Alternatives to the File Browser

The File Browser is not intended to completely replace the Windows Explorer or comparable tools on UNIX systems. For example, the File Browser does not attempt to implement the Windows "file types" functionality, based on filename suffixes.

Some people do most of their work inside an integrated development environment (IDE), such as Visual Studio or Eclipse. These environments have their own "explorer" or "file browser" built in, typically organizing files into separate "projects". You can use AccuRev commands within an IDE if an AccuRev Plug-In integration (or an integration from a third-party developer) for that environment is available. Even if you use an IDE most of the time, there are several reasons to consider using the File Browser occasionally:

• The IDE does not display all of a file's configuration-management properties, such as the current version-ID.
• Certain AccuRev commands cannot be executed through the IDE integration, only from the AccuRev File Browser.
• Specialized modes in the workspace File Browser can help you quickly understand which workspace files are out-of-date and require updating and any file whose workspace version is in conflict with another version elsewhere in the workspace stream hierarchy.

It is important to keep in mind that while you can use a wide variety of tools to make content changes to a file, you must use AccuRev commands to make valid namespace changes: namespace changes include renaming an element, moving an element to another directory, or deleting an element. The AccuRev Plug-In IDE integrations support these namespace operations.