Side Effects of Using Application Locking

From time to time, a function will be closed without the normal shutdown procedures taking place.

This usually happens when the workstation is turned off or the workstation loses power with the function still active, or the database shuts down. In these situations, the application remains locked; anyone attempting to run the application after the abnormal close receives the message that someone is already working with it. To remove the lock, clear the original user's session from the list of logged-in Costpoint users on the Clear Users screen. Clearing users frees up the license count and removes application locks.

To alleviate some of the nuisance of the user side effects, Costpoint has a variation of user locks called restart locks. Restart locking is applied to those reports and/or processes that do not corrupt data in the database if they are resumed after an abnormal termination.

Restart locks work like user locks except that your system administrator does not have to clear the original user's session before the same user can restart a function. The message a user gets when trying to resume an aborted function is: 'You are already working with this function on another workstation. Select OK to close down that session and continue with this Startup, or Cancel to abort this Startup.' If you click OK, the other application that is/was running is stopped and the function screens display. If you click Cancel, the function's screen does not display.

There is one residual drawback to the restart lock. The prior connection still uses up a license. The only way to free up the license is to have your system administrator remove the prior session using the Clear Users screen. Let your system administrator know whenever you restart a restart-locked application so that he or she can clear your prior connection at a convenient time.

Restart locks thus have two benefits:

  • Users do not have to wait for the system administrator to unlock the aborted function.
  • When the resumed session is completed, the orphaned dynamic temporary tables are dropped.