SharePoint versioned document magic

Bil Simser describes in post http://weblogs.asp.net/bsimser/archive/2005/06/22/414258.aspx a “bug” he encountered with versioned document libraries. When a document is saved in a versioned document library, the timestamp of the then latest version of the document gets changed to one minute before the time stamp of the new saved document.

This problem is related to one of the biggest problems I have with document libraries. A document in a versioned document library becomes a "version" when a newer version of the document is saved.

An example:

I create a document called “VersionedDoc.doc” in the document library “http://myserver/personal/serge/VersionedDocumentLibrary”.

This document is URL addressable at: “http://myserver/personal/serge/VersionedDocumentLibrary/VersionedDoc.doc”.

As soon as I save a new version of the document, this version becomes “http://myserver/personal/serge/VersionedDocumentLibrary/VersionedDoc.doc”, and my first version of the document becomes: “http://myserver/personal/serge/_vti_history/1/VersionedDocumentLibrary/VersionedDoc.doc”. This means that at the moment of saving the new version of the document, the previous version of the document gets moved to a new location. It is not already created at this location. This leads to the timestamp issue. By the way: the next version is saved as: “http://myserver/personal/serge/_vti_history/2/VersionedDocumentLibrary/VersionedDoc.doc”.

Besides the fact that the version naming schema leads to weird URL’s, it also means that you can’t provide a URL to a version of your document upfront.

If I remember correctly, SharePoint Portal Server 2001 had the possibility to address the latest document as http://…/VersionedDoc.doc, and versioned versions as http://…/VersionedDoc.doc$versionnumber. If version 4 was the latest version it was both URL addressable as http://…/VersionedDoc.doc and http://…/VersionedDoc.doc$4. It is a pity that Microsoft decided to leave this naming schema.