Xaf.EditDraft

A data-restore feature for DevExpress XAF Blazor applications: while a user edits a record, the library keeps a server-side copy of what they typed and did not save (a draft), and offers it back the next time that user opens the record — after a browser refresh, a lost connection, a closed tab, or an application restart. Drafts belong to the user who typed them, expire, and are never applied without the user's confirmation.

Status: extracted from the CareCrew application on 2026-10-03, where it runs behind configuration switches. This repository is the source of truth for the library from that date; CareCrew consumes the package. Version 0.2.0-preview.1 closed the library gaps found by the sample consumer (see "Status of the gaps"). Version 0.3.0-preview.2 adds the client-side input journal, off by default and not yet connected to restore (see the docs/edit-draft-client-journal-* write-ups). Version 0.4.0-preview.1 (breaking) leaves access to XAF security: who may restore or recreate a record is decided by the application's roles and permissions, plus one optional host check (IEditDraftAccessCheck); the scope and owner-kind concepts of the first host are removed (see docs/xaf-native-access-2026-10-05.md and the consumer guide's upgrade section). Version 0.4.1-preview.1 is a cleanup with no API change: the library source, texts and tests no longer name the first host's classes, files, screens or projects, and the Japanese PersonalLoginOnly text is reworded (docs/decouple-cleanup-2026-10-05.md).

Projects

Project	Purpose
Xaf.EditDraft.Core	Platform-independent engine: capture on ObjectSpace.ObjectChanged, payload, writer (owner-fenced T-SQL), restorer, new-record capture, type policies, switches, seams, texts (English default, Japanese)
Xaf.EditDraft.Blazor	XAF Blazor UI: capture/offer/restore controllers, the drafts list and its header action, ListView row badges and 開く, the new-record recreate host, the label editor, the row-badge stylesheet (_content/Xaf.EditDraft.Blazor/edit-draft-row-badge.css)
Xaf.EditDraft.Tests	NUnit tests of the library alone (no application code)
samples/Xaf.EditDraft.Sample	A minimal XAF Blazor application (one class, Note) built on the library with its default seams — the proof that the library works outside its first host. Its README lists everything a consumer supplies

Target: .NET 8. DevExpress 26.1.4 (Directory.Packages.props) is the tested floor: the version the library is built and tested with; older versions are not tested. XPO only. SQL Server only: the writer and the retention sweep use T-SQL, and the startup check stops an application whose store is in another database. The store table's schema is dbo unless the store class's XPO mapping names another ([Persistent("myschema.MyEditDraft")]).

Installing the packages

The library is published as two NuGet packages, Xaf.EditDraft.Core and Xaf.EditDraft.Blazor, on this repository's GitHub Packages feed. The repository is public, but GitHub's NuGet registry requires authentication even for public packages: a consumer needs a GitHub personal access token (classic) with the read:packages scope.

1. Add the feed once, with your own GitHub user name and token (never commit the token; the user-level NuGet.Config is the usual place):

   dotnet nuget add source https://nuget.pkg.github.com/JapanDave95/index.json --name xaf-editdraft --username <github-user> --password <token> --store-password-in-clear-text
   

2. Reference the Blazor package from the XAF Blazor application project and the Core package from the module project (the Blazor package depends on Core at the same version):

   <PackageReference Include="Xaf.EditDraft.Blazor" Version="0.4.1-preview.1" />

3. The packages declare the DevExpress packages they need (26.1.4) as dependencies and do not contain them. DevExpress 25.1+ packages are on nuget.org; building against them requires your own DevExpress licence key registered on the machine (%AppData%\DevExpress\DevExpress_License.txt, written by the DevExpress installer, or the DevExpress_License environment variable — see docs.devexpress.com/GeneralInformation/405494).

Current version: see <Version> in Directory.Build.props; release notes in <PackageReleaseNotes> there. Versions before 1.0 are previews.

