Sunday 24 February 2008

New Release LizardTF.alpha.v.0.2.0

Yep, that's right, I've finally published a release, here is some of what is in it:

Conflict resolution:

One spanking new merge/conflict resolution tool! Colours are a little toned down a bit since the prototype (below), but it took a while to get from prototype to production code, mainly due to the number of scenarios involved. I wanted the merge output window to show exactly what would be written out/saved, so where lines are removed these are shown only in the margins. The lines above and below the 'missing' section right-click to give 'redo above' or 'undo-merge below' options. Some lines can have both above and below options which can be for undo/redo merges or undo resolution.

Hopefully the system should be fairly intuitive to use and should be much better than the MS DiffMerge tool.

Options include:

Two diff views, diff view and merge/conflict view.
Diff view shows differences base:server (theirs) on the left and base:local (yours) on the right. Blank lines are used to keep the files in sync. In merge/conflict view all conflict areas are highlighted and all changes base:server that can/will be merged are shown merged into the right hand base:local view. Clicking between them and looking at the results is proably the best way to get a feel for this.

Context lines
Quite often there are long sections of code with no changes/conflicts, you can choose not to see them by choosing how many context lines around changes/conflicts to show

Three Layouts
Arrange the two diff views and output windows all side-by-side (good for wide screen monitors), diffs together, output beneath (like the MS DiffMerge tool), or my favorite, diffs side-by-side and output in a different window (great for twin monitor set ups)

Also :

Help Text
Don't know what all the colours mean? Hover over any coloured section and help text will explain what the section is showing.

Also new in this release a new history browser:
History on the left, full details of check-in on the right. Clink file on right to see history of that, use back button to return, or up-level button for folder history. Right click one or two versions for diff options.

Fed up with the 'Binary Files Differ' response when diffing dlls? Not with LizardTF:
(test data a little suspect, but trying to diff dlls or exes will give this screen to compare version stamps, etc)

Text diffs are like this:
(note line differnces shown beneath)
or:
(inline diff, only three context lines).

Note the left and right folder/repo/version browse buttons. once a diff is in view you can reload either side from any file or repository item. If a repository item is loaded you can choose any historic version.

All version picker combo boxes have a 'browse' item, when selected this launches the history browser (shown above) to help you pick the right version.

Also from the explorer context menu:
Blame (anotate) shows originating changeset id/author for all lines in a source file.
Check out/lock, allows locking
Lizard Review, shows all conflicts, out-of-dates, pending changes and other checkouts for selected path
Get specific version - version combo for 'Get' option now works!

Create Workspace option asks if you want to get latest for new workspace and scans/builds Lizard meta data.

Soon I am going to have to write a manual.

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