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What are unnamed snapshots useful for?

  • 1.  What are unnamed snapshots useful for?

    Posted Mon May 31, 2021 09:32 AM
    According to doc, an unnamed snapshot is created every time a developer saves the work.
    However I didn't find a way to browse or restore available unnamed snapshots and it seems not to be related neither to the "undo" feature.

    Regards

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    Eduardo Izquierdo Lázaro
    Automation Architect
    DECIDE
    +34609893677
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  • 2.  RE: What are unnamed snapshots useful for?

    IBM Champion
    Posted Tue June 01, 2021 12:43 AM
    Hi Eduardo,

    You can see the list of changes from the Revision History section which are representing the unnamed snapshots.
    To revert the code back from those intermediate changes, you need to take a named snapshot. You can see the take snapshot icon beside every changes. 
    All save operation created a new unnamed snapshot like, if you undo and save the changes, that will create a new unnamed snapshot. Internally it refers to the last saved snapshot to undo the changes.




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    Atanu Roy
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  • 3.  RE: What are unnamed snapshots useful for?

    Posted Tue June 01, 2021 02:16 PM
    The "Revision History" feature was removed from the product so they aren't as useful as they once were in terms of the end user. But it is used to save changes to a project in small incremental delta changes which helps with performance.

    They do show when changes were made and by who but this info is not exposed to the end user. IBM support can sometimes make use of this info to solve defects or explain an issue though.

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    TODD DEEN
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  • 4.  RE: What are unnamed snapshots useful for?

    IBM Champion
    Posted Wed June 02, 2021 06:14 AM
    The feature is not yet available in Web PD but still available in the deprecated Desktop PD.
    From a developer's point of view, this feature is essential, developer can visualize the history of changes and has the capability of reverting back to any earlier stage.

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    Atanu Roy
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  • 5.  RE: What are unnamed snapshots useful for?

    Posted Wed June 02, 2021 10:34 AM
    Hi,

    I would like to point out that desktop PD is no longer supported. And the feature was never added to BAW.

    If this is something important to customers then they should voice their opinions in the RFE portal. Although I have not heard much concern over it being removed.

    https://dba.ideas.aha.io/



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    TODD DEEN
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  • 6.  RE: What are unnamed snapshots useful for?

    Posted Wed June 02, 2021 11:06 AM
    Edited by Eduardo Izquierdo Lázaro Wed June 02, 2021 11:09 AM
    Hi Todd, that is the point, unnamed snapshots are useless with Web PD, only with deprecated Desktop PD, either "Revision History" is implemented in WPD or "unnamed snapshots" are removed.

    I don't have a clear opinion on that, but, in case that the feature is kept for future releases, I think that the default setting for the parameter <delete-unnamed-snapshots-between-named-snapshots> should be changed to true. In my opinion this is a more reasonable behavior. Today the default is false and if it's not noticed by the customer after several weeks with several developers they will do lot of "saves" and the DB breaks.



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    Eduardo Izquierdo Lázaro
    Automation Architect
    DECIDE
    +34609893677
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  • 7.  RE: What are unnamed snapshots useful for?

    Posted Wed June 02, 2021 12:44 PM
    Hi,

    They are only used internally and there is a clean up job enabled by default. It might be better to use that setting though if customers want more of them cleaned up. The default job should clean up enough that you aren't "breaking" an env with the DB volume in most usage scenarios.

    I would suggest using the RFE site to voice that opinion.

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    TODD DEEN
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  • 8.  RE: What are unnamed snapshots useful for?

    Posted Thu September 02, 2021 10:59 AM
    Edited by Mattias Edling Thu January 20, 2022 09:05 AM

    Well 21-26 persons have voted for this:
    https://dba.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/IWF-I-280 
    https://dba.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/IWF-I-442 
    https://dba.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/IWF-I-635 

    I certainly want it back. WebPD really dropped the ball here. Being able to see the exact history, retroactive snapshots and switching snapshots without exiting to process center - all gone ... 

    I think autosave should be optional and explicit finish editing the default.



