Multi-User

Access to Capital Logic Designer Designs

You can run Capital Logic Designer in Single‑User mode or Multi‑User mode. In Single‑User mode, a design revision is locked to a single user while any one of its diagrams are open; therefore, other users can only open diagrams in the design revision with read‑only access. Multi‑User mode enables multiple users to make edits to different diagrams in a design revision concurrently.

Tip

Certain actions (such as editing the shared object definition of a shared object) are not permitted in Multi‑User mode. If you are running in Multi‑User mode, you can take exclusive access to a design revision to enable you to perform such actions. See “Opening a Design Revision in Single-User Mode”. Once you have completed the actions that require Single‑User mode, you must return to Multi‑User mode to enable other users to edit the diagrams in the design revision.

Enabling Multi-User Access

Multi-user access to Capital Logic Designer designs is controlled using a combination of a project preference and a configuration file setting. To enable multi‑user access to Capital Logic Designer designs, you must perform both of the following steps:

• Select the Enable multi-user editing of designs project preference. See “Project Preferences for Capital Logic Designer Designs” in the Capital Design Tools - Common Functions User Guide.

• In the \config\clientprops.xml configuration file, set the value of the logicdesign_multiuser_access element to “yes”. See “The clientpropsxml File Format” in the Capital Configuration Files Reference Guide.

Note

Multi-user access is controlled using both the project preference and the clientprops.xml configuration file to enable organizations to work in a mixture of Multi‑User and Single‑User modes, depending on their working practices. For example, if the project preference is set to enable multi‑user access, but the clientprops.xml configuration file on a user machine is configured to not permit multi‑user access, that user cannot use the multi‑user functionality. If the project preference is cleared to restrict multi‑user access, no user can access the multi‑user functionality, irrespective of the clientprops.xml configuration.

When you install the Capital software, by default the clientprops.xml file is configured to not permit multi‑user access. When a new project is created, by default the multi‑user access project preference is cleared.

Refreshing

Connectivity

Connectivity in a design (the connectivity objects and their connections) is refreshed each time you open and close the Properties Dialog Box of any object in your session. Alternatively, you can press the space bar and enter Refresh Design Connectivity to force a refresh. See also Refreshing External Data. Once connectivity has been updated, objects that other users have added to diagrams since the last refresh are displayed in the Design Browser.

Note

When you refresh, if no connectivity update is detected for a design, a message indicating the up-to-date design is generated in the output window.

Relationships Between Locks and Multi-User

Access

There are a number of considerations relating to operating Capital Logic Designer in Multi‑User mode and the locks that are created on diagrams and objects:

• When running in mode, Multi‑User users are permitted read‑write access to different diagrams within the same design revision. Once a user opens a diagram, that diagram is locked to that user and is dimmed in the Project Browser for all other users. You can hover over a dimmed diagram name to display a tooltip detailing who has the lock on the diagram and when the lock was created. The lock is released once the user who has the lock saves the diagram and closes it. If a diagram is locked to one user, other users can only open the diagram as read-only. See also Using Diagrams.

• Locking at the object level enables multi‑user access to edit Shared Objects and Design-Wide Objects. Instances of shared objects and design‑wide objects are dimmed on the diagram and Design Browser if another user is editing another instance of the object in the same design revision (with the exception of changing the size, shape, or location of the instance on the diagram). You can hover over a dimmed object name in the Design Browser to display a tooltip detailing who currently has the lock on the object, when the lock was created, and which diagram the object is being edited in. The lock is released once the user who has the lock saves or closes the diagram (with or without saving), or if they close the Properties Dialog Box of the object without applying any edits. Instances of the object on other diagrams in the design revision dynamically refresh to reflect any changes made to them. Note When one user has a lock on an object, other users can still access the Graphics tab and the Visible check boxes on the General tab in the Properties dialog box of the object, to change the way the object is displayed on their diagram. All other fields in the Properties dialog box will be read‑only. To display new objects in your Design Browser that other users have created on diagrams they are editing, you must refresh design connectivity. See Refreshing External Data.

