From MathWeb

Change management assistance in SWiM

Assume versioned links.

If the user modifies a document C, which contains versioned links to other documents D_i, some of which have been updated (non-minor changes) since the last edit of C, ask the user whether he wants to update these links to the most recent version.

• Maybe only those link types that are already defined in the ontology (in the upper document ontology?) should be considered
• or better based on user's preferences: ontological links only, or all :-)

How can we bring the ontology into play? Or: Is that necessary? If so, we need a "literal" ontology, which models most aspects of the OMDoc/XML format.

Contents 1 Setting 2 1st Step: Collect dependencies and changes thereon 2.1 Input 2.2 Processing 2.3 Output 3 2nd Step: Updating one link 3.1 Input 3.2 Output

Setting

editing mode (source or something else where the user can edit link targets)

1st Step: Collect dependencies and changes thereon

Input

• the currently viewed concept C
• maybe: from the (upper) system ontology: which links denote dependencies?
• maybe later: the dependency graph from the knowledge base (not by value, but by reference, i.e. the ability to query the knowledge base)
• maybe later: user preferences, for filtering link types

Processing

1. find all concepts D_i linked from C, together with the version number v given in the link
2. check whether there have been non-minor changes; let v' be the most recent version
   1. Implementation: check by modification date (cf. make), or by version number?
3. if not, process the next concept

Output

• the editing box, with indicators next to each updatable link
• records containing the number v' are included in each case, so that the 2nd step can be executed on the client
• Step 1.5: if the user clicks on an indicator, pop up a box with
  • links to D_i / v, D_i / v', diff(D_i / v,D_i / v')
  • buttons labeled keep and update

2nd Step: Updating one link

• or alternatively: update all links, by a button below the editing box
• even better: let user select (check-box) links to update!

Input

• the link to update: source S, target T, new target version v'

Output

• just change the link to T / v' in the editing box :-)