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Editing Main Directly

Save every change straight to Main with no workspaces to manage, and see how versions, playtests and teammates’ merges work in this mode.

Editing Main Directly

When your project is set to Edit main directly, you change Main — the shared state of your project, the design your versions are made from — itself. There are no workspaces to create, switch or merge: everything you save is on Main straight away, and the next version you create includes it. It's the simplest way to work, and Leap recommends it when you're the only member of your organisation.

If your team works on the project together and wants to review changes before they reach Main, use workspaces instead; see Working with Workspaces.

Choosing This Mode

Pick Edit main directly in any of three places:

  • When you create a project — the New project form asks How will you work on it? on its second page (in the first sign-in wizard, under the project's name). See Creating a Project.
  • The first time you open a project without a mode — Leap asks "How do you want to work on “{project name}”?" and shows each mode as a card, with the recommended one badged Recommended and the reason under the title. Click Edit main directly. If the project already has open workspaces, the dialog says so.
  • At any time — open the project menu in the header, click the cog to open Project settings, choose Work mode and click Edit main directly. It applies straight away; there is nothing to save. If the project has open workspaces, Leap asks first (Edit main directly?): they stay as they are, but can't be opened while you edit Main directly.

The choice is saved on this device; others in your organisation choose for themselves.

Making Changes

Edit as usual — create elements in the Element Explorer, change them in the Inspector, build systems on the canvas — and click Save. Each save goes to Main. See Navigating Leap Studio.

  • The workspace menu — in the header, it reads Off. Opening it says "Workspaces are off for this project", with a link to Project settings → Work mode.
  • While Main is prepared — when you open the project, or switch it to this mode, controls stay dimmed for a moment with "Preparing main for editing…". If Main can't be prepared, it stays read-only ("Main couldn’t be prepared for editing.") and a bar under the header offers Retry.
  • Slugs — resource and constant slugs can be changed at any time. Other slugs can be changed until the element is part of Main's history, which happens the next time you create a version, start a playtest on Main · current changes or switch the project to Use workspaces.

What Your Teammates See

Teammates who also edit Main directly see your saved changes the next time they open the project. Teammates who use workspaces see Main's history: your changes join it when you next create a version, start a playtest on Main · current changes or switch the project to Use workspaces, and a workspace they create starts from it.

Playtesting

On the Playtest tab, the Playing picker lists Main · current changes first and selects it. When you press Start a playtest, Leap checks Main, adds your saved changes to Main's history as Changes on main, and plays them. Unsaved edits are not included. See Playtesting Your Design.

Creating a Version

Create version in the Deployment menu makes a version of every change you saved on Main; the dialog notes "Includes every saved change on main." Before the version is created, Leap asks about any unsaved edits (Save all and continue, Continue without them or Stay) and checks Main: if something needs fixing, the dialog stays open and lists it under "This version wasn’t created:". Pick an environment under Deploy to to deploy the version in the same step. See Versions and Deployments.

The Bar Under the Header

The work mode is chosen per device, so a teammate who uses workspaces can merge one into Main while you edit Main directly. Leap combines the two for you. When it needs you, a bar under the header says why:

  • "Main’s changes overlap with changes merged from a workspace. Choose which to keep." — click Review. The Combine changes on main dialog resolves them the same way as a merge's conflicts (see Working with Workspaces, "Resolve Conflicts"), except that Main is what was merged from the workspace and Workspace is what was edited on Main directly. Click Combine to finish.
  • "Main has changes that can’t be checked, so they couldn’t be combined with the latest merge." — Show issues lists what to fix; fix it and click Try again.
  • "Main couldn’t be updated with the latest merged changes." — click Retry.
  • "Main was just updated elsewhere. Your change was saved. Reload to see the latest." — click Reload.

If you save an edit while Main is being updated and Leap can't add it to Main, it keeps the edit in a workspace and the bar names that workspace. Switch the project to Use workspaces to review and merge it.

Switching to Workspaces

Open Project settings → Work mode and click Use workspaces. Everything you saved on Main stays on Main: Leap checks Main first and adds your changes to Main's history, the same way it does before creating a version. If Main has a problem, the mode doesn't change, and Work mode shows "The work mode wasn’t changed:" with each problem and how to fix it. From then on Main is read-only, and you make your changes in workspaces.

Next Steps

If your team will work on the project together, read Working with Workspaces. Otherwise, head over to Creating Resources to add your first resource.