As files and folders change over time, their change history is stored in the Vault Professional server. This history is accessible to users via the History Explorer.
The History Explorer offers a powerful way to see what has changed in the repository, compare versions of a folder or file, and get previous versions of your code.
You can also save pre-defined queries via History Favorites, which allow you to quickly query based on common history requests.
To use History Explorer, select a file or folder in the repository, then click Show History on the View menu, Show History on the Toolbar or right-click on the file or folder and select Show History in the context menu. The History Query Filter/Sort command will come up to allow you to create a query.
The History Query Filter/Sort dialog box allows you to define the criteria for the query and determine a sort order for the results.
To open the History Query Filter/Sort dialog box:
Click the View menu on the menu bar, then select Show History.
Right-click on folder to bring up the Folder Context Menu, and select Show History.
Right-click on file to bring up the File List Context Menu, and select Show History.
Click on the Show History icon on the Toolbar.
Use Ctrl+H from the keyboard.
In the History Explorer results 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 Favorites menu in the History Query Filter/Sort dialog has two menu Items:
Save as . . . 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.
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. There are two options for folder history:
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.
NOTE: The radio buttons are disabled on file history.
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/Sort dialog box will not display when the Show History 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 of labels that have been applied to file or folder. It includes the following selections. Click the radio button for the appropriate search. Note: you can only choose dates or labels, not both.
Dates
Do not filter by date
On or after – Include changes which occur on or after a given date – Type a date or select one from the calendar.
On or before – Include changes which occur on or 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 past X 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.
Labels
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 Label and To Label. Either type the label names, or select labels by using the Browse button.
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. Click Uncheck All to deselect all actions.
Check in
Add
Delete
Undelete
Obliterate
Pin/Unpin
Label (non-recursive)
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/Sort dialog box. the History Explorer will come up with results of the selected query.
Click Cancel to close the History Query Filter/Sort dialog box. The filter criteria will not change.
Click Help to open context-sensitve Help for History.