Visual, Focused Project State = Productivity

Clarity, Simplicity, Focus

The most commonly used portion of SnapshotCM is the Workspace Browser, which manages the user's changing files. The workspace is a place of constant change, where files are edited, new files are created, obsolete files are removed and functionality is abstracted into libraries requiring files to be renamed or consolidated. While all of this activity is happening in your workspace, other developers are making similar changes to their workspaces. Somehow, all those changes need to be coordinated, without mistake or confusion!

SnapshotCM's solution to this dilemma is the Workspace Browser, which provides clear and task-focused views of your workspace so you can clearly see what items need your attention without being distracted by those that don't. By combining intuitive icons and task-oriented filters, SnapshotCM provides real-time, at-a-glance information on file changes and the actions needed to keep in sync with your team. The result is simple, elegant and most importantly, effective. Using SnapshotCM's Workspace Browser, you complete your versioning tasks accurately, quickly and with confidence.

A Closer Look

Workspace View

The first Workspace Browser view we will consider is the Workspace View. The Workspace View shows files and directories, and their attributes in the workspace. In addition, it highlights any actions that are required to synchronize the workspace with the snapshot. Figure 1 shows a sample Workspace View display.

Figure 1: Workspace View Example

Notice how the blue, green and red arrows (meaning needs check-in, needs update and needs merge, respectively) quickly communicate both a file's status and needed actions. Meanwhile, the "View Files Needing Action Recursively" filter narrows down the concentration to items requiring user action. Other items in this hierarchy that do not need your attention are automatically filtered. Additional task-oriented filters include "Files Not in Snapshot," which identifies new files to import, and "Files Needing Merge," which focuses on merging other users' changes into your workspace. In addition to the green, blue and red arrows, additional icons may be shown to indicate the need for the local file to be renamed or removed.

Another at-a-glance feature of the Workspace View is the various types of file and directory icons. The "half" icons (see icon for libDBremote.vcproj in Figure 1) indicate that a file is in one (but not both) of either the snapshot or the workspace. Which half is present is indicated by which half of the icon is solid.

You can also focus your view on the information of interest to you by customizing the Workspace Browser to display just the columns you choose, in the order you choose.

Finally, the Workspace View context menu, together with the action icons between the Snapshot and Workspace Views, affords you the ability to easily find the needed action icon or menu when you decide to take action.

Snapshot View

The Snapshot View is similar to the Workspace View, but it focuses on the snapshot rather than the workspace. Like the Workspace View, the Snapshot View provides task-oriented filters to narrow one's focus, action icons to indicate the actions needed to synchronize the workspace and snapshot, and "half" icons to indicate items that do not exist in the workspace view.

The Snapshot View also has an additional task filter, "View Recoverable Files," which allows for the display and recovery of deleted (but not gone) files.

Snapshot Folders

The last Workspace Browser view we will consider is the Snapshot Folders View. The Snapshot Folders View provides navigation of the folder hierarchy that is associated with both the snapshot and the workspace being browsed. The context menu for items in this view supports common workspace/snapshot actions that are appropriate for operating on a whole collection of files at one time.

Together, the Workspace and Snapshot Views provide two independent windows into your snapshot and workspace. In so doing, they help you understand pending version control tasks at a glance.

Common Use Patterns

One common pattern of use is to set the Snapshot View filter to "View All Files" and to set the Workspace View filter to "View All Files Needing Action Recursively." This setup affords normal navigation and visibility in the explorer view, but keeps pending actions visible.

A variation on this setup is to hide the Snapshot View pane by resizing it to zero width.

When importing files, the Workspace View filter "View Files Not in Snapshot Recursively" can help identify those files that need to be imported. Use of the Find dialog to select all files matching a given pattern can also speed the importation of relevant files from a hierarchy. It also complements the not-in-snapshot filter.

How Does Your Tool Compare?

This article discusses how SnapshotCM helps users understand their workspace state, focus on their task, eliminate distractions and get their version control tasks done accurately and efficiently.

How does your tool compare? If your solution is coming up short, we invite you to give our free trial a spin. Go to http://www.truebluesoftware.com/ for details on this trial offer.