AX2464

File locking

At any one time, only one user can have an Axiom file open with read/write access.

When a user opens a file as read/write, the file is "locked" to that user. Any other non-admin users that attempt to open the file can only open it as read-only. When the user closes the file, the lock is removed, and any other user with the appropriate level of rights can open it for editing.

NOTES:  

  • If a user has Read Only plus Allow Save Data security permissions to a file, that user can still save data from the file even if another user has locked the file. In this situation, the intent of the security permissions is to allow the user to be able to save data from a read-only file, so the file lock status does not prevent the save. However, if the user has Read/Write plus Allow Save Data security permissions, then the user must open the file with read/write access in order to be able to save data.

    There is one important exception to this rule—if a file is read-only because it is product-owned and therefore clients do not have the ability to open the file as read/write, then users with Read/Write plus Allow Save Data security permissions can save data from the read-only file.

  • Opening a file as an Axiom form does not lock the file. Axiom forms are always opened as read-only. If you need to lock the ability to save data from an Axiom form, you can use the optional save locking feature.

Administrators and file locking

Users with administrator rights have the option to remove another user's lock on a file. Typically, this is only done when a system crash or other technical issue prevents the file lockout from being removed normally. In this case, administrators can use Managed Locked Items to remove the lock on a file.

Administrators can also acquire another user's lock on a file. When an administrator attempts to open a file that another user has open as read/write, the administrator is given the option to open the file as read-only or to acquire the lock. If the administrator acquires the lock, then the file is opened as read/write for the administrator, and the original user no longer has the lock. This may prevent the other user from saving changes to the file, so generally you should not take another user's lock unless you are absolutely certain the other user does not need it.

The original user may be able to save the file if: the document lock is once again available when the user attempts to save, and, no other user has saved changes to the file and therefore incremented the document version. For example, if the administrator takes the user's lock accidentally, then immediately closes the file, and then the original user saves before any other user takes the document lock, then the original user re-acquires the lock and is able to save.

Users with the same file open in multiple sessions

If a user has a file opened in one Axiom session, the same user can open the same file in another session, both as read/write. For example, a user can open the same file in the Excel Client and the Windows Client simultaneously. In this situation, the first-saved file "wins" the lockout. If the version in the Excel Client is saved first, then that file becomes locked to the user, and the version in the Windows Client cannot be saved.