HCL released a new version of the HCL Connections desktop plugins last month (March 23rd 2022) that included a new feature: auto locking.
Now back in the day when we still had CCM, the automatic prompt to checkout a file or not on opening was a great thing and sorely missed on the normal personal and community files. There, you had to manually lock and unlock each file when opening and closing them if you wanted to prevent others from working on the files simultaneously. So suggestions were made and requests sent in by multiple people (here, here, and here)…
And with the March 2022 release it was finally implemented. There is now the option to be prompted to lock a file on opening it.
There are three flavors to this option:
- Prompt to lock on opening files through the desktop connector
- Automatic lock the file anytime you open a file
- Not prompt to lock the file.
Prompt to lock
The first option will show the user a prompt on opening a file, asking them if they want to lock it. They can click yes, or no. Pressing no will not stop the file from being openend or being editable, it will simply not lock it. On closing a similar prompt is shown asking the user if they want to unlock the file.
Automatic lock
This will not prompt you but lock the file on opening and unlock it on closing. Now this might seem the best and easiest option as you don’t have to think about it but it will mean that all files you open are locked, regardless of whether you just opened it to read it or were truly going to change it. And if you have a file open for a long time, that might mean someone else can’t update it. So be careful with this option.
Never prompt to lock
The last option is similar to what the situation was before this new feature was introduced. Users can still manually lock the file by right mouse clicking or using the lock option in the HCL Connections tab like they were used too but don’t get a prompt.
Configuration
The behavior described above can be either set by administrator policies or changed manually through the preferences.
More info about the plugin and release notes can be found here