plone.app.iterate-3.3.3-1.lbn25.noarch

iterate is a plone product that allows one to utilize a checkin / checkout procedure for content editing. It integrates in versioning, locking, and utilizes zope3 technology like adapters and events to allow for easy customization.

Features --------

• versioning utilizing cmf editions - locking using zope dav locks - pluggable behavior for policies via adapters - observable behavior via events - specialized handling for archetypes references - simple, clean integration with the plone user interface

Use Cases ---------

iterate was designed to solve/enable the following use cases.

Collaborative Document Editing Scenario =======================================

Workgroup or person working on a document, the ability to checkout and lock a document allows for a editing cycle, without concern of overwrites, and with an audit trail of versions.

Publish/Modify/Review Cycles on a CMS =====================================

A common theme in content management, is publishing a web document, and then needing to revise it but not to change the published web content, till the modified document has undergone a review cycle.

Iterate Lifecycle via the User Interface ----------------------------------------

iterate integrates with the plone user interface mainly through the actions menu. it adds three conditional actions to the menu.. checkout, checkin, and cancel checkout.

checkout form =============

on this form a user is asked to which location they wish to checkout the current content, the vocabulary of checkouts is overridable via template customization and is currently the current folder, and the user's home folder. if the content is not yet versioned, versioning is applied and a new version is created before the checkout is performed. an adapter is utilized to perform the checkout mechanics and an object lifecycle event is generated with the baseline ( origin ) and checkout as attributes. the adapter is responsible for effecting a copy of the content to the checkout location and taking a lock on the origin content. whether this form and action are active on a given piece of content depends on the iterate policy adapter found for this content.

checkouts have some system additional properties, versioning and workflow. they can be versioned independently of the baseline, with only changes from the latest version being merged into the baseline on checkin. they can undergoe separate workflows different from the baseline content. (this last feature requires some customization see docs/workflow.rst ).

checkout status form ====================

visually checkouts are distinguished by an extra document icon (next to sendto, and rss links). clicking on this icon will lead to a checkout status page. which allows for looking at information regarding the checkout itself, such as when the checkout was performed and by whom.

checkin form ============

a user is asked for a checkin message. on checkin the working copy is merged into the baseline, and a new version of the baseline is created, and the baseline is unlocked.

cancel checkout ===============

a confirmation dialog is displayed, if the checkout is canceled the working copy is destroyed, and the baseline is unlocked.