Mailing List Archive: Accidentally checkout out a story to the wrong workflow. Way to prevent this?

Accidentally checkout out a story to the wrong workflow. Way to prevent this?

ps at phillipadsmith

May 9, 2012, 3:59 PM

Post #1 of 11 (6133 views)

I'm investigating a strange issue that has confounded some Bricolage users I support for a while now:

+ The site has two story workflows, Story and Blogs.

+ Sometimes a user inadvertently hits the "Find story" link in the Blog workflow when actually looking for a story that should be in the Story workflow.

+ The resulting list shows both stories in the Blog workflow AND stories in the Story workflow, with "Checkout" checkboxes beside them all.

+ If the user accidentally checks out a story from the Story workflow, while in this Blog workflow search result screen, the story is moved into the Blog workflow. There is no option to revert this, the only option shown at the bottom of the story edit page are all Blog workflow related.

+ If the user issues a "Check-in and revert," the story ends up in an in-between state: the only option from the Blog workflow is "Checkout" (no Republish) and the only check-in options in the story edit screen are the Blog desks. From the Story workflow search screen, there are no checkboxes at all.

I don't think this is a feature, as it's very confusion to users who then lose control of the story. To correct the issue, I have to update the database to move the story back into the Story workflow.

Should this be happening? Any suggestions on a way to prevent it, either in the UI, the application code, or the database?

This is Bricolage 2.1.0.

Philip.

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Re: Accidentally checkout out a story to the wrong workflow. Way to prevent this? [ In reply to ]

leggn at denison

May 10, 2012, 4:31 AM

Post #2 of 11 (6049 views)

Hi Phillip,

On Wed, May 9, 2012 at 6:59 PM, Phillip Smith <ps@phillipadsmith.com> wrote:

> I don't think this is a feature, as it's very confusion to users who then
> lose control of the story. To correct the issue, I have to update the
> database to move the story back into the Story workflow.
>
> Should this be happening? Any suggestions on a way to prevent it, either
> in the UI, the application code, or the database?
>

This issue has plagued us since I can remember. We have well over 100
workflows (a Story and Media workflow for every academic department and
university office... yeah) and users who have access to multiple workflows
(e.g. First Year Studies and Student Affairs) often "lose" stories for
other users (e.g. someone who has First Year Studies but *not* Student
Affairs) by getting them caught in the wrong workflow or between workflows.

You can fix each instance of this in the database, but I think a Check In &
Shelve does just as well. Aside from that, I don't really have a good
solution for this yet.

Thanks,
Nick

Re: Accidentally checkout out a story to the wrong workflow. Way to prevent this? [ In reply to ]

bryancarney at gmail

May 10, 2012, 7:34 AM

Post #3 of 11 (6063 views)

We encounter this & fix it with a check in and shelve, too. If you have
access to the story log you can see which flow it was in last. Maybe
removing access to the other workflows on user/group level would prevent
from accidentally searching & checking out there?

Cheers,

Bryan

On Thu, May 10, 2012 at 7:31 AM, Nick Legg III <leggn@denison.edu> wrote:

> Hi Phillip,
>
> On Wed, May 9, 2012 at 6:59 PM, Phillip Smith <ps@phillipadsmith.com>
> wrote:
>
>
> > I don't think this is a feature, as it's very confusion to users who then
> > lose control of the story. To correct the issue, I have to update the
> > database to move the story back into the Story workflow.
> >
> > Should this be happening? Any suggestions on a way to prevent it, either
> > in the UI, the application code, or the database?
> >
>
> This issue has plagued us since I can remember. We have well over 100
> workflows (a Story and Media workflow for every academic department and
> university office... yeah) and users who have access to multiple workflows
> (e.g. First Year Studies and Student Affairs) often "lose" stories for
> other users (e.g. someone who has First Year Studies but *not* Student
> Affairs) by getting them caught in the wrong workflow or between workflows.
>
> You can fix each instance of this in the database, but I think a Check In &
> Shelve does just as well. Aside from that, I don't really have a good
> solution for this yet.
>
> Thanks,
> Nick
>

Re: Accidentally checkout out a story to the wrong workflow. Way to prevent this? [ In reply to ]

david at justatheory

May 10, 2012, 10:46 AM

Post #4 of 11 (6047 views)

On May 9, 2012, at 3:59 PM, Phillip Smith wrote:

> + If the user accidentally checks out a story from the Story workflow, while in this Blog workflow search result screen, the story is moved into the Blog workflow. There is no option to revert this, the only option shown at the bottom of the story edit page are all Blog workflow related.

