Application Versions Types and Data Sets

As an Author, when you create and make changes to an Application you will often want to create different versions of that Application. A version or prototype of an Application is a snapshot of all the Application's Collections and their current state (including their Forms, Views, and Actions). The records in all of the collections of a specific version of an application is called a Data Set. It is possible to have several data sets within an application if you have more than one version. This will determine how applications that are linked together reference each other.

Prototype

Any version of the Application that exists in Coghead but has not been upgrade to a Production version is a Prototype. Prototypes are visible only to users with authoring privileges while in Author mode; end-users will never see prototypes. There can be many prototype versions of an Application, each prototype version has its own unique data set which is generated when the prototype version is created. The data set created for a new prototype will be generated off of the production data set, if no production version exists the data set will be copied from the version you created the prototype from.

Active Prototype

When you open an Application in Author mode, you will be taken to the active prototype version for that Application. If there are no Production versions of the application, any non-author user who can access the application will only be able launch the Active Prototype version. The active prototype is the only version of the Application that you modify and save. It is always, by definition, the most recent version of the Application and can also be a Production version as well. There can be only one active prototype at any given time. The Active Prototype's data set is also used if another application that is not in production is linked to the application. For example, if Application A does not have a production version and is linked to Application B, it will reference the Active Prototype's data set of Application B.

Production or Active Production

The Active Production version of the Application is the deployed version that end-users will see and interact with. The first time you promote a Prototype version to Production you will be asked if you would like to copy the Prototype data to Production. Again, this prompt will only appear the first time you promote to a Production version in order to protect the integrity of the Production data set.

The data for the Active Production version is a special data set and is always associated with the Active Production version of the application. You can roll the Active Production back to an older version of the application at any time by promoting that version to Production. The Active Production's data set is also used if another application that is in production is linked to the application. For example, if Application A has a production version and is linked to Application B, it will reference the Active Production data set of Application B.

The version of the Application that you are working on is shown next to the Application name. If the current version is not in production it will be labeled as prototype.

Changing Versions within an Application

You can quickly switch between versions of the application by using the pull down menu from the Application wrench:

1. Make sure Author mode is On.
2. Click the wrench icon next to the Launched Application's name.
3. From the menu that appears, select Change Version.
4. Click on the desired version from the version list.

Managing, Creating and Promoting Versions

As an author, you can view older prototypes, copy an older prototype to a new active prototype (to make changes), and promote any prototype to production. To see the version history:

1. Make sure Author mode is On.
2. Click the wrench icon next to the Launched Application's name.
3. From the menu that appears, click on Manage Versions to bring up the versions window.
   
   
4. Click on a row in the table to high-light it. For this version, click the action pull down menu to view the options for that particular version of the application. This versions table can also be found on the Account Management page to the right of the application list.
   
   
5. View allows you to launch the high-lighted version of the application. Authors can update a version to the Active Production version by selecting the Promote to Production option. The Copy to New Prototype option will create a new prototype version off of the high-lighted version.

Important: Always be careful when promoting prototypes to production, as this will instantly replace the Application that your end-users are interacting with.

Authoring the Active Prototype Version

If the version you are working on is the Active Prototype, or latest version of the application, you will see the Save and Save and Exit buttons when you try to author the application.

If your production version is also your active prototype, then you can make changes to the production version just as you can to any active prototype. Once you make changes to your production version, the save button will appear:

Clicking the Save button brings up a window where you have two choices:

1. Save - Save the changes directly to the production version without creating a new active prototype.
2. Save as New Prototype - Save the changes to a new active prototype version.

If you choose Save it is important to understand that you will be instantly updating the Production version that users are working on and there is no way to roll back this change. Therefore we recommend that you use this feature only for very minor changes, and only if you are absolutely sure that you will not be introducing problems in your application.

Save as New Prototype will save your changes to a new, active prototype. It will not affect the production version. You can choose later to promote this new active prototype to production if desired.

Authoring a non-Active Prototype Version

If you have an active prototype which is newer than version you are working on you will not be able to edit your this version directly. If you try to edit the application, instead of seeing a Save or Save and Exit button you will instead see a Save as New Prototype button.

When you click on this button a new prototype is created and accessible from the Versions menu. The new active prototype version created will be launched and the changes you made will be saved.