Creating a Design Master

[NickBeckley]

i am trying to create a design master from my EAP file but I keep getting told I need to open the file exclusively. For the menu option to be available you have to have the project open but this seems to open in a non exclusive fashion. Can anyone tell me how I open the EAP file exclusively through EA?

Thanks in advance!

[qwerty]

Just have it locally somewhere on your machine.

q.

P.S. Personally I'd trust that MS Access replication only as far as I can throw it. Hope you know what you're trying to do.

[NickBeckley]

Unfortuantely that doesn't make any difference. We need to use design masters for disconnected (laptop) users and off site users. Our main repository is SQl Server. we are exporting to a EAP file and then using that for smaller teams to work on, and then remerging in a controlled fashion periodically.

[qwerty]

Good luck then  

Maybe you could consider using SVN or the like. It's a difficult matter and you should not take the first bus stop.

Have you tried to create a temp EAP and make it a design master? Sometimes MS Access leaves a lock file which you could remove manually before opening the EAP.

q.

[NickBeckley]

Unfortuantely to do this from the EA menu you have to have the project open. It's all a bit odd that it tells you what you need to do but doesn't give you an option to actually do it.

[qwerty]

What I meant:
- open EA
- select New Project
- create a new EAP (e.g. on the desktop)
- now issue "Make Design Master"
-> does that work for you?

The other topic: look for a <your eap filename>.ldb and remove that prior to opening your EAP. Then open your EAP once again and try the Design Master.

q.

[NickBeckley]

unfortuantely that still doesn't work. Looks like an impossible option. why EA doesn't have an option to open a project exclusively is quite mistifying. This is a complete show stopper for us. We are using a SQL server repository and TFS as version control but need remote users to be able to contribute to projects. Don't want them taking individual copies everywhere as they will be impossible to manage. My only thoughts now are to install SQL Server Express on their laptops and do some sort of export to there and work out how to cope with multiple users ont he same project. Doen't look like EA is actually designed with larger teams in mind

[qwerty]

In order to get help you should describe the symptoms you experience/steps you take rather than just saying "does not work".

q.

[NickBeckley]

I'm pretty sure I have described them in that I get a dialogue box that tells me i need to open the file exclusvely yet there is no option to do this. I have been pretty specific.

[Stefan Bolleininger]

Hi,

Do you have the EA security enabled?

Is your repository currently based on a file?

Are you able to create new replics?

Best regards

Stefan

[NickBeckley]

We have SQL Server repository with version control provided by TFS. I have created xml exports of my repository and imported them in to an EAP file. i wantt o trun this EAP file in to a Design master so i can create replicas which i can distribute to our off line team members. The issue I am having is when I have the EAP file open in EA and fromt he menu choose create master I get a message saying that "The database must be opened in exclusive mode before it can be replicated".

I hav e to have the database open to get the option on the menu. If it's not open the option is greyed out. I have tried this with security enabled and without. I have tried every level of locking as these seem to relate to the opens you get when opening an access database, but none allw me to do what I want.

I feel that I am looking for an option where i can open the project exclusively in the first place yet no such option appears to be available.

Once I have done this I can create replicas and see what happens when two or more users update the same artefact, and then work out how to resolve any confilcts. Once this is done I can then export the xml again and reimport in to the main SQL repository, comparing to the original base line, and checking in any changes that we want to keep.

[Stefan Bolleininger]

Is your current EAP disconnected from ALL TFS connections? If you have some links available this could be your problem.

Regards

Stefan

[NickBeckley]

The EAp file is not unser version control

[shimon]

This sounds like an interesting challenge. We use SQL but not a version control. Maybe I'll try something to see what you are experiencing.
Please state what version of EA you are using. When you write that you made an XML export, do you mena XMI?

In my experience, when exporting to XMI and changing any element, re-import into EA is imposible as there is a UID conflict. If you choose the option "Strip GUID" you import the ellements as new.

I would explore the root of making a specific branch a root and then use the XMI file created as the focal point instead of anothe EAP as a Design master.

This means that only one person can work on each unit defined as a root branch. Another downside of this is that as soon you define a root branch, all ellements under it are controlled units.

[NickBeckley]

It would appear that to create design masters you need the full version of MS Access installed. Once you have the master created replicas can be created without the full version as does the synchronisation process. Just trying it now to confirm if I'm right.