Publish a version
Lesson 13 of 25 8 min read
Make a draft live, decide what happens to the overlays that follow it, and handle a publish that would break them.
Publishing is the only way a version starts running, and it can also move the overlays that layer onto the version you publish. In this lesson you will publish a draft, choose what happens to the overlays that layer onto it, and learn to treat a "this would break" message as a question rather than a failure.
Publish a draft
- On a draft, select Publish. If you have unsaved changes, select Save and publish.
- The Publish dialog opens.
- Read the note for the kind. A parse map is also checked against the document model; a send profile is also checked against the create maps that feed it.
- Look at the overlays that layer onto this map or profile, if there are any. Select Review changes to see the changes.
- Choose what happens to the overlays that follow this one (see below).
- Select Publish.
- When Version N is live. shows, select Done.
After publishing, the page shows the version as Live, with the Edit and Archive buttons. The version that was live before is now archived.
What happens to the overlays that follow this one
If other overlays layer onto what you are publishing, you choose how they move:
| Option | What happens |
|---|---|
| Move everyone who is following (default) | Supply Lens checks each floating overlay against the new version and moves it there. It does not change an overlay that is pinned to one version. |
| Publish without moving anyone | Each floating overlay is held on the version it uses now, so nothing changes for any organisation yet. |
Which to choose
Move everyone who is following is right most of the time: customers get the improvement, and anyone it would break is caught before anything is written. Choose Publish without moving anyone when you want the new version live for direct users of the base but want to move overlay users later, one at a time.
If the publish would break overlays
Supply Lens checks the overlays before it publishes. If the new version would break some of them, this shows:
Publishing this would break N overlays. Nothing has been written.
Read that last sentence: nothing has changed yet. You now have two choices:
- Go and fix them: correct the overlays first. This is the safe choice.
- Publish anyway and park them: publish now. The broken overlays become Held on the old version.
This is the dry run
The developer documentation describes this message as the dry run, not an error. There is no separate "test the publish" button; trying to publish is the test. The message gives you the list of who would break before you decide anything.
Parking is sometimes right, for example when the new version carries an urgent fix that every other customer needs today. But a held overlay is a debt: that organisation does not get whatever the new version changed until someone fixes the overlay.
If someone else published first
If another administrator publishes the same map or profile at the same moment, you see Another publish of this definition committed first. Open the map or profile again and look at the new version before you do anything else: the state you were looking at is out of date.
An urgent fix with an overlay in the way
You are publishing v5 of an Acme orders map, which fixes a tax rounding problem. The Publish dialog lists three overlays that layer onto it. You keep Move everyone who is following and select Publish. Prism replies Publishing this would break 1 overlays. Nothing has been written. The broken overlay targets a node that v5 renamed.
The fix is urgent for everyone else, so you select Publish anyway and park them. v5 goes live; the two overlays that fit move to it; the third becomes Held on v4. You open a ticket to fix the held overlay the same day, because until then it is missing the rounding fix.
Recap
- Publish (or Save and publish) opens the Publish dialog; Version N is live. confirms it.
- Move everyone who is following checks and moves floating overlays; pinned overlays are never moved.
- Publish without moving anyone holds floating overlays where they are.
- "Would break N overlays. Nothing has been written." is a dry run: fix them, or publish and park them as Held.
- If another publish committed first, reopen the definition before you continue.
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