

Atoll allows you to archive only site-related data if you wish. Which data is archived depends on the radio technology you are working with. For example, in a UMTS HSPA radio planning project, the site-related data are: sites, transmitters, cells, and neighbours.

To archive only the site-related data in the database:

1. Select File > Database > Archive to the Database. The Archive dialogue appears.

2. In the Archive dialogue, you can do the following:

- Click Run All to archive all your changes to the database.

- Select one item under Pending Changes and click Run to archive the selected modification to the database

- Select one item under Pending Changes and click Differences to view the differences between the local item and the item on the database.

- Select one item under Pending Changes and click Undo to refresh the modification with the original data from the database.

3. If some of the data has been modified on the database since you last refreshed, Atoll stops the archiving process and asks you to resolve the conflict. For information on managing conflicts.

4. When you are finished archiving, click Close.



"Resolving Data Conflicts".

Resolving Data Conflicts

Resolving Data Conflicts

Atoll enables several users to use the same database by allowing user to load the data and then freeing the database for other users. However, this also creates the possibility of two users modifying the same data. When the second user attempts to archive his changes, Atoll warns him that the data have been changed since he last refreshed the data and that there is a conflict.

Atoll allows you to resolve data conflicts. When Atoll finds a conflict, it displays the warning shown in Figure 2.14.

Figure 2.14: Conflict warning

You have three options:

Ignore: If you click Ignore, Atoll ignores items causing conflicts in the table being archived, archives all other modifications in the table, and continues with the next table. You can resolve the conflicts after the archiving process has ended. However, if conflicts are found in other tables, Atoll will warn you with the Database Transfer Error dialogue again.

Ignore All: If you click Ignore All, Atoll ignores all items causing conflicts in all tables being archived, and archives all other modifications. You can resolve the conflicts after the archiving process has ended.

Abort: If you click Abort, the archiving process stops. You can attempt to resolve conflicts before restarting the archiving process.

Whether you abort the archive process to resolve the conflict immediately, or wait until the end of the archive process, the procedure to resolve the conflict is the same.

To resolve data conflicts one by one:

1. In the Pending Changes pane of the Archive dialogue, select the conflict you want to resolve and click Resolve. There are two different types of data conflicts:

- On a modified record: You are in the process of archiving your modifications on the database and another user has modified the same data since you last archived or refreshed your data. A conflict is caused only by differences in the same field of the same record between the database and the current Atoll document.

The Conflict in Changes dialogue appears, with the fields in conflict highlighted (see Figure 2.15). In the Conflict in Changes dialogue, you can see the value of the field in the database in the Database values column, as well as the value of the same field in your document in the Current values column.

Figure 2.15: The Conflict in Changes dialogue

- If you want to overwrite the database value with the value of the same field in your document, select the check box next to the highlighted change and click Archive. Your modification will be written to the database, overwriting the value there.

- If you want to accept the value of the field in the database, clear the check box next to the highlighted change and click Archive. Your modification will be lost and the value in the database will remain unchanged.

- On a deleted record: You are in the process of archiving your modifications on the database and another user has deleted a record since you last archived or refreshed your data. For information, see "Resolving Data Conflicts".

Atoll displays a message explaining that the record you are trying to update has been deleted from the database (see Figure 2.16). Select one of the following:

Figure 2.16: Conflict on a deleted record

- Yes: Select Yes to store your modifications in the database, thereby recreating the deleted record.

- No: Select No to abandon your modifications to this record and delete this record from your document.

- Cancel: Select Cancel to cancel.

2. Click Close to close the Archive dialogue.

To resolve all the data conflicts:

1. In the Pending Changes pane of the Archive dialogue, select any conflict and click Resolve All. Atoll displays a message explaining how Resolve All works (see Figure 2.17). Select one of the following:

Figure 2.17: Resolving all the data conflicts simultaneously

- Yes: Select Yes to accept all the modifications made by other users in the database and update your document with values from the database.

- No: Select No to overwrite the modifications made by other users in the database with the values from your document.

- Cancel: Select Cancel to cancel.

2. Click Close to close the Archive dialogue.


Important: You should only resolve all the data conflicts when you are certain about the modifications.

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