Update All Children to Latest#

An item such as a study, a metadata package, or a variable set refers to its child items by a specific version. When somebody publishes a new version of a child item, the parent keeps pointing at the older version until the reference is updated. In the navigator, such an item is marked with a lock icon showing that a parent is out of date.

The Update All Children to Latest command updates every child reference of a single item to the newest version available, in one step. Unlike updating a checkout, which brings in changes that others have published to the checkout itself, this command rewrites the references held by the selected item so they point at the latest version of each child.

Update the children of an item#

In the ribbon, make sure the repository from which you want to receive the latest versions is selected in the repository dropdown.
In the navigator, select the item whose children you want to update. The item must be inside one of your checkouts.
Click the Update All Children to Latest button on the ribbon.
A progress dialog is shown while Colectica Designer checks each child and downloads any newer versions. You cannot work with other items until the update has finished.
When the update finishes, a message lists each child that was updated, with its item type, name, and the old and new version numbers. If every child was already at its latest version, the message says so and nothing is changed.
If any children were updated, the selected item is saved as a new version. Publish the checkout to share the updated references with other users.

How children are updated#

The command works as follows.

The items directly referenced by the selected item are gathered. Only direct children are considered. The children of those children are not updated.
For every child, the latest version number is requested from both the selected remote repository and your local items.
The newest version found in either location is compared to the version the item currently references. A child is only updated if a newer version exists.
When the newest version exists only on the remote repository, that version and its own children are copied to your local items first. When your local items already hold the newest version, nothing is downloaded.
The reference is changed to point at the newest version.

Children that could not be updated, for example because they could not be downloaded from the remote repository, are listed separately in the message. The remaining children are still updated.

Note

The Update All Children to Latest button is only available when a remote repository is configured, and when the selected item is inside a checkout. It is not available for items browsed directly in a remote repository, since those cannot be edited.