Activate file lock attribute upon file opening? - Alternatives?

Hi,

In my journey to make better use of Tinderbox, I’ve made it a habit to store all my tbx files in Dropbox.

Is there any way to receive a warning when a tbx file is already open on another mac?

Are there other ways to achieve this?
In the past I have played with git, but have lost how I did it.
Any people that use git on a common day to day basis to handle tbx files accross different macs?
If yes, do you have any pointer to a good simple git getting started guide?

As always: Thanks for helping out!

The GitHub wiki discusses file locking, and of course the wiki can help with other getting-started topics.

But of course storing files in Dropbox and storing them in GitHub are two different things.

The obvious question is: why not just remember to close a file and/or quit Tinderbox when you aren’t using it? No criticism, but GitHub seems massively over complicated for this simple purpose.

No, you just have to train yourself to close documents at the close of play.

A possible step is to set System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Advanced > Log out after xx minutes of activity. Test this first – it should close all open apps and then logout the machine. There’s a warning beforehand in case it gets activated while you are actually doing something on the computer, like texting your financial advisor about how to invest the money from that Nobel Prize you just received.

Logout is better than sleep. Letting the machine sleep while a document is open in Tinderbox is not a good thing, if you later open and change the document on another machine. Things get muddled that way.

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Thanks Paul, I’ll give it some tought and try it.
Thanks a lot!

Having used the Dropbox/Tbox combo for many years, I entirely agree with this by @mwra. For me it’s just part of the routine when going from one computer to another: saving and closing the files I’m working with in one place, before opening them elsewhere.

Of course it applies to many other file types as well – you wouldn’t want to be editing the very same Dropbox-stored Word document on two different computers at the same time. (I realize that Microsoft has conflict-resolution features that TB doesn’t, and that, for instance, online Google Docs are explicitly designed for multiple simultaneous editing sessions. But I think of file-closing as a standard working-with-Dropbox bit of computer hygiene, as opposed to a specific Tinderbox obligation.)

The good news is that you’re not likely to damage a file or lose info if you have it open in two places. Probably Dropbox will notice a conflict and store the conflicting versions of the file. If edits in one place have overwritten work done on the other computer, you could – if the differences were big enough – use Dropbox’s elaborate version-tracking capacities. That would let you go back and retrieve the conflicting earlier versions and hand-copy any data that might have been overwritten. Don’t ask me how that became part of “my experience”!

Just closing the files, when done at one computer, is the way to go.

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I mostly agree, but…
These days, I work across windows, linux and macOS, and off course, don’t forget iPad + iPhone…
Yes, I totally agree one needs a minimal “computer” hygiëne :wink:

I’d like to follow PaulWalters’ advice, but preferably I’d have this happen on all my computers at a specific time e.g. at 02:00 in the morning.

I’ll have a look at this article.

Thanks for your input!

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If you use Energy Saver preferences to shut down at a determined time, you will also want to have these settings in System Preferences > General.

Of course, the issue in this thread only relates to macOS, since the Tinderbox file cannot be opened by Tinderbox on the other platforms mentioned.

Thanks Paul, for the reminder. Already had this one ticked :wink:

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