A Windows desktop application for safe local editing of versioned documents. Check out a managed copy, edit it in your usual application, detect changes by content, and explicitly check in an immutable version. Stale checkouts become conflicts that preserve local edits.
Document editing crosses two persistence systems: a database and a filesystem. This project explores how to keep checkout metadata, document bytes and history consistent when files change externally, another writer advances the version, or an operation is interrupted.
- Managed working copies with restart-safe checkout state.
- SHA-256 detection of Unchanged, Modified, Missing and unreadable files.
- Explicit check-in and immutable versions.
- Optimistic concurrency, safe conflict recovery and local-copy export.
- Verified historical inspection and an append-only audit timeline.
- Conservative recovery of interrupted staging and orphaned managed artifacts.
- Optional generic XLSX, DOCX and PDF demo content.
- Self-contained Windows x64 ZIP and a per-user installer.
Modified working copy, ready for explicit check-in:
Conflict recovery and version history
A newer version blocks stale check-in while preserving local edits and recovery choices:
Immutable versions, the current version and the workflow audit timeline:
WPF views and MVVM commands call application services. Domain rules remain independent of UI and persistence. Infrastructure implements SQLite transactions, hashing and managed file storage.
flowchart TD
UI[WPF / MVVM] --> APP[Application services]
APP --> DOMAIN[Domain rules]
UI --> INFRA[Infrastructure / DI]
INFRA --> APP
INFRA --> DB[(SQLite metadata)]
INFRA --> FILES[Managed filesystem]
See architecture, workflow and recovery for invariants and tradeoffs. Detailed implementation history is retained separately.
- Hashes instead of timestamps: equal bytes mean Unchanged; touching a file does not imply an edit.
- Immutable versions: new content creates another artifact rather than replacing historical bytes.
- Optimistic check-in: a SQLite transaction verifies the checkout base before advancing the current version.
- Preserve conflicts: stale local edits cannot force-overwrite a newer version.
- Conservative recovery: database references define committed artifacts; unknown files remain untouched.
- Append-only audit: workflow transitions record typed events without rewriting past history.
121 tests pass in Debug and Release, with zero build warnings or errors. Coverage includes domain rules, SQLite transactions, external file changes, check-in rollback, concurrent writers, conflict recovery, interrupted staging, history, audit, MVVM commands, version metadata and delivery paths.
Local installer validation and its limits are recorded in release validation. GitHub Actions is configured to verify both configurations on Windows for pull requests and pushes to main; remote execution is pending these commits being pushed.
Development requires Windows and the .NET 9 SDK (global.json selects 9.0.305 with latest-feature roll-forward).
git clone https://github.com/dstojanoviccc/document-workflow-desktop.git
cd document-workflow-desktop
dotnet restore DocumentWorkflow.sln
dotnet build DocumentWorkflow.sln -c Debug --no-restore -warnaserror
dotnet test DocumentWorkflow.sln -c Debug --no-build --no-restore
dotnet run --project src/DocumentWorkflow.AppRepeat build/test with -c Release for the release quality gate. .NET 9 support ends November 10, 2026; a supported-framework upgrade is a near-term maintenance task.
Once the owner approves and publishes v1.0.0, the GitHub Releases page will contain the installer, portable ZIP and SHA256SUMS.txt. No public release is claimed yet.
The Windows x64 packages include the .NET runtime. Install for your current user, or extract the complete ZIP and run DocumentWorkflow.App.exe. An external editor/file association is required to edit Office/PDF documents. Packages are unsigned; Windows may show publisher or SmartScreen warnings.
User state lives in %LOCALAPPDATA%\DocumentWorkflowDesktop, independently of the executable. Upgrades and uninstall preserve it. See installation and packaging for checksums, backup, CLI packaging and reinstall behavior.
- Launch: a fresh user-data directory starts empty.
- Click Load demo data to add five generic samples explicitly.
- Check out Product Catalog, then Open it in your spreadsheet editor.
- Edit and save, return to the app and Refresh if needed. Observe Modified.
- Choose Check in. The current version advances to v2 and checkout completes.
- Choose View Details to inspect v1/v2 and the workflow timeline.
Competing publication remains a service/test scenario. Automated tests demonstrate stale-base conflicts without adding a fake production publishing button. See workflow examples.
| Location | Responsibility |
|---|---|
src/DocumentWorkflow.Domain |
Entities and workflow rules |
src/DocumentWorkflow.Application |
Contracts and use cases |
src/DocumentWorkflow.Infrastructure |
SQLite, managed storage and shell opening |
src/DocumentWorkflow.App |
WPF, MVVM and composition root |
tests/DocumentWorkflow.Tests |
Automated regression coverage |
demo-data |
Generic evaluation fixtures |
scripts, packaging, .github/workflows |
Local delivery and CI |
docs |
Architecture, installation and validation evidence |
This is a local application with optimistic concurrency, not a remote collaboration service. It has no automatic merge, force overwrite or updater. Storage corruption is outside normal recovery. Inspection copies can accumulate; unknown artifacts are deliberately retained. Filesystem recovery and audit writes cannot form one physical transaction. Actions predating audit persistence have no invented history.
Future maintenance may upgrade the target framework, add owner-managed signing and refine inspection-copy retention. These ideas are not implemented.
No license has been selected. Owner approval is required before adding one; public source availability does not by itself grant an open-source license.