Auto Check in to Vault

[cclark440]

<Max> - renamed topic to be more accurate...</Max>


Will auto check in for the vault ever be addressed?
Last I heard from Alibre, seven months ago, is that it is an M-Files problem.
M-Files of course say, it is an Alibre issue not implementing it correctly.

I know that I am not the only one having an issue with this.
I am not trying to be confrontational here, but I would love to know what the issue is, and if it is going to be addressed anytime soon.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Hey Max.....

We will investigate this for Alibre Design 2013.

 

[MikeHenry]

Re: Hey Max.....

And by then I will have lost yet more files. What the heck good is paying maintenance when issues like this are left untouched for 2 or 3 versions?

Maybe I am the only one that has a serious problem with Vault or check-in problems but over the past couple of months I have actually spent more hours recovering files from Vault or check-in failures than in creating new ones.

This is starting to seriously p%ss me off.

 

[ASP]

Re: Hey Max.....

I understand, that it is annoying that auto-check-in doesn't work with AD, but I never had any problems with that.
I get used to look at the "checked out" folder after I have finished work - press CTRL+A to select all files and check them in.

btw, this is not the only issue which exists over years ... and some of them really need more attention.

 

[Leigh]

Re: Hey Max.....

What the heck good is paying maintenance when issues like this are left untouched for 2 or 3 versions?

Mike,

Realize that when you pay maintenance you're not paying FOR anything. You're just putting money in Alibre's pocket.

I downloaded 2021 a week ago, and it won't install.

I posted a question about it here. No response.
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=13939

I sent an email to support at the same time... no response.

They care nothing about making the current release work, only about the "next" release.

- Leigh

 

[DavidJ]

Re: Hey Max.....

Leigh - I feel your comments above are a little hard on Alibre.

Paying for maintenance gives you access to new releases of the software that you otherwise don't get, it also gives you access to the support team.

I too have sometimes had some requests to support either take a long time to get a reponse, or get lost totally. I do also know though of specific cases where the support team has put a lot of effort in to sort out problems for other people. Do remember that e-mail is not a 100% guaranteed delivery, the suport ticket system may stand a better chance of getting a response.

I've also responded to your other post with my take on your question (for what it is worth).

 

[Leigh]

Re: Hey Max.....

Leigh - I feel your comments above are a little hard on Alibre.

Intentionally so. It's the old donkey and the 2x4 approach. At least I got a response (which I've not yet read).

I actually this this is a very good product. If I thought it was total junk I wouldn't waste my time posting here.

But you need to pay attention to details. Any damned fool can do 90% of a job.

(Speaking as a s/w engineer with over 40 years experience writing computer programs that work 100% right out of the box.)

- Leigh

 

[DavidJ]

Re: Hey Max.....

Leigh - I'll assume that 'you' in your post is directed at Alibre rather than me, I'm not an Alibre employee (I do some work with the local Alibre reseller here, but have no connection to the Alibre team in the USA).

40 years writing software that works 100% right out of the box - that's impressive. Depending on what you mean by work 100%, I could probably count on fingers of one hand the software I've experienced that does that (though some of that might be difference of interpretation between me and the vendor of what the software should do and how it should interact with the user).

The Donkey / 2x4 story isn't known to me - sorry.

 

[MikeHenry]

Re: Hey Max.....

I understand, that it is annoying that auto-check-in doesn't work with AD, but I never had any problems with that.
I get used to look at the "checked out" folder after I have finished work - press CTRL+A to select all files and check them in.

btw, this is not the only issue which exists over years ... and some of them really need more attention.

From my point of view, getting the Vault to work reliably is pretty much essential - where's the value in a program that destroys your work? It's kind of hard to appreciate all the new features in Alibre 2012 when you're project files are screwed up. For me, no other issue is more important so forgive me while I state that view. And continue to state it until it gets addressed.

I don't care how easy it is to manually check-in files - it only takes one instance of forgetting to check in for a project to get screwed up completely and M-Files has a built-in option to prevent this from happening. Why is it so hard for Alibre to implement that option? Maybe it is difficult for some reason, but no one from Alibre has said so, but barring that response I'm left to conclude that it just isn't of much importance to them.

 

[MikeHenry]

Re: Hey Max.....

What the heck good is paying maintenance when issues like this are left untouched for 2 or 3 versions?

Mike,

Realize that when you pay maintenance you're not paying FOR anything. You're just putting money in Alibre's pocket.

I downloaded 2021 a week ago, and it won't install.

I posted a question about it here. No response.
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=13939

I sent an email to support at the same time... no response.

They care nothing about making the current release work, only about the "next" release.

- Leigh

I'm pretty annoyed too, but wouldn't go quite that far. Close, though.

 

[ASP]

Re: Hey Max.....

where's the value in a program that destroys your work

can you please tell us how not checked in files get destroyed ? I don't understand what happens to your files.

it only takes one instance of forgetting to check in for a project to get screwed up completely

I use M-Files a lot, also from different workstations - ok it is annoying if I forget to check-in in office and cannot access files from home,
but this never has destroyed anything.

 

[MikeHenry]

Re: Hey Max.....

can you please tell us how not checked in files get destroyed ? I don't understand what happens to your files.

You'd have to ask Alibre that question. I've had problems more than once with Vaults that became corrupted and it was suggested that not checking in files might be the cause. My work flow and day makes it easy for files not to get checked in manually so the suggestion seemed reasonable to me.

 

[ASP]

Re: Hey Max.....

... not checking in files might be the cause...

... but you and/or AD support isn't sure about that, right ?
Don't get me wrong - I just want to understand what is going on, and how this can happen.

 

[MikeHenry]

Re: Hey Max.....

... not checking in files might be the cause...

... but you and/or AD support isn't sure about that, right ?
Don't get me wrong - I just want to understand what is going on, and how this can happen.

Well, I'm certainly not sure about it and it could well be due to the way I use Alibre and M-Files on two different PCs. During my last call to tech support, they suggested that I might best be served by converting from M-files back to the Windows File System. That reportedly entails doing a lot of "Save All As" routines and would literally take me days to get through with almost certainly several user errors to foul things up even more. M-Files was no help at all, though I may try again now that they have US phone support.

When I get time I will try to dig through the 160+ page M-Files manual and see if there is any solace there.

 

[cclark440]

Re: Hey Max.....

For me the biggest problem is because we have two people working in the vault and frequently working on the same project at different times, if one of use forgets to check in a sub assembly, then the other can't work on anything that is dependent on it.

The next concern, is that anything that is not checked in does not get backed up.

I know that there are work a rounds for this, but it sure would be nice for it to function properly.

I have never had the Vault lose data though.

 

[MikeHenry]

Re: Hey Max.....

Count yourself lucky - losing data in Alibre has been a major PITA for me, especially over the past few months. I'm about to upgrade to a new workstation at home and am in dread of migrating the Vaults from one PC to another. If the problems keep popping it will be time get off maintenance.