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BranchView functions

General representation of version information

Representation of extended version information

Funktions table

Menu: examples

Mouse usage: short overview

Keyboard usage: short overview

BranchView plugin for Eclipse


Representation of version information

What BranchView shows is closely depend on BranchView configuration.

If BranchView were started with default configuration, information about all revisions from all branches, which P4 Client can offer to selected file/directory, is gotten. For the designed example file //depot/perforce/testroot/itest/Test.java it looks in such a way:

Fig. 1: Representation after the start with default configuration

If you starts BranchView for some files in depot without to have permissions to see them, following picture would be shown:

Fig. 2: Representation after the start without permissions for some files in P4 depot

The difference: fewer revisions are represented, some are orange and dotted, other red bordered.

If you close now BranchView and starts in the "-offline" mode, the program tries to load and show the old log file. Since the information is now only "second-hand", BranchView draws all versions with orange dotted borders.

Fig. 3: Representation after the start only with "-offline" parameter

And in the next picture all kinds of the relations are represented, which BranchView knows: branch, copy, ignored, merge, edit, integrate, delete.

Fig. 4: Further characteristics of the representation (after the start with default configuration)

 

Representation of extended version information

BranchView can represent much more then the information shown already. If you goes with the mouse over one of the revisions, BranchView draws a "ToolTip", that contains extended information about the revision:

Fig. 5: Representation of the extended information about a "well-known" revision

 

Function table

There are many functions, which are reachable on three different ways: by mouse, keyboard or two menus, which appear by 1x right click on the background or revision. For nearly each function an appropriate menu entry exists.

BranchView offers two different context sensitive menus: one for the general operations and one, which is revision-depend. If a menu option is not activated (light grey), it means that this operation is not possible in the current context.

Menu name Description of the function Characteristics /
enabled if
Shortcut or mouse usage

Special revision - menu
collapse/expand this branch Make less/more space between "uninteresting" revisions. One revision must be clicked. -
get info's for this branch Fetch information about the selected branch from Perforce. One as "unknown" represented revision must be clicked. 2x left click
diff to...

Mouse: by marking of the two versions one after then other a custom configured Diff tool is automatically started.

Menu: a help dialog shows.

In the "offline" - mode not available.

"deleted" revision cannot be compared with another.

1x left click on "from" - revision and then 1x left click on "to" - revision
copy path to clipboard Copies P4 depot path of the selected version into the clipboard.

One revision must be select/clicked.

Ctrl + C
copy data to clipboard Copies information about the selected version into the clipboard.

One revision must be select/clicked.

Ctrl + D

General menu
save as image(s) + html... Shows a dialog to store the entire view as a set GIF - pictures with one overview HTML file. Needs a lot of time. Ctrl + S
save data to file... Shows a dialog to store the entire received data into log file. This file will contain text data, formatted like data from:
"p4.exe -s filelog -l -i".
Ctrl + T
copy data to clipboard Copies the entire received data into the clipboard. Only if nothing selected. Ctrl + D
set properties... Open a properties dialog. Setted properties are valid for all opened BranchView windows. Ctrl + P
clone view / open new window Open a new window with the same view.   Ctrl + N
view another depot file...

Menu: open a dialog to select a new depot file to show in the same window.

Keyboard: the possible path information from the clipboard will be evaluated. This path information will be used to retrieve new data from P4 and to show in the same window.

Selecting directory with lot of files can lead to OutOfMemoryError (~by over then 300 revisions).

Don't working, if clipboard contains invalid path or path is not under client's root.

Ctrl + V
load view from logfile...

Shows a "open" dialog. You can select file, that contains previously stored BranchView log. View data will be reloaded with information from this file.

The file must contains text data, formatted like data from:
"p4.exe -s filelog -l -i".

Strg + L
redo layout Redo layout. All custom user layout changes will be lost.   Ctrl + R
collapse/expand all branches Make less/more space between "uninteresting" revisions (like edit->edit...->edit->edit in the same branch). One revision must be clicked. Ctrl + E
get info's over all branches Fetch information about all branches, which are currently not "well-known" it must be at least one "unknown" revision Ctrl + I
zoom Increase / decrease view zoom.

Can lead to OutOfMemoryError by over then 300 revisions.

Ctrl + '+' zoom in, Ctrl + '-' zoom out
x space Increase / decrease the distance between the branches in the view. Can lead to OutOfMemoryError by over then 300 revisions. -
y space Increase / decrease the distance between the changes in the view. Can lead to OutOfMemoryError by over then 300 revisions. -
help Shows short online help.   F1
about Shows some information about the system, Java runtime environment, BranchView version etc. If you submit a bug, please copy this information to your message. You can simply select all information from about screen with mouse and then copy selected data to clipboard. Ctrl + A

 

Menu: examples

Here the information about all branches is already complete and therefore menu entry for requesting the data from Perforce is deactivated.

Menu if information about all branches is already complete
Fig. 6: Menu if information about all branches is already complete

 

If you clicks one revision 1x left, this will be represented as "selected", and a thin line follows the mouse. That means that the first revision for the Diff tool was selected and now a second revision must be clicked.

Fig. 7: Start selection of revisions for the Diff - tool

 

Now the second revision is selected, and a configured Diff tool is started automatically. In order to delete this marking later it is enough to simply click with the mouse 1x left somewhere on the background or on the first selected revision.

Fig. 8: End of the selection of revisions for the Diff - tool

 

In configuration dialog you can specify all run time parameters of BranchView. This properties are shared between all BranchView windows started withhin the same Java VM. BranchView will save settings on close. You can found BranchView property file tp4branchview.ini in %user home% directory. Don't edit this file if BranchView is running: BranchView will overwrite them on exit.

Fig. 9: Configuration dialog

 

Keyboard usage: short overview

Keyboard usage:
CTRL + E collapse/expand either selected or all branches
CTRL + N open new window with same content
CTRL + V change view to path from clipboard, if clipboard contains valid P4 depot path
CTRL + C copy P4 depot path of selected revision to clipboard
CTRL + D copy information over selected revision to clipboard
CTRL + D copy information over all known revisions to clipboard, if nothing selected
CTRL + S open dialog to save view as GIF-image
CTRL + R redo view layout
CTRL + P open properties window
CTRL + L open dialog to load data for view from log file
CTRL + T open dialog to save all view data as text
CTRL + '+' increase zoom
CTRL + '-' decrease zoom
'Pos 1' jump up
'End' jump down
F1 show online help

Mouse usage: short overview

2x left click over revision fetch more data (if available) from Perforce.
1x click over empty background skip current selection.
1x left click and drag over revision move this revision,
1x left click and drag over background scroll the view
1x left click + CTRL + SHIFT hold and drag over a revision move entire view.
1x right click, (or 1x left click + CTRL hold) and drag over a revision move entire branch.
1x right click over background open a general menu.
1x right click over a revision open a special revision menu.
1x left click select first revision for a diff-tool, (deleted revisions cannot be compare!) everyone other clicked revision will be a second revision for a diff-tool.


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