[pmwiki] [Pmwiki-users] CVS features was: discussion on line breaks

[Crisses]

> Page locking is really hard to handle in a system which is not 
> transaction
> based. An easy think could be a warning that someone else has started
> editing a page withing the recent 10 Minutes. Or a warning that someone
> else has an open editing session. It could even go that far, that 
> PmWiki
> checks, if the page was changed since the beginning of the editing 
> session.

I think the least obtrusive way to handle it is a version/timestamp 
check, as Patrick is saying.

Is it possible that when the form submission has a different version 
than the latest version of the document, a new query page is 
implimented so that the user is given two form boxes:  "This is the 
material you are attempting to submit" and  "this is the latest version 
of the page in question" -- this way one can cut & paste from one form 
text entry box to another without the loss of the newly input data?  
Each box can have a "submit this version" button I guess...making it 
easy to use either window to resubmit data, since it might be easier to 
edit from either window.

This page could include an "Use automatic merge feature" button, ,as 
well.

This issue is a little complex, unfortunately, but I don't see why it 
requires logins and sessions to do it.  And if you're not locking 
people out of editing pages that others are editing (an idea I don't 
like either), you're going to hit the same problems whether or not 
people are logged in.

I don't like the "X is editing this page, submit anyway?" solution.  
Perhaps if it were a multiple choice question such as

Alert!  This page has a more recent submission than you just edited 
from.
Would you like to:
[] See the latest page in a new window?
[] Merge your information into the new document automatically?
[] Re-edit the page from the newest version? (this will lose your 
recent editing work)
[] See your submission and the new data side-by-side in an editing 
window?

The first option would have to re-ask this question after the new 
window pops up, since it might not resolve the issue.
The second feature would probably work best with a "preview before 
finalizing" setup.
The third just re-opens a page edit window from the latest saved 
version and doesn't bother forwarding the Put data.
The fourth does what I was suggesting above and opens both so that you 
can cut & paste manually from one window to another.

Crisses
----
"...and then I found out that he is as pen-obsessed as I am...and that 
he even uses the same make & model of pen that I do.  Right then, I 
knew he was the man of my dreams and I could stop looking..."
   (conversation in my own head)