Comments on: The Duplicate Folders Mystery, Part II http://kominetz.com/2008/02/29/the-duplicate-folders-mystery-part-ii/ Software, Technology, Productivity Thu, 29 Apr 2010 02:27:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: thebluemountain http://kominetz.com/2008/02/29/the-duplicate-folders-mystery-part-ii/comment-page-1/#comment-859 thebluemountain Sun, 11 Apr 2010 20:52:45 +0000 http://kominetz.com/2008/02/29/the-duplicate-folders-mystery-part-ii/#comment-859 well, ... it's might actually be weirder than that ... when linking an object to a folder, you should use the link api. it either accept a folder's path (see the r_folder_path) or an object id (the folder one). now, enter the transaction in the picture: imagine the following transaction: 1- start the transaction 2- create folder B in existing '/A' folder 3- create a document Tx 4- link it to the folder you just created 4- commit the transaction next, imagine 2 threads / processes run the same transaction at same time with different value for Tx: at the end, you'd need 2 documents (ie: Tx1 and Tx2) in the same folder path /A/B: so far, so good. however, internally, what happens when committing the second transaction ? 2nd transaction is attempting to create the "same" folder (given its name) in the same parent (given its path): it succeeds ! question is now: what does succeed ? does it mean that i can have 2 folders with same name linked to the same parent ? answer is: no. under the hood, the content server patches the i_folder_ids of the documents (in fact, sysobjects) to match the elected "real" folder to use. when does it do so ? not sure about it: when the transaction is committed, one need extra time to refetch appropriate ids for created folders: the folder's i_folder_ids and the document's i_folder_ids are then corrected by content server with the id of the elected folder's instantiation. i didn't make any test using other attribute settings (ie: title) to figure about the logic of the folder election, but you might let developers know about it as well well, …
it’s might actually be weirder than that …
when linking an object to a folder, you should use the link api. it either accept a folder’s path (see the r_folder_path) or an object id (the folder one).
now, enter the transaction in the picture:
imagine the following transaction:
1- start the transaction
2- create folder B in existing ‘/A’ folder
3- create a document Tx
4- link it to the folder you just created
4- commit the transaction

next, imagine 2 threads / processes run the same transaction at same time with different value for Tx:
at the end, you’d need 2 documents (ie: Tx1 and Tx2) in the same folder path /A/B: so far, so good.

however, internally, what happens when committing the second transaction ?
2nd transaction is attempting to create the “same” folder (given its name) in the same parent (given its path): it succeeds !

question is now: what does succeed ? does it mean that i can have 2 folders with same name linked to the same parent ?
answer is: no.
under the hood, the content server patches the i_folder_ids of the documents (in fact, sysobjects) to match the elected “real” folder to use.
when does it do so ? not sure about it: when the transaction is committed, one need extra time to refetch appropriate ids for created folders: the folder’s i_folder_ids and the document’s i_folder_ids are then corrected by content server with the id of the elected folder’s instantiation.
i didn’t make any test using other attribute settings (ie: title) to figure about the logic of the folder election, but you might let developers know about it as well

]]> By: kominetz.com - The Duplicate Folders Mystery, Part I http://kominetz.com/2008/02/29/the-duplicate-folders-mystery-part-ii/comment-page-1/#comment-173 kominetz.com - The Duplicate Folders Mystery, Part I Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:09:44 +0000 http://kominetz.com/2008/02/29/the-duplicate-folders-mystery-part-ii/#comment-173 [...] Congratulations! You now have seen the man behind the curtain. This is how Documentum creates the illusion of folders and why sometimes the metaphor breaks down. Pretty clever really, but that’s exactly why it took me three years to solve the case of the duplicate folders, coming in Part II. [...] [...] Congratulations! You now have seen the man behind the curtain. This is how Documentum creates the illusion of folders and why sometimes the metaphor breaks down. Pretty clever really, but that’s exactly why it took me three years to solve the case of the duplicate folders, coming in Part II. [...]

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