Drafts, versions and where a definition came from
Lesson 6 of 25 6 min read
Nothing is changed in place. Learn the Draft, Live and Archived statuses, and what Shipped default and Locally owned mean.
The single most important habit in this course is this: you never change a map or profile in place. Each save makes a new version. Once you see why, publishing, rolling back and troubleshooting all make sense.
Every save is a new version
When you edit a live map or profile, Supply Lens starts a new version as a draft. The live version keeps running untouched while you work. Only when you publish does your version take over.
- DraftShows amber. Not used for messages. Only you can see what it would do.
- LiveShows green. Published and used for messages. Only one version is live at a time.
- ArchivedReplaced by a later version, or archived by an administrator. Not used.
When you publish a version, the version that was live before becomes archived.
Three consequences follow:
- Drafts are safe. Because a draft is never used, you can edit one while the live version keeps working.
- A draft cannot be tested on real data by publishing it "just for a minute". The only way to make a version run is to publish it.
- Archived is final. You cannot publish an archived version again. To go back, you copy its body into a new version. You will practise this in a scenario later.
Version numbers
Each version has a number. The page of a map or profile shows the version, its status, its scope and its integration. The version history lists every version so you can compare any two.
Shipped default or locally owned
A map or profile also shows where it came from:
| Shows as | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Shipped default | It comes with the platform. Each release can update it. |
| Locally owned | Someone edited it here. Releases do not update it any more. |
Editing takes it out of the release stream
Once a definition is locally owned, new Supply Lens releases no longer update it. That is deliberate, so a release never overwrites your work, but it means the shipped version can move on without you. If you only need a small difference from a shipped default, an overlay usually keeps you closer to future releases than a full edit.
Good to know
The developer notes add that releases publish shipped defaults as new versions, using the same publish checks you use, so a release can also hold an overlay that its new base would break. You will see what that looks like in the lesson on held overlays.
Reading a version list
Hilltop Coffee's own Acme API create map shows: v1 Archived, v2 Archived, v3 Live, v4 Draft.
- Messages are using v3.
- Someone is working on v4. Nothing changes for Hilltop until v4 is published.
- When v4 is published, v3 becomes archived and v4 becomes live.
- If v4 turns out to be wrong, nobody can "republish v3". They edit the live version and copy v3's body back in, making v5.
Recap
- Every save makes a new version; nothing is edited in place.
- Draft is never used, Live is used, Archived is retired.
- Publishing archives the version that was live before.
- You cannot publish an archived version again; copy its body into a new version.
- Shipped defaults are updated by releases; locally owned definitions are not.
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