As files and folders change over time, their history is stored in the Vault Standard server, which is accessible to users via the History Explorer. You can also save pre-defined queries via History Favorites, which allow you to quickly query based on common history requests.
The History Explorer window is used to examine past versions to a tree or repository. The query features available in the History Explorer window offer a powerful way to see what has happened over the passage of time.
Click Show History on the Tools menu, History on the Toolbar or click Show History on the context menu. The History Query Filter command will come up to allow you to select a query. There are two main ways to query on folders:
View by item – Select View by item to view the Version List. The Version List displays the Name of the file or folder, User, Date, Version Number, Action and any Comments
View by version – Select View by version to view the Folder Versions screen. The Folder Versions screen shows all versions of the TOP folder in a list. Each version of a folder corresponds to a changeset that changed some part of the folder or its descendants. This dialog box lists the versions and allows you view the changeset that caused the folder to increment its version number.
In addition, you can save a pre-defined query via the History Favorites command.
The Show History command opens the History Explorer to examine past versions to a tree or repository. The History command can also be found on the Toolbar.
The History Favorites->Edit Favorites command opens the Edit History Favorites dialog that allows you to manage saved queries.
The History Favorites->(Saved Query) command invokes a specific named query and displays it in the History Explorer dialog.
The History Query Filter dialog box allows you to define the criteria for the query and sort the results. For more information, please see History Explorer.
The History Query Filter dialog box can be opened:
From the Tools menu, select Show History
Right-click on folder to bring up the Folder Tree Context Menu, select Show History
Right-click on file to bring up the File List Context Menu, select Show History
Select History on the Toolbar
Ctrl+H
In the History Explorer window, from the Query menu select Filter/Sort
If this dialog box is brought up while an existing query is displayed in the History Explorer, the controls are set to match that query allowing you to tweak an existing query. If you want a fresh query, a new History Explorer window must be opened.
The following criteria are available on separate tabs:
The Show History for box shows the current History Top Object. This can be changed by clicking the Change Top Object to bring up the Show History for dialog box.
This determines the type of items displayed for folder history searches. The radio buttons are disabled on file history. Select one of the following options:
View folder history by item – Shows individual item history in the History Explorer window. This shows the history of each item within a folder as a separate entry.
View folder history by version – Shows changesets that resulted in a version change to the folder. This will list each transaction and the resulting version number of the folder in the Folder Versions window. When this type is chosen, the Dates & Labels, Users, Comments and Sort tabs are the only criteria available to query by. All other criteria are disabled.
The default is View folder history by item.
Check the Recursive checkbox to search on all of a folder’s descendents in the same query. If this is not checked, the search will be on the Top folder and any files that are direct children of that folder.
The default is Checked.
When Only show this dialog when the shift key is down is checked, the History Query Filter dialog box will not display when the History Explorer has been selected. The History command will automatically do a recursive search on the History Top for the selected item.
The Dates & Labels tab allows you to limit the query by dates or by the dates the labels were applied to file or folder. It includes the following selections. Check the appropriate filter for the search. Note that you can only choose dates or labels, not both.
Do not filter by date
On or after – Include changes which occur after a given date – Type a date or select one from the calendar.
On or before – Include changes which occur before a given date – Type a date or select one from the calendar.
Include range (of dates) – Include changes which occur between a range of dates – The dates are inclusive. Type the dates or select them from the calendar.
Include days – Include changes which occur a number of days prior to the current date – Type the number of days or select by clicking the up or down arrow.
Do not filter by label.
On or after label. Include changes which occur after the label was applied. Either type a label, or select one using the Browse button.
On or before label. Include changes which occur before the label was applied. Either type a label, or select one using the Browse button.
Include range (of labels). Include changes that occur between the From and To label. Type the labels or select them from the Browse buttons.
The default is Do not filter by date or label.
The Users tab includes the following selections. Check the appropriate filter for the search.
Do not filter by user
Include only selected users – When this box has been checked, the query includes only those changes made by specific users. Select a user from the list of all available users. Multiple users can be selected by holding the CTRL or SHIFT key down as you select.
The default is Do not filter by user.
The Filenames tab includes the following selections. Check the appropriate filter for the search. Valid wild card characters are * and ? . To search for any string of zero or more characters use *. To search for any single character use ?.
Do not filter by filename
Include by file extension – Include only files with the specified file extension. File types can be separated by spaces, commas or semicolons. If a period is not entered before the string, it will be added. You can use the wildcard character ‘*’, but it only applies to the file extension, and not to any other part of the file (so, for example, *.txt will not retrieve any .txt files, but both .t*t and t*t will).
Include by name substring – Include only files whose names match the input substring. The ‘*’ wildcard character can be used in the substring You cannot enter multiple substrings to query against.
The default is Do not filter by filename.
The Actions tab allows you to include only specific actions in the query. Check the appropriate filter for the search from the following list. Multiple actions can be chosen.
Check in
Add
Delete
Undelete
Obliterate
Pin/Unpin
Label
Rollback
Rename
Move
Share
Branch
Property Change
Snapshot
The default has all of the actions Checked.
The Comments tab includes the following selections. Check the appropriate filter for the search.
Do not filter by comments
Include any comments – This includes only entries that have check in comments. Entries with no comments are not retrieved.
Include by search string – This includes only entries that match the substring entered. You cannot enter multiple substrings to query against.
The default is Do not filter by comments.
The Sort tab allows you to specify the order in which the results of the query will be sorted. The sort columns are Name, User, Date, Version, Action and Comment. Select the appropriate columns and ascending or descending sort.
The default selection is Date with a descending sort.
Click OK to filter the items and close the History Query Filter dialog box. the History Explorer will come up with results of the selected query.
Click Cancel to close the History Query Filter dialog box. The filter criteria will not change.
Save Menu Item - Allows you to save the currently selected criteria in this dialog as a new History Favorite. Selecting Save will ask you to name the query, and it will be stored with the other History Favorites.
View – Brings up the Edit History Favorites dialog, which allows you to manage history favorites.