Introduction to CA ADS › Checkout and Release Procedures › How to check out or release an entity

How to check out or release an entity

Types of Checkouts and Releases

An application developer checks out and releases entities explicitly or implicitly.

Explicit checkouts

Explicit checkouts allow the developer to control and retain scope of an entity across repeated definition sessions and entry compilations.

An explicit checkout begins with either:

• An ADD action from the pulldown menu.
• A CHECKOUT action from the MODIFY pulldown menu. The named entity must exist in the dictionary.

When an entity has been explicitly checked out, no other developer can work on an existing entity until Release is specified. If Release is not specified, all other developers are limited to the Display and Switch actions.

Explicit checkouts end with either:

• A RELEASE action from the MODIFY pulldown menu
• A successful DELETE action

Explicit releases

This action checks the named entity in and releases it for use by another developer.

An explicit release occurs when:

• The user selects the RELEASE option from the MODIFY sub menu
• The user selects the DELETE DIALOG option from the DELETE sub menu

Implicit checkout

Implicit checkout is intended to facilitate a developer's work when a long scope of retention is not required. You use implicit checkout instead of explicit checkout when rapid deletion, compilation, or simple modification of one or many entities is required.

An implicit checkout begins with any of the following:

• A COMPILE action
• A DELETE action
• Entering the number of a screen in the Screen field and pressing [Enter] from the main menu screen

Note: If COMPILE or DELETE is successful, the dialog or application is automatically released. If unsuccessful, the application or dialog remains checked out to the developer.

When the entity has been implicitly checked out, checkin occurs automatically after the entity successfully compiles.

Implicit releases

Implicit releases end an implicit checkout and occur when the application developer does one of the following:

• Successfully compiles the entity
• Selects Modify from the action bar and chooses the Checkout option from the pulldown window
• Selects Delete from the action bar and chooses either the Delete changes or Delete dialog option from the pulldown window

This action checks the named entity in and releases it for use by another developer.

Releasing an entity

The application developer releases an entity by selecting Modify from the action bar and choosing the Release option from the pulldown window. The named entity must be checked out to the developer before that developer can release it.

The release action suspends the current session and allows another developer to check out the entity.

If the developer has made no changes to the entity definition, the queue records for the current session are deleted and the developer checking out the released entity receives the following message:

DC498102 Currency set for dialog empdemo version 1

If the developer has made changes to the entity definition and the entity has been released, the queue records are retained. Another developer can check the entity out and receive the following message:

DC498106 Dialog empdemo version 1 is recovered from a suspended session