You can access the Version Browser by right-clicking an element in the File Browser and choosing the Version Browser from the context menu. You can also click the Version Browser button (
).
).You cannot change the layout manually (by dragging and dropping a version, for example). Layout can change, however, when you expand a version. See Expanding Versions for more information.
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Versions are usually outlined by a thin black line; the version outlined by a thicker blue line is the most chronologically recent version with a real ancestor.
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The version to the right is a virtual version. If a black line connects to the version on the left, that version is the real ancestor of the virtual version.
If no black line connects directly to the version on the left (for example, EntSoft_Client\15 in the image above), that version is the virtual ancestor of the version on the right. |
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The version to the left has undergone a merge operation to become the version on the right.
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The version to the left has undergone a patch operation to become the version on the right.
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The version to the left has undergone a revert operation to become the version on the right.
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The transactions drop-down list (
 ) lets you specify the maximum number of transactions to display at a time. You can choose numeric values (10, 20, and so on) or you can choose a time period (all transactions within a day or a week, for example). |
) to the right of the transactions drop-down list let you specify a time period to filter the display to include only transactions occurring during that time period. Using this option causes the filter to change to Note: By default, the dates displayed in the date buttons correspond to the date of the first and last transactions (respectively) displayed in the Version Browser.
To expand a merged, patched, or reverted version, right-click it and choose Expand Ancestry from the context menu.
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Use
 Add Stream to show additional versions of this element from the stream you select. Streams added to the Version Browser will not persist after using the Refresh command. |
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Use
 Remove Stream to remove previously-added streams. Workspace streams cannot be removed in this manner. |
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Buttons used to toggle between the History Browser and the Version Browser.
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OpenUsing the Open Commands the selected version. This command is also executed when you double-click a version.
Save AsInvokes your Web browser's Open command, allowing you to open or save (see Save As) the selected file version.
Annotate
Diff Against Other
Expand Ancestry
. This command is available from the context menu only.
PropertiesDisplays the Displaying Element Properties dialog box for the selected version.
Add StreamNote: Streams added to the Version Browser do not persist after using the Refresh command.
Removes a non-workspace stream previously added to the Version Browser using the Add Stream button. Workspace streams cannot be removed in this manner.
Send to IssueRecord the selected versions in the change package section (Changes tab) of an issue record. You are prompted to enter the issue number. This command (Send To > Issue) is available from the context menu only.
See Using AccuWork™ for more information about issues and change packages.
Similar to Send to Issue, except that it allows you to pick the basis version, rather than AccuRev determining it automatically. This command (Send To > Issue (specifying basis)) is available from the context menu only.
See Using AccuWork™ for more information about issues and change packages.
One of the most common AccuRev operation is making changes to an existing version and then using the Keep command to save the changes in a new version. The version in your workspace created by the Keep command is called a real version, because it represents a change to the element. Other commands (Rename, Defunct, and Undefunct, for example) can create real versions in your workspace, too.
The Version Browser uses a solid black line to connect the existing version (called the direct ancestor or predecessor) with the new version.
Exception: Versions created by merge, patch, and revert operations are connected using other colors. See Versions Created by Merge, Patch, and Revert for more information.
Workspaces contain real versions, which represent changes to elements. By contrast, all versions in dynamic streams are virtual versions, created with the Promote command. Each virtual version is an alias (pointer) to some real version in a user's workspace. The Version Browser uses a solid green line to connect a virtual version in a dynamic stream to the corresponding real version in a workspace.
Exception: The Anchor and Send to Workspace commands create a virtual version in a workspace. These commands, available only in the Java GUI and command line interface (CLI), do not represent a change to the element, merely the restoration of an existing version to the workspace.
In a depot with a deep stream hierarchy, it is common to successively promote a particular version to the parent stream, then to the grandparent stream, then to the great-grandparent stream, and so on. All the versions created by this series of Promote commands are aliases for the same real version. The Version Browser shows how all the virtual versions are related to the original real version.
A standard merge operation combines the contents of two versions of a file:
The result file of the merge operation is kept as a new version in the workspace stream. (You can think of merging as a type of text-editing operation; as with any edit to a file, you preserve the results with Keep.) This new, merged version has two ancestors: the two versions listed above.
The Version Browser uses a solid red line to connect the existing version (called the direct ancestor or predecessor) with the new version.
A patch operation is similar to a merge operation. In both, text from another version is incorporated into your workspace's version.
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A merge operation considers the entire contents of the "from" version.
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A patch operation considers only some of the changes in the "from" version. Typically, these are recent changes made by one user, recorded in one version or a set of consecutive versions.
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The Version Browser uses a solid orange line to connect the existing version (called the direct ancestor or predecessor) with the new version.
A revert operation is the opposite of a patch operation. It is sometimes referred to as a 'reverse patch' operation. Whereas a patch adds a selected set of changes, a revert removes a selected set of changes. A version created by the Revert command has two ancestry lines:
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Blue, black, orange, and red lines trace the ancestry of real versions of an element. You can use the real-version ancestry to determine the closest common ancestor of any two versions. The closest common ancestor is the most recent version upon which the two versions are both based, by some combination of direct ancestor and merge connections. (When considering a virtual version in a closest-common-ancestor analysis, first follow the green line back to the corresponding real version.)
Note: Depending on the version whose closest common ancestor you are trying to find, you might need to add one or more streams to the Version Browser display. See Adding and Removing Streams for more information.
You can also use the CLI command accurev anc -c to find the closest common ancestor of two versions.
In the Merge command, AccuRev determines the closest common ancestor of the two versions to be merged, and uses this version to perform a three-way merge. AccuRev tracks patch ancestry separately from merge ancestry. In determining the closest common ancestor of two versions for a merge operation, AccuRev takes into account previous merge operations, but not previous patch or revert operations.