Is ALLOW_WORKFLOW_TRANSFER set to NO in bricolage.conf?

David

Re: Accidentally checkout out a story to the wrong workflow. Way to prevent this? [ In reply to ]

ps at phillipadsmith

May 12, 2012, 2:32 PM

Post #5 of 11 (6047 views)

On 2012-05-10, at 12:46 PM, David E. Wheeler wrote:

> On May 9, 2012, at 3:59 PM, Phillip Smith wrote:
>
>> + If the user accidentally checks out a story from the Story workflow, while in this Blog workflow search result screen, the story is moved into the Blog workflow. There is no option to revert this, the only option shown at the bottom of the story edit page are all Blog workflow related.
>
> Is ALLOW_WORKFLOW_TRANSFER set to NO in bricolage.conf?

This is what's in bricolage.conf:

ALLOW_WORKFLOW_TRANSFER = No

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Re: Accidentally checkout out a story to the wrong workflow. Way to prevent this? [ In reply to ]

david at justatheory

May 12, 2012, 4:54 PM

Post #6 of 11 (6038 views)

On May 12, 2012, at 2:32 PM, Phillip Smith wrote:

>> Is ALLOW_WORKFLOW_TRANSFER set to NO in bricolage.conf?
>
> This is what's in bricolage.conf:
>
> ALLOW_WORKFLOW_TRANSFER = No

Yeah, that prevents stories from moving across workflows, but if a story is *not* in a workflow, it can be checked into any workflow.

At one point I was thinking it’d be nice to map categories to workflows, but I don’t recall anyone ever needing it before.

David

Re: Accidentally checkout out a story to the wrong workflow. Way to prevent this? [ In reply to ]

ps at phillipadsmith

May 15, 2012, 7:36 AM

Post #7 of 11 (6035 views)

On 2012-05-12, at 6:54 PM, David E. Wheeler wrote:

> On May 12, 2012, at 2:32 PM, Phillip Smith wrote:
>
>>> Is ALLOW_WORKFLOW_TRANSFER set to NO in bricolage.conf?
>>
>> This is what's in bricolage.conf:
>>
>> ALLOW_WORKFLOW_TRANSFER = No
>
> Yeah, that prevents stories from moving across workflows, but if a story is *not* in a workflow, it can be checked into any workflow.
>
> At one point I was thinking it’d be nice to map categories to workflows, but I don’t recall anyone ever needing it before.

Sorry, I'm not really following here… is the problem I'm experiencing -- where stories end up in the wrong workflow and get stuck there -- a feature or a bug?

Phillip.

--
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http://phillipadsmith.com
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Re: Accidentally checkout out a story to the wrong workflow. Way to prevent this? [ In reply to ]

david at justatheory

May 15, 2012, 7:44 AM

Post #8 of 11 (6031 views)

On May 15, 2012, at 10:36 AM, Phillip Smith wrote:

> Sorry, I'm not really following here… is the problem I'm experiencing -- where stories end up in the wrong workflow and get stuck there -- a feature or a bug?

Define “get suck.” If you have ALLOW_WORKFLOW_TRANSFER, then if you have a desk that is in two workflows, you can move it to that desk in one wf, switch to the other, and move it to a different desk. That's the only “feature.”

