tips.html #1

<TITLE>Browser Tips</TITLE>

<P>
This page points out some ways you can use your web browser
to get the most out of P4Web.

<blockquote>
<a href="tips?help#bookmarks">Using bookmarks
</a><br>
<a href="tips?help#rightclick">Right-clicking on links
</a><br>
<a href="tips?help#backbutton">Using the "Back" button
</a><br>
<a href="tips?help#pagelimit">Resetting the page content limit
</a><br>
<a href="tips?help#filecontent">Displaying file content
</a><br>
<a href="tips?help#serverimpact">Reducing P4Web's impact on the Perforce Server
</a><br>
<a href="tips?help#filename">Workspace file link
</a>
</blockquote>

<DL>

<P><DT><A NAME=bookmarks><B>
Using bookmarks
</B></A></DT>
<DD>
You'll find that there are some P4Web pages you return to over and over.
Use your browser's bookmark (or "favorites") feature to store quick access
to those pages.
Simply navigate to a P4Web page that you'll be returning to frequently,
and bookmark it.
You may want use your browser's bookmark editor to give the bookmark
a more meaningful title.
<p>
You can use bookmarks to store any non-default settings
you choose (current client, file display preferences, etc.)
with the <b>Settings</b> tab. You can also use a bookmark to save your <A HREF="job?help">Jobs</A> list view preferences.
</DD>

<P><DT><A NAME=rightclick><B>
Right-clicking on links
</B></A></DT>
<DD>
In most browsers, right-clicking on a link lets you open the target page in a new window.
In P4Web you can use this to look at two pages at once.
For example:
<UL>
<P>
<LI> Right-click on "Help" whenever you want to be able to see both the Help page
and the page it describes at the same time.
<P>
<LI> Right-click on subdirectory links in the
<B>Files</B> tab
to browse a subdirectory without losing the page showing its parent.
</UL>
</DD>

<P><DT><A NAME=backbutton><B>
Using the "Back" button:
</B></A></DT>
<DD>
Your browser's "Back" button can be used in combination with
P4Web "Preview" buttons to preview a command first, then run it.
For example, if you want to preview an
<a href="integrate?help">integrate</a> command to make sure files
will be opened correctly, and <i>then</i> run the command,
do this:
<ol type=1>
<p>
<li>Click P4Web's <b>Integrate...</b> menu option
<p>
<li>Fill out the form to indicate how you want files opened for integrate
<p>
<li>Click the "Preview Integration" button and confirm that the files will be
    opened as you expected
<p>
<li>Click your browser's "Back" button to return to the form -- it should
    still contain the input you provided for the preview
<p>
<li>Click the "Integrate" button
</ol>
</DD>


<P><DT><A NAME=pagelimit><B>
Resetting the page content limit:
</B></A></DT>
<DD>
P4Web normally limits the amount of per-page data it sends to your browser to
1024K bytes.
You'll see the message "WARNING: page
content limit exceeded: data on this page has been truncated!" at the
end of the page if that limit has been reached.
If you have particularly large amounts of data you'd like to browse
(extensive file histories, for example) you can increase that limit.
Or, if your browser gets swamped displaying pages at the 1024K byte
limit, you can decrease the limit.
To reset the limit use the <b>Settings</b> tab.
</DD>


<P><DT><A NAME=filecontent><B>
Displaying file content:
</B></A></DT>
<DD>
P4Web provides two kinds of file content display:
<p>
<ul>
<li>
The first is used with all file types, and can be used
to make your browser display file content using the appropriate
associated application.
(For example, HTML content
and GIF content would be displayed by the browser, whereas PDF content
would be displayed by Adobe Acrobat.)
The <b>Edit file</b> <b>Action</b> menu option in the
<B>Files</B> tab is an example of this
kind of display.
<p>
Most browsers successfully use the filename suffix and/or the first few
bytes of the file content to determine how to open the file.
If you have a file whose suffix P4Web does not recognize, you'll either see garbage characters displayed in the browser or an error
message. Note that P4Web has some MIME information for files stored in Perforce, but it may send file content to your browser
without a MIME type header, and let your browser decide what to do with it.

<p>
      <li> The second is used with text file types only, and displays the plain text 
        content of a file within a P4Web page. The <b>View - depot file text</b> 
        <b>Action</b> menu option in the <B>Files</B> tab is an example of this 
        kind of link. All browsers can display text file content this way. 
    </ul>

</DD>

<P><DT><A NAME=serverimpact><B>
Reducing P4Web's impact on the Perforce Server:
</B></A></DT>
<DD>
If you are working with very large Perforce depots,
you can reduce P4Web's impact on the Perforce Server by:
<ul>
<p>
<li>Leaving the recent activity display turned off when browsing
paths at a high level.
<p>
<li>
Limiting your client view to a subset of the depot.
The fewer depot files there are mapped in your client
view, the less work the Perforce Server has to do for P4Web.
See <a href="editclient?help">Editing Client Specs</a> for information
about setting your client view.
<p>
<li>
Browsing in workspace mode instead of depot mode.
See <a href="browsemodes?help">Depot Browsing vs. Workspace Browsing</a> for more
information.
<p>
<li>
Browsing the client view of the depot instead of the entire depot, when
browsing in depot mode.
See <a href="settings?help">Settings and Preferences</a> to for more information.
</ul>

<P><DT><A NAME=filename><B>
Workspace file link:
</B></A></DT>
<DD>
When you are viewing a file's Revision History, you may see a field entitled <b>Workspace:</b> which is followed by
a link to the file on your workspace. If that link is displayed and you click on the file name, the contents of the file are displayed in
your browser window. Note the following restrictions:
<p>
<ul>
<li>The file must be local to the machine running the browser.
<li>Some browsers do not support this functionality.
</ul>
</DD>

</DL>