Work with changesets in Visual Studio

This topic describes how to work with changesets in the Visual Studio IDE.

Inspect changeset health

The changeset health is indicated by an icon. For details, see About changesets.

For details on how to configure and use changesets, see PulseUno.

Note: You can use PulseUno functionality only if it is enabled in your Dimensions CM database.

To inspect changesets:

In Dimensions Explorer, select Changesets. The Changesets view opens, displaying a list of changesets. The health icon is displayed on the left.
To open the review associated with a changeset, right-click and select Open Review. The review opens in a new view.
To view a changeset’s details, right-click and select Open Details. The changeset opens in a new view.

View changes to a stream

You can view the history of changes that have been applied to items and folders in a stream or project in a repository.

You can also apply filters to limit the changes that are displayed.

To view the change history:

Do one of the following:
- In Dimensions Explorer, expand a node that has an open connection, and click Changesets.
- In the Dimensions Projects view, right-click a project or stream, and select Changesets.
- In Solution Explorer right-click a Visual Studio project and select Folder Changesets. To limit the list of changesets that is displayed, right-click a subfolder.
The list of changesets is displayed in a new view. If you change connections in Dimensions Explorer to a different repository, the content of the view automatically changes.
To filter the view, select an attribute type from the Filter list, and enter a value in the Filter box.

For example, select Request(s) as a filtering attribute and enter a request type, such as ENH.
To filter the view by a date range do one or both of the following:
- To display entries from a specified date, select the From option and specify the date.
- To display entries up to a specified date, select the To option and specify the date.

Update a work area from a stream version

You can update a local work area from a specific version of a project or stream. This option is available only when the controlled solution is opened.

To update a work area from a project/stream version:

In the Dimensions Projects view, right-click a project or stream, and select Changesets.
Right-click the top level of the changeset from which you want to update a work area and select Update from Stream Version or Update from Project Version.

The Update Stream dialog box opens, and the stream ID and version are displayed in the Update changes from this stream box. For details, see Update a work area from a stream.

Create a project/stream from a stream version

You can base a new stream or project on a specific version of a stream or project.

To create a new stream or project:

In the Dimensions Projects view, right-click a project or stream, and select Changesets.
Right-click the changeset on which you want to base the new project or stream and select New Stream or New Project.
Complete the Create Stream wizard. For details, see Create and view projects and streams.

Alternatively, you can use the Create Project wizard. For details, see Create and view projects and streams.

The stream/project ID and version number are displayed in the Based on Stream/Project field.

Open related changeset requests

You can open the requests related to a changeset.

To open related requests:

In Dimensions Explorer, select Changesets. The Changesets view opens, displaying a list of changesets.
Select a changeset. Alternatively, expand a changeset and select one of its items.
Right-click the changeset or its item and select Open Related Requests. If there are multiple related requests, select the relevant request.

A Dimensions CM request opens in a new tab.

An external request opens in its provider instance.

Compare changeset items

You can compare a changeset item with:

Another revision of the same item.
A work file on disk. This option is available only when the corresponding file exists on disk and is part of the currently open solution.
Another item revision in the repository.

To compare items:

In Dimensions Explorer, select Changesets. The Changesets view opens, displaying a list of changesets.

Right-click a new, imported, or modified item, and select the following:

Action	Details
To compare with the previous revision (if one exists).	Select Compare with <item revision>.
To compare the revision with a different revision of the same item.	Select Compare with. In the Compare Items dialog box, select a revision from select it from the Another Revision list.
To compare the revision with a file in your work area.	Select Compare with. In the Compare Items dialog box, select A workfile. Click the Browse button and navigate to the file.
To compare the revision with a revision of a different item in the repository.	Select Compare with. In the Compare Items dialog box, select Another item. Click the Browse button and search for an item in the Select Item dialog box.

Click OK.

The items are opened in the default merge tool.

Explore a changeset item

You can view the revision history and the pedigree of a changeset item. You can also browse the content of a changeset item.

To explore a changeset item:

In Dimensions Explorer, select Changesets. The Changesets view opens, displaying a list of changesets.
To view the history, right-click an item and select History. The item revision history is displayed in a new tab.
To view the pedigree, right-click an item and select Pedigree.The item pedigree is displayed in a new tab.
To browse the content of an item revision, right-click the item and select View Revision. The revision is displayed in a new tab.

Open the changesets graph

To visualize your streams of development and changesets, open the Changesets Graph in PulseUno.

Note: You can use PulseUno functionality only if it is enabled in your Dimensions CM database.

To open the changesets graph:

In Dimensions Explorer, select Changesets. The Changesets view opens, displaying a list of changesets.
Right-click a changeset and select Open in PulseUno. PulseUno opens in a new view.
Log in if required.
Click Repository and select a repository from the list.
Click Changeset Graph.

For details about PulseUno, see PulseUno.

Customize the changeset view

You can customize and rearrange the columns displayed in the Changesets view. Customizations are saved to the registry and shared with the desktop client.

To customize the Changesets view:

In Dimensions Explorer, select Changesets. The Changesets view opens, displaying a list of changesets.
In the Changesets view, right-click any column heading. The Customization dialog box opens.
Drag and drop columns between the dialog box and the columns heading row.
Drag and drop columns to change their position.

Note: You cannot move the Type column.