Get File (see also)

To retrieve any revision from a QVCS archive, you use the Get File tool. This enables you to obtain a work file of the indicated revision. If you work in a development team, you will probably use this most frequently to update your work files after another member of your team has checked in a new revision. However, it can also be used to get older revisions from a QVCS archive.

To obtain the newest revision on the default branch of an archive, simply select the file you want to get and click the Get File button on the toolbar. This will bring up a dialog which gets the newest revision by default, so you can just click OK.

Selecting a directory on the project tree will allow you to get the newest revisions from all files in that directory. If you enable the "Get all children (recursive get)" check box, it will also get all files in any subdirectories of the selected directory. When operating on the project level, or when selecting multiple files, you will not be able to get files by a specific revision, as not all files share the same revisions, but you can still filter the get by label or by date.

Retrieving a Revision that is Not the Newest

When operating with a single file, retrieving an older revision is as simple as selecting that revision from the "You've elected to get" drop down list. When operating on multiple files or on the project tree, getting older revisions requires you to filter, so to speak, your get. You can do this by getting the files either by date or by label. Both options are under the Advanced options of the Get File dialog. Retrieving files by label is probably the preferred method, but the date method can be used as a sort of poor man's label, fetching whatever revisions were in use at the specified time.

Since the newest revision within a QVCS archive is stored as is, QVCS can get the newest revision out of an archive most quickly. For older revisions, QVCS stores only the delta between files. Thus, if an archive contains 6 revisions, QVCS must apply five edits to the newest revision in order to retrieve revision 1.0 for you. This means that it is always slower to retrieve an older revision. You generally won't notice the difference unless the file is large, or there are a number of revisions between the newest revision and the one that you're asking QVCS to retrieve for you.

Get File Dialog

This is the dialog which appears when you click the Get File toolbar button. Click on the Advanced>> button to gain access to additional controls that give you more control over how QVCS will retrieve the revision you're asking for.

You can alter the default settings on this dialog using the Get Dialog tab of the User Preferences dialog.

Each field has the following meanings:

You've elected to get:

This field is a selection list. The default item in the list is "the default revision." For single file operations, all the other revisions for the selected QVCS archive also appear in the selection list. This field is disabled for multiple-file operations.

Into the work file:

This field identifies the work file that QVCS will write to in the process of retrieving the requested revision from the QVCS archive. You can edit this field if you wish to retrieve the revision to a different work file than the default. Clicking the [...] button displays a file dialog that allows you to define the work file name.

Expand Keywords

The "Expand Keywords" check box controls whether QVCS will expand any existing keywords as it retrieves the requested revision. The default behavior, if you leave the check box "ghosted," is to follow the keyword attribute setting of the associated QVCS archive file. To guarantee that QVCS won't expand keywords, make sure the check box is clear; to guarantee that QVCS will expand keywords, make sure the check box is checked. Typically, you would just leave this check box alone, and accept the default keyword behavior that's associated with the QVCS archive.

Newer revisions only

Checking this will cause QVCS to fetch only those revisions that have a check-in date more recent than the timestamp on the associated work file. Checking this box makes it easy to get only the updates to work files that have changed since your last "get."

Make output writable

This check box controls whether QVCS will write-protect the work file after retrieving it from the QVCS archive. The default behavior is to follow the protect work file attribute setting of the associated QVCS archive file. To guarantee that QVCS will make the output file writable, enable this check box. To guarantee that the output file will be write-protected, make sure the checkbox is clear. Leaving the checkbox "ghosted" will cause QVCS to use the default behavior defined by the associated QVCS archive file.

Get by Date/Time

Clicking the "Get by Date/Time" check box will disable the revision selection list and the label list box, clear the "Get by Label" check box, and enable the edit box used to enter the date/time. If "Get by Date/Time" is enabled, you must define the date portion of the date/time in the format defined by your current locale. The date is followed by a : and then the time must always be in HH:MM:SS format.

A get by date/time will select the revision that was 'active' at that date/time.

Get by Label

Clicking the "Get by Label" check box will disable the revision selection list, clear the "get by date/time" check box, and enable the label selection list. If "Get by Label" is enabled, you must select a label. For file operations, the list of labels to choose from is already populated. If the label you need does not appear in the list box, click the 'Scan for labels' button. For project operations, clicking the "Get by Label" check box will cause QWin to scan all the files of the project to find the labels that you can then choose from.

Toolbar Operations

Get

Check Out

Add

Check In

Undo Check-out

Lock

Label

File Groups

Sort Revisions

Filter Revisions

Filter Files

Compare

See also: the corresponding qget command line utility.