Warning when someone else already has a project open

[ispyisail]

When two people open the same project from a shared drive, nothing warns either of them. Both can edit, and whoever saves last silently overwrites the other's work. QElectroTech already stops you opening the same file twice in one window, but not across two PCs, two users or two running copies.

We propose two small changes. Neither changes the .qet or .qetz file, so older versions open everything as before.

1. Check before saving. QElectroTech remembers the file's date and size when it opens the project. If they have changed by the time you save, it asks: "Someone else saved this project at 10:04: Save as a copy / Overwrite / Cancel". This also covers older versions and shares that lose the lock file.

2. A lock file next to the project. A small hidden file (.~motor.qet.lock) says who has the project open, on which PC and since when. It is refreshed every minute and removed on close. The next person sees "Opened by Alex on WORKSHOP-PC since 09:12 (active 1 min ago)" and chooses Open read-only (the default), Open anyway (for a lock left behind by a crash) or Cancel. Read-only uses the existing read-only mode. Exports and scripts from the command line never stop at a dialog. A folder you cannot write to opens read-only, as it does today.

Qt's own QLockFile cannot be used as it is. A lock taken on another PC counts as abandoned after 30 seconds, and the file does not record a user name.

Later, editing together. The lock file holds a list of what is locked, starting with "the whole project". Later it could hold single folios, plus a lock on the whole project for jobs like renumbering wires, which change every folio a wire crosses. EPLAN and AutoCAD Electrical work this way. .qetz already stores one file per folio, so it can grow into this. A single .qet file cannot. Nothing here builds that part.

Questions:

1. Is a hidden lock file next to projects acceptable on your users' shares?
2. On by default, or a setting?
3. Should Open anyway exist? KiCad and LibreOffice both offer it.

[arummler]

Are people really co-working on files by putting them on a shared drive? That sounds crazy dangerous. I am used to check out / check in procedures.

[ispyisail]

If you want to become more professional...........