Episerver CMS Version Gadget Republish Breaks Download Option for Media Content

I came across an annoying issue with EPiServer media management related to versioning in EPiServer CMS from version 10 .0.1 onward.

Problem

Versioning in EPiserver for media content is supported and is a great feature. In CMS version 10 & 10.1 unfortunately due to a bug,  the media items become inaccessible if republished the older version of the content.

Here is the scenario to reproduce this problem

1- Upload a pdf or image file in media folder though EPiServer CMS edit.
2- Upload another version of the file, the EPiServer ask to Replace file or Skip .. choose to replace.
3- Now you can access the new version of the file. (So far so good)
4- Go back to/ select old version of the file and republish it.
and
5- the file is inaccessible.

As shown in the screenshot below taken from CMS version 10, the download option is disappeared and in 10.0.1 the download option becomes grayed out.




No matter what I do now, I can't bring the links and versions back to life unless I upload the file with different name.

As shown in the screenshot below the physical files exists in the Assets folder and I can open them without any problem.



I tested the above scenario on EPiServer CMS 9.1 and 9.7 sites and it works perfectly. So I came to the conclusion that it’s a bug in EPiServer CMS 10 and I reported to EPiServer support.

Solution

Episerver Support provided me with the following SQL script for the bug fix and it's been later fixed in the next released version of EPiServer. As always it is recommended to make a backup of the database before applying any scripts.

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[editCreateContentVersion]
(
 @ContentID      INT,
 @WorkContentID  INT,
 @UserName  NVARCHAR(255),
 @MaxVersions    INT = NULL,
 @SavedDate  DATETIME,
 @LanguageBranch    NCHAR(17)
)
AS
BEGIN
 SET NOCOUNT ON
 SET XACT_ABORT ON
 
 DECLARE @NewWorkContentID  INT
 DECLARE @DeleteWorkContentID    INT
 DECLARE @ObsoleteVersions    INT
 DECLARE @retval    INT
 DECLARE @IsMasterLang  BIT
 DECLARE @LangBranchID  INT
 
 SELECT @LangBranchID = pkID FROM tblLanguageBranch WHERE LanguageID=@LanguageBranch
 IF @LangBranchID IS NULL
 BEGIN
  RAISERROR (N'editCreateContentVersion: LanguageBranchID is null, possibly empty table tblLanguageBranch', 16, 1, @WorkContentID)
  RETURN 0
 END

 IF (@WorkContentID IS NULL OR @WorkContentID=0 )
 BEGIN
  /* If we have a published version use it, else the latest saved version */
  IF EXISTS(SELECT * FROM tblContentLanguage WHERE Status = 4 AND fkContentID=@ContentID AND fkLanguageBranchID=@LangBranchID)
      SELECT @WorkContentID=[Version] FROM tblContentLanguage WHERE fkContentID=@ContentID AND fkLanguageBranchID=@LangBranchID
  ELSE
      SELECT TOP 1 @WorkContentID=pkID FROM tblWorkContent WHERE fkContentID=@ContentID AND fkLanguageBranchID=@LangBranchID ORDER BY Saved DESC
 END

 IF EXISTS( SELECT * FROM tblContent WHERE pkID=@ContentID AND fkMasterLanguageBranchID IS NULL )
  UPDATE tblContent SET fkMasterLanguageBranchID=@LangBranchID WHERE pkID=@ContentID
 
 SELECT @IsMasterLang = CASE WHEN @LangBranchID=fkMasterLanguageBranchID THEN 1 ELSE 0 END FROM tblContent WHERE pkID=@ContentID
 
  /* Create a new version of this content */
  INSERT INTO tblWorkContent
      (fkContentID,
      fkMasterVersionID,
      ChangedByName,
      ContentLinkGUID,
      fkFrameID,
      ArchiveContentGUID,
      Name,
      LinkURL,
      ExternalURL,
      VisibleInMenu,
      LinkType,
      Created,
      Saved,
      StartPublish,
      StopPublish,
      ChildOrderRule,
      PeerOrder,
      fkLanguageBranchID,
      URLSegment,
      ThumbnailUri,
      BlobUri)
  SELECT 
      fkContentID,
      @WorkContentID,
      @UserName,
      ContentLinkGUID,
      fkFrameID,
      ArchiveContentGUID,
      Name,
      LinkURL,
      ExternalURL,
      VisibleInMenu,
      LinkType,
      Created,
      @SavedDate,
      StartPublish,
      StopPublish,
      ChildOrderRule,
      PeerOrder,
      @LangBranchID,
      URLSegment,
      ThumbnailUri,
      BlobUri
  FROM 
      tblWorkContent 
  WHERE 
      pkID=@WorkContentID
 
  IF (@@ROWCOUNT = 1)
  BEGIN
      /* Remember version number */
      SET @NewWorkContentID= SCOPE_IDENTITY() 
      /* Copy all properties as well */
      INSERT INTO tblWorkContentProperty
    (fkPropertyDefinitionID,
    fkWorkContentID,
    ScopeName,
    Boolean,
    Number,
    FloatNumber,
    ContentType,
    ContentLink,
    Date,
    String,
    LongString,
                LinkGuid)          
      SELECT
    fkPropertyDefinitionID,
    @NewWorkContentID,
    ScopeName,
    Boolean,
    Number,
    FloatNumber,
    ContentType,
    ContentLink,
    Date,
    String,
    LongString,
                LinkGuid
      FROM
    tblWorkContentProperty
      INNER JOIN tblPropertyDefinition ON tblPropertyDefinition.pkID=tblWorkContentProperty.fkPropertyDefinitionID
      WHERE
    fkWorkContentID=@WorkContentID
    AND (tblPropertyDefinition.LanguageSpecific>2 OR @IsMasterLang=1)--Only lang specific on non-master 
 
