Migration from Alfabet 11.8

In Alfabet 11.8, the way data workbenches were configured was different. The content of the content area was defined in Alfabet Expand while the layout was done in an administrative user profile in the Alfabet user interface. That configuration was then stored as default view. When a user opened the content area, the way the content area was rendered depended on three configurations used in the following way:

• If the user had changed the configuration, the user's configuration was used.
• If the user did not change the configuration, the default configuration done by the administrative user was used.
• If neither a user configuration nor a default configuration was available, the configuration in Alfabet Expand was used.

This method caused issues when merging the configurations. When a configuration was changed, the user was informed about it and needed to actively reload the default configuration, thus overwriting the user configuration and reverting the content page to default.

This approach is substituted with a new method with enhanced usability for both the solution designer and the end user. The content areas are easier to configure, and users experience an improved merging behavior between the configuration in Alfabet Expand and the configuration of the user.

Solution designers can create pages, add content items, and arrange these content items in a special user profile which is limited to users having access to Alfabet Expand. The configuration done by the solution designer in the web based content area designer directly changes the configuration stored in Alfabet Expand.

If a solution designer changes an already existing and used content area either directly in Alfabet Expand or in the content area designer, all changes are directly merged with the individual user's configuration without reverting changes done by the user and compatible with the new configuration in Alfabet Expand. New content items are added as last elements to the content page without removing content items added by the user or changing re-ordering of the existing pages performed by the user. If content items or content pages are removed in Alfabet Expand, they are also removed from the content areas changed by the users without changing the rest of the user configuration.

On migration from Alfabet 11.8 to Alfabet 11.9, a default configuration stored for the content area will overwrite the configuration in Alfabet Expand. The default configuration is the last configuration effort done by the solution designer and is therefore regarded as the final version of the content area. Content available in Alfabet Expand but hidden from the default configuration will still be persistent in Alfabet Expand. The Default Visibility attribute the attribute will be set to Hidden for content pages which were in Alfabet 11.8 available in the configuration in Alfabet Expand but hidden in the default configuration.