Most problem conditions that can arise are handled automatically by MetaEdit+ and ArtBase. For example, if a user uses emergency exit, his user details in the repository are left in an inconsistent state; however, the next time he logs in, his user is automatically reconstructed.

Hardware or software failures can however cause the repository to end up in an inconsistent state. The ArtBase Reconstructor can help in these situations. To apply the Reconstructor you must first select a repository in the Startup Launcher and then choose Repository | Reconstruct Repository..., and enter your user name and password in the dialog that opens. All users can reconstruct their own user account as described in the ‘MetaEdit+ User’s Guide’, but other reconstruction operations require system administrator rights.

The Reconstructor shows a list of all users and a list of all areas. The radio buttons allow you to select an action to apply to the selected users or areas. First choose an action, then select the items to apply that action to, and finally press the Apply button.

User reconstruction will rebuild the user information for the selected users, so that they can log in again.

Cleanup areas will delete any temporary files that may have been left in the selected areas’ directories.

Unlock all objects will remove all locks from all objects held by the selected users in the selected areas, useful if a user has crashed in the repository, and his locks have not been released.

Reset object info will delete any dynamic files (*.cif) that may have been left in the selected areas’ directories.

Full database recovery will delete the current repository files, replacing them with those from the automatically created backup directory. As this destroys data, you should take a backup of the whole repository first. Note that full database recovery is different from restoring the whole repository from a backup copy that you have created: full database recovery copies files from the repository’s own backup directory, i.e. the state after the last successful commit, whereas restoring from your own backup replaces both the current files and the backup files from your copy of the whole repository, at the state when you made that backup.