Using it

Read docs/consumer-guide.md: it lists what a consumer supplies, what the library checks at startup, the security obligations and their limits, how access is decided (XAF security plus the optional IEditDraftAccessCheck), retention, and the upgrade steps from earlier versions. The working example is samples/Xaf.EditDraft.Sample. In short, a consumer supplies a persistent store class deriving from EditDraftStoreBase (the consumer owns the class name — security deny rows key on it), one EditDraftTypePolicy per captured type (which views, which members, how each member is restored; EditDraftDecisions helpers), three service registrations (AddEditDraftStore<TStore>(), AddEditDraftRegistry(...), AddEditDraftBlazor()), the two XAF modules (EditDraftCoreModule, EditDraftBlazorModule), the non-persistent object space provider, the configuration section EditDraftCapture (Enabled, Types:<PolicyId>:Enabled, ListViews:Enabled, NewRecords:Enabled — only the literal true is on), the stylesheet link, and EditDraftSecurity.DenyStoreToAllRoles in its ModuleUpdater. A retention sweep (AddEditDraftRetention() + EditDraftCapture:Retention:Enabled) is off unless turned on.

Build and test

dotnet build Xaf.EditDraft.sln
dotnet test Xaf.EditDraft.Tests
dotnet test samples/Xaf.EditDraft.Sample/Xaf.EditDraft.Sample.Tests

No test in Xaf.EditDraft.Tests depends on a file of another repository. The tests that read this repository's files find it by walking up to .git, so they are skipped only when run outside a git checkout (for example from a source archive).

Publishing a version

dotnet pack Xaf.EditDraft.Core/Xaf.EditDraft.Core.csproj -c Release and the same for Xaf.EditDraft.Blazor produce the two packages (and symbol packages) locally. The .github/workflows/publish-package.yml workflow builds, tests, packs and pushes them to GitHub Packages when a tag v<Version> is pushed, where <Version> is the value in Directory.Build.props; the job refuses a tag that does not match, and a tag is the only trigger (no manual run). Symbol packages are kept as a workflow artifact only, because GitHub Packages does not accept them. It needs one repository secret, DEVEXPRESS_LICENSE: the contents of the licence-holder's DevExpress_License.txt (DevExpress.com Download Manager → "Download License Key"), which the job exposes as the DevExpress_License environment variable so the DevExpress build analyzers can license the build. After a successful publish, a second job creates the GitHub Release from the version's CHANGELOG.md section (marked pre-release for versions such as -preview.1) and attaches the .nupkg files; it is the only job allowed to write to the repository, and it runs no repository code.

To release: add a CHANGELOG.md section headed ## <version> — <yyyy-mm-dd> — <short label> (the label becomes the Release title; the workflow refuses a tag without a section), bump <Version>, commit, git tag v<Version>, git push --tags.

Design and history

CHANGELOG.md lists what changed in each version. docs/ holds the consumer guide and the design and milestone write-ups in order: the original engine design (2026-09-30), the library extraction design and its three milestones (2026-10-01/02), the new-record capture design and result (2026-10-02/03), the sample consumer report (2026-10-03), whose last section lists the gaps G1-G15, the report of their closing (2026-10-04), and the report of the move to XAF-native access (2026-10-05).

The git history of the four project folders is the history they had inside CareCrew (git subtree split).

Status of the gaps

The gaps G1-G15 listed in docs/xaf-editdraft-sample-consumer-2026-10-03.md are closed in 0.2.0-preview.1 (docs/close-gaps-2026-10-04.md): startup checks for the prerequisites, a deny helper and a startup warning for roles that can read the store, an opt-in retention sweep, a schema option, host-neutral names and English texts, decision helpers, an all-types entry point for the drafts list, and the consumer guide. Still true by design: the writer does not use XAF security and relies on the owner condition in every statement; a type deny cannot bind an administrative role or object/member ALLOW grants (the startup warning names such roles); SQL Server and XPO only. Decided in 0.4.0-preview.1: the store base no longer declares the two columns the first host's tables have; a host that keeps them declares them on its own store class.

Licence

MIT (see LICENSE). The licence covers this library's own code. It depends on DevExpress components, which are not included and require a DevExpress licence of your own.