P4DB User Guide


 

P4DB, a web-based Perforce Depot Browser, allows you to view information in the Perforce depot.  You do not need to have a Perforce client installed nor do you need a dedicated user license. 

 

This can be very useful for people who don't generally need to use Perforce but do need to get information from the system on occasion.  It can also be a handy way for people who do regularly use Perforce to get information from Perforce without having to go to a command line or start the Perforce Windows client. 

 


Things you can do with P4DB

Search for files(s)  |  View changes for files(s)  |  View specific changelist  |  Browse the depot tree

View submitted changelists  |  View pending changes  |  View branches  |  View labels  |  View users


Search for file(s)

 

On the main P4DB page, enter the file specification in the "Search for file(s)" text box and hit the "Search for file(s)" button.  You must use p4 depot syntax; wildcards are allowed.

 

For example, to see all files named Makefile in the depot, specify

            //.../Makefile

to see all .java files in the depot

            //.../*.java

to see all .doc files in the //depot/project/branch/folder and below

            //depot/project/branch/folder/.../*.doc

The list of files that matched the file spec you entered will be displayed along with the current revision number, last action, and the changelist number that affected the file.  You can click each of the following items to see the following information:

·          Filename -- see the complete file history

·         Revision Number -- see the file text

·         Action -- see the deltas (diffs)

·         Change -- see the complete change description, including other files

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View changes for file(s)

 

On the main P4DB page, enter the file specification in the "View changes for file(s)" text box and hit the "View changes for file(s)" button.  You must use p4 depot syntax; wildcards are allowed.

 

For example, to view all the changes that have been made to myfile.txt in your users directory (assuming such as file exists), specify

//depot/users/yourname/myfile.txt

All changelists affecting that file will be shown.  Click on the Change No. link to see details of the change.

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View specific changelist

 

On the main P4DB page, enter the changelist number in the "View specific changelist" text box and hit the "View specific changelist" button.  Information about the author and the changelist will be displayed.  You can click on the following links to see additional information about the changelist.

·          Author -- see the Author's perforce user information

·          Filename -- see the complete file history

·         Revision Number -- see the file text

·         Action -- see the deltas (diffs)

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Browse the depot tree

 

On the main P4DB page, click the "Browse the depot tree" link.   Then browse the depot by clicking on the Subdir links to descend into that subdir and the File links to show the file log (change history) for that file.  When viewing the file log, you can click on the following links to get additional information:

·          Revision Number -- see the file text

·          Action -- see the deltas (diffs)

·          User -- see info about user

·          Change -- see the complete change description, including other files

·          Changes -- see list of all changes for this file

·          List labels - list a cross reference for labels

At any time, you can also select either "View changes for all files below this point" or "Hide[/Show] deleted files" if you'd like to take that action.

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View submitted changelists

On the main P4DB page, click the "View submitted changelists" link.   Then select the desired code line to view changelists submitted to that codeline. 

All changelists submitted to that codeline will be displayed.  You can click on each Change No. link to view additional information about that specific changelist. (Please see the "View specific changelist" section above for details of what you'll be able to do with the links on the additional information page.)

Note:  Links for additional codelines can easily be added.  The codelines can be a specific or general as you like. For example, a codeline link could be created that would display changes to all .doc files in a project or one that would show changes to a specific subproject. 

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View pending changes

On the main P4DB page, click the "View pending changes" link.   All changelists that currently exist and have not yet been checked in will be displayed.  You can click on each Change No. link to view additional information about that specific changelist. (Please see the "View specific changelist" section above for details of what you'll be able to do with the additional information.)

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View branches

On the main P4DB page, click the "View branches" link.   All branchspecs that currently exist will be displayed.  You can click on the following links to view additional information about that branch.

·         owner -- view user info

·         view -- View changes that have been checked into that portion of the branch or parent.

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View labels

On the main P4DB page, click the "View labels" link.   All labels that currently exist will be displayed.  You can click on the label name links to view additional information about the label owner and label view.

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View users

On the main P4DB page, click the "View users" link.   All user accounts that currently exist will be displayed.  You can click on the following links to see additional information.

·         user -- see more info

·         e-mail address -- e-mail user

There is also a "Mail all users" link you can use to send email  if you'd like to be able to send a message to everyone who has a perforce user license.

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Updated 11 August 2000