Life Cycle Navigator?
- by C.W.Holeman II
In many environments the file system directory structure and naming conventions attempt to allow one to use a file manager to navigate the life cycle of a document. This overloading of functions makes it difficult for users to handle the complexity.
A file browser is a tool that lets the user navigate among files located in a directory structure to find a specific file. Whereas, when given a specific file, a life cycle navigator is a tool that lets the user navigate its life cycle from source to published copy and across versions.
Does a Life Cycle Navigator exit?
I see a user pointing at an object:
Left mouse button displays the document
Right mouse button has a Life Cycle Navigator (LCN)
The LCN displays a tree for a specific document within a file manger, for example:
Published
3.2 Current
3.1
3.0
+2.x
+1.x
+Archived
+All
Source
Draft
3.2 Current
3.1
3.0
+2.x
+1.x
+Archived
+All
+Work Flow
+Properties
Or from a command line:
$ lcn x.pdf --open_source_document | my_favorite_editor
$ lcn x.pdf --show_published_version_info
$ lcn x.pdf --show_previous_publish_versions_info
See also, Life Cycle Navigator.