• You can delete an instance of a shared object or design-wide object if doing so does not affect connectivity on diagrams that other users have locks on. However, if another user has a lock on an object in another diagram, you cannot delete an instance of the object. A message is displayed in the Output Window to explain why the object instance cannot be deleted.

• A conflict can occur if a user accesses the Generic Multicore Dialog Box or Overbraid Dialog Box at the same time as another user. The Available Conductors list in each user’s dialog box lists all the conductors that were available to add to a new multicore or overbraid. If one user clicks OK and creates a multicore or overbraid, the Available Conductors list in the other user’s dialog box does not immediately refresh, and might contain conductors that the other user has just added to a multicore or overbraid. If the second user attempts to create a multicore or overbraid containing those conductors, a message is displayed in the Output window to explain that the multicore or overbraid cannot be created. The Available Conductors list in the user’s dialog box is then refreshed to take account of the multicore or overbraid that the other user has created.

• If a user accesses the Edit Design Dialog Box, locks are created on all the diagrams in the design revision. The locks are removed when the user closes the dialog box.

Note

All messages relating to lock issues and conflicts are displayed in the Output window.

Opening a Design Revision in Single-User

Mode

There are certain actions that you can only perform when you have single-user access to a design revision. Right-click the design revision in the Project Browser and select Single User Mode. A message is displayed in the Output window to notify that Single‑User mode is active. The diagrams in the design revision are dimmed in the Project Browser for all other users.

Restriction

You cannot move to Single‑User mode if any other user is currently editing one of the diagrams in the design revision.

To end single-user access, right-click the design revision in the Project Browser and select Multi-user Mode, or save your changes and close the diagram.

Actions

That Require Single-User Mode

See the following table for a list of actions that require single-user access to the design revisions:

Action	Relevant documentation
Creating or deleting a diagram when one or more diagrams in the design revision are open.	Using Designs
Applying a style (at design or diagram level) when one or more diagrams in the design revision are open.	Applying Styles
Converting nets to wires on an individual design revision.	Converting Nets to Wires (Interactive Flow)
Generating harness connectors.	Generating Harness Connectors
Associating or dissociating a sub-connector to / from a parent modular connector.	Associating a Modular Insert Disassociating a Modular Insert
Finding and replacing property values, attribute values, and symbols.	Finding and Replacing Property Values, Attribute Values, and Symbols
Merging non-shared objects.	Merging Non-Shared Objects
Moving an object to another diagram.	Moving Objects from a Diagram to Another Diagram
Capital Schematic Generator functionality.	Capital Schematic Generator for Logic Designer
Capital Analysis functionality.	Capital Analysis User Guide
Bridging data in or out of Capital.	Capital Connectors
Managing connections.	Manage Connections Dialog Box
Converting a butt splice to a center strip splice and converting a center strip splice to a butt splice.	Converting a Butt Splice to a Center Strip Splice Converting a Center Strip Splice to a Butt Splice
Editing device connectors.	Adding a Device Connector Interactively
Generating harness connectors.	Generating Harness Connectors
Placing ICDs.	Placing ICDs
The following shared object actions:
Editing a shared object definition.	Editing Shared Devices and Connectors
Creating a new revision of a shared object.	Creating a New Revision of a Shared Object
Deleting unused shared objects.	Deleting Unused Shared Objects
Freezing and unfreezing shared objects.	Freeze and Unfreeze Shared Objects
Swapping out shared object revisions.	Swapping Out Shared Objects for a Compatible Revision
Creating a shared multicore or shared overbraid.	Creating a Shared Multicore or Overbraid
Applying constraints.	Using a Constraint to Set Properties and Attributes on Objects
Advanced naming.	Advanced Naming Functionality
Batch update actions including:
Batch update of library parts.	Performing a Batch Update of Library Parts
Batch name generation.	Generating Names for all Objects in a Build List, Design or Diagram

Parent Topic:

Designs

Capital Logic Designer User Guide, 2512

Unpublished work. © 2025 Siemens