Why does Branch request to update feature library?

john_mcclary

Lately every time I branch a work space I get this message
Can someone explain what this really means?



What functionality is being added?
Doesn't Onshape auto-update in the background?
How long does this usually take?
Is it dependent on the size of the document? (tab count / part count)

It says I cannot access the doc, but I can (hope it didn't break it). I backed out of it and keep refreshing the main page waiting for this icon to go away.
Stuff like this is usually quick with Onshape, so I'm wondering why it is taking so long, etc..

MBartlett21

@john_mcclary
What it means is that the version it was branched from was using an older version of the Onshape STD library. This is because Onshape cannot update versions, in case it changes something in the version. You shouldn't need to worry about it and you can just choose 'Later' if you want. The main reason you might want to update is to access new functionality like what was added in the last update.

NeilCooke

@john_mcclary - one way you can tell is to open a Part Studio in the "old" version, right-click the tab and select "Show code". This will tell you the version number (the latest at the time of writing is 1174). All Part Studios get upgraded automatically as part of a system upgrade, but some occasionally get "held back" at an older version if there were any upgrade issues detected.

Jake_Rosenfeld

@john_mcclary

A little more background here, just to add some color.

Document upgrade is pretty complicated.  It happens every time we push an update, and it sort of works as follows. For each workspace (branch tip) of the document:

1. See what the geometry in the workspace currently looks like
2. Flip the switch on the workspace to use all of the new code (i.e. upgrade the workspace)
3. Check to see if any geometry has changed
4. If any geometry has changed, identify which features have different output, and set them back to the old version (i.e. hold back the features)
5. Ensure that holding back the features makes the geometry match the initial assessment of what it should have looked like
6. If holding back the features still shows the geometry changing, just leave the workspace at the old version as a final effort to preserve the geometry

So, best case is that the workspace is upgraded to the new version, and all the features are upgraded to the new version.  Good case is that the workspace is upgraded to the new version, but some features are held back.  Worst case is that the workspace is not upgraded, and has been left on the old version.

The worst case, though, is still an expected case.  We receive automated reports of these cases after running upgrade, and see if there is anything we can do about the ones that are public (with hopes that fixing the bugs we find in the public docs amount to general bug fixes that will also fix the private docs), and sometimes reach out to the ones that are private to see if they want to share with support.  Rest assured that Onshape employees never look at data that is not public, or is not explicitly shared with us.

Feel free to share this specific template document with support if you would like us to look into why it was not fully upgraded.

MBartlett21

@john_mcclary
What it means is that the version it was branched from was using an older version of the Onshape STD library. This is because Onshape cannot update versions, in case it changes something in the version. You shouldn't need to worry about it and you can just choose 'Later' if you want. The main reason you might want to update is to access new functionality like what was added in the last update.

john_mcclary

Ah, so it is because the version was older.. 

but it was doing it to versions that happen seconds earlier

MBartlett21

@john_mcclary
I think that maybe it had tried to update the workspace, but couldn't and was stuck at an earlier version. Maybe ask @NeilCooke about it?

NeilCooke

@john_mcclary - that is an odd one, especially on a brand new doc. The standard library has not been updated since Oct 17th so it shouldn't ask to update. Even using old custom features should not ask for an update.

Anyway, as @MBartlett21 says "You shouldn't need to worry about it and you can just choose 'Later' if you want."

Was the doc created from the "create" button or did you copy it from a template doc you may have? That would explain requiring the update.

Let us know if it happens again.

john_mcclary

It is indeed a copy of a document, but it was copied from my most recent branch that "should" have been "up-to-date" right?

NeilCooke

@john_mcclary - one way you can tell is to open a Part Studio in the "old" version, right-click the tab and select "Show code". This will tell you the version number (the latest at the time of writing is 1174). All Part Studios get upgraded automatically as part of a system upgrade, but some occasionally get "held back" at an older version if there were any upgrade issues detected.

john_mcclary

Yea, it's showing 1150 in the branch I copied. (which is my working branch)
and it is showing 1174 in the "main" branch

Looks like you don't update branches?

NeilCooke

Branches do get upgraded, but perhaps an issue was found - one way to find out is to let Onshape upgrade the branch, then once the clock icon has disappeared from the Docs page is to go back and "Show code" again to see if the number has changed.

Jake_Rosenfeld

@john_mcclary

A little more background here, just to add some color.

Document upgrade is pretty complicated.  It happens every time we push an update, and it sort of works as follows. For each workspace (branch tip) of the document:

1. See what the geometry in the workspace currently looks like
2. Flip the switch on the workspace to use all of the new code (i.e. upgrade the workspace)
3. Check to see if any geometry has changed
4. If any geometry has changed, identify which features have different output, and set them back to the old version (i.e. hold back the features)
5. Ensure that holding back the features makes the geometry match the initial assessment of what it should have looked like
6. If holding back the features still shows the geometry changing, just leave the workspace at the old version as a final effort to preserve the geometry

So, best case is that the workspace is upgraded to the new version, and all the features are upgraded to the new version.  Good case is that the workspace is upgraded to the new version, but some features are held back.  Worst case is that the workspace is not upgraded, and has been left on the old version.

The worst case, though, is still an expected case.  We receive automated reports of these cases after running upgrade, and see if there is anything we can do about the ones that are public (with hopes that fixing the bugs we find in the public docs amount to general bug fixes that will also fix the private docs), and sometimes reach out to the ones that are private to see if they want to share with support.  Rest assured that Onshape employees never look at data that is not public, or is not explicitly shared with us.

Feel free to share this specific template document with support if you would like us to look into why it was not fully upgraded.

john_mcclary

Thanks for the deeper dive

MBartlett21

@Jake_Rosenfeld
Is there any way, as a user, to 'force' an upgrade, even if it breaks things?

Jake_Rosenfeld

@MBartlett21

If you roll back to the feature, suppress it, and recreate the same feature with the same parameters, you are essentially forcing the held back feature to update.  It may break downstream references though.  The other way is to contact support and get us to do it

There is not really any way to force a braking workspace update, but really those should be really rare and its more common to see an upgraded workspace with a bunch of held-back features.

MBartlett21

Jake_Rosenfeld said:

@MBartlett21

If you roll back to the feature, suppress it, and recreate the same feature with the same parameters, you are essentially forcing the held back feature to update.  It may break downstream references though.

@Jake_Rosenfeld
The trouble with recreating it is the recreation has a new id and also it is often a lot of work (e.g updating a sketch)

john_mcclary

Not only that, how do you know which feature caused the update to fail

MBartlett21

@john_mcclary
If you choose to view code in the part studio and some features are held back, they are called with an "asVersion" parameter with the version that they were held back to.