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    Mattias Edling
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  • 9.  RE: What are unnamed snapshots useful for?

    IBM Champion
    Posted Thu September 02, 2021 11:06 AM
    Absolutely Mattias!

    I posted https://dba.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/IWF-I-635 and I can see it has been taken for future consideration.
    I also think this is much needed feature in WebPD and should be considered urgently. I cannot accept that a newer version is offering less features from a product point of view.

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    AtanuRoy
    Solution Architect
    Salient Process
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  • 10.  RE: What are unnamed snapshots useful for?

    Posted Wed June 02, 2021 08:17 AM
    Edited by Tamer Mohamed Wed June 02, 2021 08:20 AM
    There is only one unnamed snapshot available which is basically the last state you saved.

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    Tamer Mohamed
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  • 11.  RE: What are unnamed snapshots useful for?

    IBM Champion
    Posted Wed June 02, 2021 08:36 AM
    I don't think that understanding is correct, number of unnamed snapshots = number of saves.
    You can easily see the number of unnamed snapshots from Process Admin -> System Maintenance Status



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    Atanu Roy
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  • 12.  RE: What are unnamed snapshots useful for?

    Posted Wed October 13, 2021 08:30 AM
    I will add a related warning about removed snapshot functionality:

    If the process application is contained in a case solution, according to the brave new BAW world, you can create snapshots and view them BUT YOU CANNOT REVERT ANYTHING! The menu options are greyed out. I have checked this in both 20.0.0.2 and 21.0.2.

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    Mattias Edling
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  • 13.  RE: What are unnamed snapshots useful for?

    Posted Tue October 19, 2021 03:59 AM
    Edited by Mattias Edling Tue October 19, 2021 04:00 AM
    Anyone who knows a workaround for process applications inside case solutions? Please ...

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    Mattias Edling
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  • 14.  RE: What are unnamed snapshots useful for?
    Best Answer

    Posted Thu October 21, 2021 01:26 PM
    Hi Eduardo,
    As mentioned by others already, you can use the deprecated PD to view unnamed snapshot even for v21.0.2 even though it is not supported, can be still used to view unnamed snapshots.
    If you want you can delete the unnamed snapshot from Process Admin / REST APIs / WAS command and it can be automated also (in bulk at scheduled time or as and when created)

    But to your main question - What are unnamed snapshots useful for?
    I find it useful for situations when you have to track when a particular change was made and also by whom - These situations are few and far between but in such situations this feature could be a life saver. Imagine a new developer joining the team and they accidentally mess up something and do not inform anyone or are not sure if they messed up something. Over the course of enhancements and testing this is only discovered after sometime (and if the feature that is messed up is used very rarely then it is even more difficult to find). If you are a large team and /or some time has passed, then to back track this would be a big issue.

    Now you may think that okay the issue was identified and can be fixed then why backtrack, just check with the team.
    Well again it is not that often this can /will happen, but depending upon a few thing it would become necessary for the root cause to be found - who and when.
    If you are a contracting company and something like this happens then the company's image may be at stake (again depending upon a few things). The messed up feature can be rarely used but critical and then all eyes including senior management would be on this issue. Everyone would be asking Why and How was this be missed, entire process can be questioned. Then the responsible party / team / company would need to provide those answers. Finding out, when it happened and by via which ID would help come up with some of those answers and salvage the situation.

    And of course the given benefit of being able to use an unnamed snapshot to create a track from it is also there.
    But one should plan for eventual deletion of unnamed snapshot as per the team's requirement, whatever they may be.

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    Shivam Verma
    BPM Consultant
    IBM BPM Architect
    UI Developer / UX Designer
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  • 15.  RE: What are unnamed snapshots useful for?

    Posted Thu January 20, 2022 08:48 AM
    +1

    Today I used desktop process designer and its revision history to find the right unnamed snapshot and retroactively make it a named one, in order to revert changes to the main process. There is only one process and it is the top level artifact, so if it is messed up one cannot just replace it with minor error management like for services.

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    Mattias Edling
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