Object Versions
The main unit which is used in VC/m is an object version. This is a logical grouping of one or more components at a specific stage of development.
The full, unique object version name is made up of three parts and is given in the form:
object base / variant . version
e.g. ABC/1.0
In the above example, ABC is the object base, 1 is the variant and 0 is the version number.
The object base is normally used to group together a unitary part of the application software. In practical terms, for an image, an object base would typically be a web page and the associated graphics files.
A variant is used to identify a high-level design difference. Any number of variants can exist in parallel over an extended period of time. It can be used, for example, for different language versions (English/Spanish/French), a customized version, or a major difference between two versions of an object.
Note: Each part of the object version name needs to comply with the valid naming conventions.
Object vs. Object Version
In VC/m, the combination of object base and variant is known as an object. It has a unique, two-part name, e.g. ABC/1
Each instance of the object also has a version number. The version is incremented
by one every time a change is made to the object, for example because of a correction,
a bug fix, the addition of new information or the development of new functionality.
ABC/1.4, for example, is version number 4 of object ABC/1.
Letters, numbers and most punctuation characters can be used. The version number is always an integer.
The maximum length of a full object version name is sixty characters.
A component can only be registered to VC/m when it belongs to an object version. Each object version can have several components of different types.
A single component may belong to more than one different object. Also, the same version of a component may belong to more than one version of the same object.
See Also: Objects Folder, Managing Objects, Components