Edit online

File Storage Integration: SVN Workflow Example

This topic presents an example for a workflow that can be implemented when the content is stored on an SVN server.

One-time Setup

  1. You need an SVN server, whose URL is something like this: http://example.com/svn/.
    Tip: If you do not have an SVN server, VisualSVN is an option with a simple setup process.
  2. Enable WebDAV support in the SVN server.

    This can be done by enabling SVNAutoversioning in your server configuration.
    <Location /svn>
      DAV svn
      SVNPath /usr/local/repo/
      ...
      SVNAutoversioning on
      ...
    </Location>

    Web Author will then be able to save files in your SVN repository by creating a commit with a default message. Note that Web Author will only commit on review branches so there's no reason to be concerned when doing this.

  3. Restrict Web Author to connect only to the folder with review branches. Do this by configuring the WebDAV connector with an Imposed URL pointing to the desired folder, for example http://example.com/svn/branches/review/.

Review Workflow

Suppose you have a project that contains documents you want to be reviewed by others and suppose its URL is: http://example.com/svn/trunk/ug/. Also, suppose that your organization uses a WebDAV server for file storage and the Oxygen SVN Client for versioning. The following procedure is an example of what your workflow procedure might be:
  1. Create a branch of the project in the review branches folder. You can do this either by using the Oxygen SVN Client or the following command line:
    svn cp http://example.com/svn/trunk/ug/ http://example.com/svn/branches/review/ug-1/
  2. Identify the URL for the file that needs to be reviewed by opening the file from the WebDAV tab in the Dashboard and copy the URL from the browser's address bar.
    Tip: You can also configure the URL to control or streamline the review process by specifying certain parameters. For more information, see Embedding an Edit Link that will Launch Web Author.
  3. Send the URL to the reviewers who will simply click the link to open the file in Web Author where they can make changes or add comments.
    Note: Web Author leverages SVN locking to avoid conflicts between multiple reviewers.
  4. Once the reviewers are done editing the files, you can merge the branch back into the trunk and commit. The command line would be:
    svn merge --reintegrate http://example.com/svn/branches/review/ug-1/