XML Authority's tools for tracking and documenting changes to schemas are managed from the Notes Pane. You can have XML Authority track changes to your declarations as you make them, and you can have XML Authority ask you for comments on changes every time you save the schema as a whole, creating a trail of information you can use to roll back changes if necessary.
Information on changes made to individual declarations is available in the Change Notes tab of the Notes Pane. You aren't allowed to add or modify the content here, but you can tell XML Authority to keep track of changes to elements across the entire document. When the 'Log Changes' checkbox is checked, as shown in Figure A, XML Authority will keep track of all changes to declarations using this space, making it much easier to go back (if necessary) to a prior version.
Figure A - The Notes Pane's Change Notes tab lets you see the information XML Authority remembers about past versions of your declarations.
By default, the Notes Pane opens to show information about the current declaration. To see or control the version information for your entire schema, use the 'Show Document' option of the View menu, as shown below in Figure B.
Figure B - The Notes pane 'Show Document' option lets you switch between viewing the comments for your declaration and the comments for your entire schema.
The final tab, Version History, allows you to tell XML Authority that it should ask for version information when the schema is saved. You can check the "Prompt When Saving" checkbox if you want XML Authority to request that information. While you can view that information here, as shown in Figure C below, you can't edit it.
Figure C - Displaying the version tracking notes for the entire schema
After you check the 'Prompt When Saving' checkbox, XML Authority will ask you for version information every time you save the schema, as shown below in Figure D. Enter the date, current version number, your name, and some notes for a complete entry, though all of the fields are optional and clicking the Ignore button saves the document without any new version information.
Figure D - Entering version information during a save
Once you've entered version information, you can read it in the Version History tab of the Notes pane, as shown in Figure E.
Figure E - Version information collected during the save will be presented in the Notes pane.
Copyright 2000 Extensibility, Inc.
Suite 250, 200 Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27516