Global workflow¶

Saving and closing your workspace¶

Your work lives in the browser's local database while you use the app; the Save button in the header is what writes it out to your workspace file. Everything you change in between — a student added, a belt renamed, a script edited — leaves the workspace unsaved, and the header says so.

That indicator is stored with the data it describes, not merely held in memory: closing the app and opening it again later still reports the changes waiting to be exported, and Close — the one exit that wipes the local database — offers the save dialog rather than discarding them silently.

Leaving the page altogether (closing the browser tab, reloading) raises the browser's own "leave site?" confirmation as soon as anything is unsaved, be it workspace changes or an open script editor. See Editing a script for what happens to an edit in progress.

Opening a workspace saved by an older version¶

A workspace file carries the format version it was written at, and Automathon's format grows as the app gains features. A file saved by an older version is upgraded as it opens: the app fills in whatever the newer format expects, using neutral values, so nothing you had set changes meaning and no feature switches itself on behind your back.

The upgrade happens in the app, not in your file. A banner says which format the workspace came from, and the workspace counts as unsaved from the moment it opens — Save is what writes the file back in the current format. Until you do, the file on disk is untouched and still opens in the older version of the app.

Two cases cannot be upgraded, and are refused with an explanation rather than opened halfway:

• a file saved by a newer version of Automathon than the one you are running — update the app, then open it;
• a file older than the oldest format this build still knows how to upgrade.