      /* Finally take care of categories */
      INSERT INTO tblWorkContentCategory
    (fkWorkContentID,
    fkCategoryID,
    CategoryType,
    ScopeName)
      SELECT
    @NewWorkContentID,
    fkCategoryID,
    CategoryType,
    ScopeName
      FROM
    tblWorkContentCategory
      WHERE
    fkWorkContentID=@WorkContentID
    AND (CategoryType<>0 OR @IsMasterLang=1)--No content category on languages
  END
  ELSE
  BEGIN
      /* We did not have anything corresponding to the WorkContentID, create new work content from tblContent */
      INSERT INTO tblWorkContent
    (fkContentID,
    ChangedByName,
    ContentLinkGUID,
    fkFrameID,
    ArchiveContentGUID,
    Name,
    LinkURL,
    ExternalURL,
    VisibleInMenu,
    LinkType,
    Created,
    Saved,
    StartPublish,
    StopPublish,
    ChildOrderRule,
    PeerOrder,
    fkLanguageBranchID,
    URLSegment,
    ThumbnailUri,
    BlobUri)
      SELECT 
    @ContentID,
    COALESCE(@UserName, tblContentLanguage.CreatorName),
    tblContentLanguage.ContentLinkGUID,
    tblContentLanguage.fkFrameID,
    tblContent.ArchiveContentGUID,
    tblContentLanguage.Name,
    tblContentLanguage.LinkURL,
    tblContentLanguage.ExternalURL,
    tblContent.VisibleInMenu,
    CASE tblContentLanguage.AutomaticLink 
        WHEN 1 THEN 
      (CASE
          WHEN tblContentLanguage.ContentLinkGUID IS NULL THEN 0    /* EPnLinkNormal */
          WHEN tblContentLanguage.FetchData=1 THEN 4    /* EPnLinkFetchdata */
          ELSE 1        /* EPnLinkShortcut */
      END)
        ELSE
      (CASE 
          WHEN tblContentLanguage.LinkURL=N'#' THEN 3    /* EPnLinkInactive */
          ELSE 2        /* EPnLinkExternal */
      END)
    END AS LinkType ,
    tblContentLanguage.Created,
    @SavedDate,
    tblContentLanguage.StartPublish,
    tblContentLanguage.StopPublish,
    tblContent.ChildOrderRule,
    tblContent.PeerOrder,
    @LangBranchID,
    tblContentLanguage.URLSegment,
    ThumbnailUri,
    BlobUri
      FROM tblContentLanguage
      INNER JOIN tblContent ON tblContent.pkID=tblContentLanguage.fkContentID
      WHERE 
    tblContentLanguage.fkContentID=@ContentID AND tblContentLanguage.fkLanguageBranchID=@LangBranchID

      IF (@@ROWCOUNT = 1)
      BEGIN
    /* Remember version number */
    SET @NewWorkContentID= SCOPE_IDENTITY() 
    /* Copy all non-dynamic properties as well */
    INSERT INTO tblWorkContentProperty
        (fkPropertyDefinitionID,
        fkWorkContentID,
        ScopeName,
        Boolean,
        Number,
        FloatNumber,
        ContentType,
        ContentLink,
        Date,
        String,
        LongString,
                    LinkGuid)
    SELECT
        P.fkPropertyDefinitionID,
        @NewWorkContentID,
        P.ScopeName,
        P.Boolean,
        P.Number,
        P.FloatNumber,
        P.ContentType,
        P.ContentLink,
        P.Date,
        P.String,
        P.LongString,
                    P.LinkGuid
    FROM
        tblContentProperty AS P
    INNER JOIN
        tblPropertyDefinition AS PD ON P.fkPropertyDefinitionID=PD.pkID
    WHERE
        P.fkContentID=@ContentID AND (PD.fkContentTypeID IS NOT NULL)
        AND P.fkLanguageBranchID = @LangBranchID
        AND (PD.LanguageSpecific>2 OR @IsMasterLang=1)--Only lang specific on non-master 
 
    /* Finally take care of categories */
    INSERT INTO tblWorkContentCategory
        (fkWorkContentID,
        fkCategoryID,
        CategoryType)
    SELECT DISTINCT
        @NewWorkContentID,
        fkCategoryID,
        CategoryType
    FROM
        tblContentCategory
    LEFT JOIN
        tblPropertyDefinition AS PD ON tblContentCategory.CategoryType = PD.pkID
    WHERE
        tblContentCategory.fkContentID=@ContentID 
        AND (PD.fkContentTypeID IS NOT NULL OR tblContentCategory.CategoryType = 0) --Not dynamic properties
        AND (PD.LanguageSpecific=1 OR @IsMasterLang=1) --No content category on languages
      END
      ELSE
      BEGIN
    RAISERROR (N'Failed to create new version for content %d', 16, 1, @ContentID)
    RETURN 0
      END
  END

 /*If there is no version set for tblContentLanguage set it to this version*/
 UPDATE tblContentLanguage SET Version = @NewWorkContentID
 WHERE fkContentID = @ContentID AND fkLanguageBranchID = @LangBranchID AND Version IS NULL
 
 RETURN @NewWorkContentID
END

or you can download the SQL script here