Cumulus supports asset versioning for assets stored in an asset versioning system like Cumulus Vault (see “Configuring Vault” ), as well as for assets stored in a Central Asset Location on your file system.
The proper way to modify a versioned asset and to create a new version is to check the asset out first, then edit it, then check it in again. However, with file system based asset storage – and in contrast to Vault based asset storage – an asset may be revealed and modified directly within the file system, i.e. without previously been checked out from Cumulus. Cumulus therefore allows to check in and create a new version of a modified asset that has not been checked out before.
Prerequisites
Versioning of assets can be set up for any catalog which employs a file system based Central Asset Location (Edit > Preferences > Catalog Settings > General > Use Central Asset Location).
The following prerequisites must be met to make file system based versioning work for a catalog:
• The special fields for versioning (contained in the catalog template Fields for Asset Versioning Control) must be included in the catalog.
• The configured Versioning Location – that is, the server and/or the path – must be available on every machine on which the Cumulus Desktop Client runs. If the Web Client is used, the Versioning Location must be available from the machine on which the Cumulus Web solutions are running.
Some Technical Background
Cumulus stores the versions of assets in hidden folders within the central asset location so that they can’t be revealed by simply browsing the file system. Only the current version of an asset is always visible in the file system.
NOTE: In order to prevent the accidental destruction of a current version of an asset, Cumulus always keeps a second copy of that version in a hidden folder. Every time Cumulus generates a new version from a changed, but not checked-out asset, this hidden file becomes the penultimate version.
Cumulus can generate new versions of changed assets every time the respective records are updated. Records can be updated either manually (via Metadata > Update Record) or automatically, e.g. via the auto cataloging function for source categories, or a scheduler action.