David

Re: Accidentally checkout out a story to the wrong workflow. Way to prevent this? [ In reply to ]

ps at phillipadsmith

May 15, 2012, 4:05 PM

Post #9 of 11 (6026 views)

On 2012-05-15, at 9:44 AM, David E. Wheeler wrote:

> On May 15, 2012, at 10:36 AM, Phillip Smith wrote:
>
>> Sorry, I'm not really following here… is the problem I'm experiencing -- where stories end up in the wrong workflow and get stuck there -- a feature or a bug?
>
> Define “get suck.” If you have ALLOW_WORKFLOW_TRANSFER, then if you have a desk that is in two workflows, you can move it to that desk in one wf, switch to the other, and move it to a different desk. That's the only “feature.”

I don't think that's the case here:

A) ALLOW_WORKFLOW_TRANSFER = No

B) One desk is Edit and the other is Blog Edit, so I don't see how they can be shared.

As far as I can tell, the issue is that when the user has clicked on Search in the Blog workflow, they i) see stories that are not in the workflow in the results and ii) there is a checkbox for "Checkout" that results in the story being checked out of the Story workflow, and into the Blog workflow.

I just can't get my head around how that is a correct / intended behaviour… what's the use case for it?

Phillip.

--
Phillip Smith
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Re: Accidentally checkout out a story to the wrong workflow. Way to prevent this? [ In reply to ]

david at justatheory

May 15, 2012, 7:11 PM

Post #10 of 11 (6030 views)

On May 15, 2012, at 7:05 PM, Phillip Smith wrote:

>> Define “get suck.” If you have ALLOW_WORKFLOW_TRANSFER, then if you have a desk that is in two workflows, you can move it to that desk in one wf, switch to the other, and move it to a different desk. That's the only “feature.”
>
> I don't think that's the case here:
>
> A) ALLOW_WORKFLOW_TRANSFER = No
>
> B) One desk is Edit and the other is Blog Edit, so I don't see how they can be shared.

Right, because they are not the same desk. You are not taking advantage of the feature.

> As far as I can tell, the issue is that when the user has clicked on Search in the Blog workflow, they i) see stories that are not in the workflow in the results and ii) there is a checkbox for "Checkout" that results in the story being checked out of the Story workflow, and into the Blog workflow.
>
> I just can't get my head around how that is a correct / intended behaviour… what's the use case for it?

Yes, it is a feature. Whether or not one can check a story into one workflow or another is dependent on the use case. Usually a user has access to only one workflow, so it's not an issue. But if they don't, they have to pay attention to which workflow they check it out into.

Check a story out into the wrong workflow? Check it in and shelve it, then switch to the other workflow, search for it, and check it out there.

Best,

David

Re: Accidentally checkout out a story to the wrong workflow. Way to prevent this? [ In reply to ]

ps at phillipadsmith

May 16, 2012, 8:55 AM

Post #11 of 11 (6026 views)

On 2012-05-15, at 9:11 PM, David E. Wheeler wrote:

> On May 15, 2012, at 7:05 PM, Phillip Smith wrote:
>
>>> Define “get suck.” If you have ALLOW_WORKFLOW_TRANSFER, then if you have a desk that is in two workflows, you can move it to that desk in one wf, switch to the other, and move it to a different desk. That's the only “feature.”
>>
>> I don't think that's the case here:
>>
>> A) ALLOW_WORKFLOW_TRANSFER = No
>>
>> B) One desk is Edit and the other is Blog Edit, so I don't see how they can be shared.
>
> Right, because they are not the same desk. You are not taking advantage of the feature.
>
>> As far as I can tell, the issue is that when the user has clicked on Search in the Blog workflow, they i) see stories that are not in the workflow in the results and ii) there is a checkbox for "Checkout" that results in the story being checked out of the Story workflow, and into the Blog workflow.
>>
>> I just can't get my head around how that is a correct / intended behaviour… what's the use case for it?
>
> Yes, it is a feature. Whether or not one can check a story into one workflow or another is dependent on the use case. Usually a user has access to only one workflow, so it's not an issue. But if they don't, they have to pay attention to which workflow they check it out into.
>
> Check a story out into the wrong workflow? Check it in and shelve it, then switch to the other workflow, search for it, and check it out there.

Okay. Will give that a try.

--
Phillip Smith
http://phillipadsmith.com
http://twitter.com/phillipadsmith
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