Mismatching cveids after ECV update

Hi there, can anyone advise?

We are trying to update an ECV which is referenced by a large number of EAFs. As an example, the ECV used to look something like this:

HAM (cveid0)
EGGS (cveid1)
BACON (cveid2)

After the change, the ECV now looks something like this:

HAM (cveid_very_long_hex_string)
FRIED_EGGS (cveid_very_long_hex_string)
SCRAMBLED_EGGS (cveid_very_long_hex_string)
POACHED_EGGS (cveid_very_long_hex_string)
BACON (cveid_very_long_hex_string)

Updating the ECV (and using the new Apply template to multiple EAFs) seems to work correctly in that the new ECV is registered. But existing annotations now have the “wrong” cveid - e.g. HAM annotations are still referenced as cveid0 even though the new references is different.

My question is, does this matter? Will it cause any issues?

In principle this doesn’t matter, there will only be issues in very special situations (see below at *). But it might be good to run the Multiple File “Update Transcriptions for ECVs” with the option “Don’t change the annotation value but update the reference to a corresponding CV entry instead” selected.
If this is the preferred behavior you could also tick the option “After changes in an ECV, don’t update the annotation value but update the reference to a CV entry” in the pane Edit Preferences->CV.
The default behavior is the other way round, see below also.

*) If you would later edit the ECV in an XML editor (or an old version of ELAN) and would add e.g. an entry:

JAM(cveid0)

and would then open an existing .eaf file with an annotation with value HAM(CVE_REF=“cveid0”), ELAN would update the value based on the reference, so HAM would become JAM (unless the option mentioned above has been set).

-Han

Many thanks, Han - understood.