Versioning

Xponent includes project version control that allows snapshots to be created anytime. The snapshot consists of journeys, graphs, metrics, and connections. All users can view previous versions of those projects to which they have access.

Xponent strongly recommends always creating a deployment version and not using Current as a non-development deployed graph.

Creating (Publishing) a New Version 

To create a new version, navigate to the Project Settings section, choose Versions, and click on the Publish New Version button. You will be prompted for a description of the version.

As a best practice, you should always capture what you have changed as the description, your name as the creator, and the creation date for the new version.

Xponent will automatically prepend a version tag of the form 'v#' where # is an integer starting at one and capture the version created date. The description, creator name, and date of creation will be information that will appear when you want to compare between any two versions. This creates a locked snapshot of the project. Versions can not be deleted.

Choosing the Active Version 

The active version is the version as displayed in the editor. By default, the active version is the current editable version. Via the admin panel, user can change the functional version to view the contents of the previously published version. 

To view which version is active, go to the Project Settings tab. You will land on the Versions tab by default. 

The active version can be any of the published versions in the list, or it can be the current editable version. The active version is chosen by selecting the radio button for the version you want in the list of versions.

When the version is chosen, the Active Version will update to show the version number and name and will offer a locked padlock. 

Navigation items in the mapper and editor, and project page (and certain portions of the admin screen, like environments and connections), as well as deployments, will now show data from this this locked version.

The screen will be greyed out, and the ability to edit graphs or projects will be disabled until setting active version is Current. The locked padlock will appear at the top of the screen, along with the version description. 

Only graphs with listeners that were valid at the time of publishing of the version will be available to deploy/visual test.

If a published version is the active version when deploying a graph from the admin screen, that version of the graph will be deployed and will be indicated in the UI.

To resume editing, go back to the Admin console and select the checkbox next to the 'Current' version. This will then change back to the unlocked green padlock. 

Restore and Archive

It is possible to revert to a previous version and make that the current version. If you would like to save any changes that you have before restoring an old version, you must publish a new version before restoring a previous one.

When you restore a version, it will archive any future versions ahead of the one you are restoring. This will allow you to return to the original version stream later if this is just a temporary change. In the image above, version 2 is restored, and versions 3 and 4 are archived under version 2 and shown below.

To return to the original versions, use the Restore Archive button. 

If an archive is restored, it will reapply all versions in that archive. In the case of nested archives, it will only correct the top level of archives but will then open up the next level to be restored if needed.

Restoring Version With Missing Connection

Connection details are now decoupled from the graph definition, so the user will no longer be able to lookup connection details that existed in a previous version.

All versions utilize the current details. While restoring a version, if any connections are deleted or missing in your current version, a pop-up will prompt to notify you that application will create a blank connection for you. These blank parameters you must fill in before deployment. 

• Click Restore to proceed the restoration.

If canceled, subsequent attempts to restore the version will find the blank connectors already in place, and the prompt will not appear again.

Viewing Connection Details In Versions

The connection details are no longer part of the definition of the graph; therefore, they are not included in the version. Instead, all versions will use the connection details that are in the current version, if they exist.

Missing Connections

When a user selects a version of a graph from the versions tab and navigates to the connections tab to view the associated connections, user will be alerted if any of the connectors have been deleted.

Remember, at this stage, the application has not yet created blank connectors for that version, as no attempt to restore it has been made.

After restoring a version or deploying a graph that is being referencing connection details which are no longer exist (have been deleted). The application will create blank connection. Users will need to manually enter the connection and credential details for those, providing them with more control over the re-establishment of deleted connections.