Dear John Haddy,
"John Haddy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> on 2001-06-06 06:58:01 PM reported
>Why, if I open a DDB as a guest (i.e. read only), does
>Protel go through a compaction cycle when I close it?
>
>(I have compact on save turned on, of course)
>
>For that matter, why does Protel allow me to make changes
>to anything in a read-only DDB at all? In theory, I can't
>save any changes I make.
>
>In practise, I can modify some aspects of the DDB that I
>should not be able to (as a read-only user). For example,
>I can delete files from the DDB and empty the recycle bin
>(not what you'd want a guest user to do!)
This sounds very disturbing.
Maybe what I call a ``read-only .ddb'' is different from what you call a
``read-only DDB''. Perhaps you're talking about the "Design Team | Permissions"
folder inside each .ddb file. I've never actually looked at that. (Does it do
anything useful ?). Let me tell you what I do.
In Microsoft File Explorer, I right-click on the .ddb file and click to make it
``[X] Read-only | OK''.
(I think the ability to read such read-only files was introduced in Protel 99
service pack 6).
Then I double-click on that .ddb file, which starts up Protel with the message
``Design _____.ddb is Read-Only. Do you wish to continue ?''.
Yes I do.
[Minor bug here: Protel creates a ``.ldb'' lock file in the same directory as
that ``.ddb''. This causes problems when the entire directory is read-only --
for example, when that .ddb file is on a CD-ROM. If the file truly is read-only,
I think Protel doesn't need to create a ``.ldb'' lock file. Work-around: copy
the file from the CD-ROM to my local hard drive. The [X]Read-only tag stays
attached to the file.]
Protel lets me make changes to the .pcb files inside that .ddb (this is
questionable). But when I right-click on the tab and close them, Protel tells me
``Database is in read-only mode. You can't modify "______.PCB"'', then closes
the .pcb file without saving those changes (reverting to the original on-disk
state).
If I then try to delete that .pcb file, Protel tells me ``Database is in
read-only mode. You can't delete "____.PCB"''. OK.
When I do ``File | Close Design'', I see a misleading message ``Compacting
Design'' on the status bar, but it doesn't display that blue creeping bar and I
don't hear my disk churn the way it normally does when I close a (unlocked) ddb.
After I exit Protel and look at Microsoft File Explorer, I see that the ``.ddb''
file I was ``editing'' still has the original modification date it had before I
locked it (several weeks ago).
Protel seems to be Doing The Right Thing with these read-only files, as far as I
can tell, with just a few cosmetic glitches.
--
David Cary
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