Replaying a Change Package to Another View

The updates performed by a change package can be reapplied to another view. The Change Perspective in the StarTeam Cross-Platform Client lists committed change packages and provides a drag-and-drop gesture for applying a selected change package to another view. The new target view must be a root, branching, non-derived, or updateable reference view. Reapplying a change package to another view is called replay.

In a replay, the change package’s original target view becomes the source view. Replaying a change package initiates a View Compare/Merge operation that selects the items updated by the change package as source items and merges them to the new target view. The replay uses a View Compare/Merge merge type that depends on the relationship between the source view and new target view:

  • If the new target view is the immediate parent of the source view, the replay is performed as a View Compare/Merge promote operation.
  • If the new target view is an immediate child of the source view, the replay is performed as a View Compare/Merge rebase operation
  • If the new target view is neither the immediate parent or an immediate child of the source view, the replay is performed as a View Compare/Merge replicate operation.

To apply the same changes from a change package to another view, do the following:

  1. In the StarTeam Cross-Platform Client, open the target view of the change package.
  2. On the right side of the toolbar, click the Show Change Perspective icon to switch to the Change Perspective.
  3. In the Change Perspective, depending on which layout you are using, click either the Replay icon on the right, or the Replay tab at the bottom.
  4. Select the change package
  5. Drag that change package to the Replay viewer and drop it on the target view to which you want those changes applied.

    When a change package is replayed, a new change View Compare/Merge session opens in the new target view displaying the changes to be applied. The new session acts as a staging area for the replayed updates so that they can be reviewed, tested, and adjusted. Just as with all View Compare/Merge sessions, a session created by a replay can be saved, restored, and refreshed any number of times before it is committed.

  6. Optionally, make any additional changes to the new change package, then either save the change package or commit the changes.

    When a View Compare/Merge session created by a replay is committed, a new change package is generated that belongs to the new target view. As a change package is replayed to other views, and as the resulting descendant change packages are replayed to yet more views, the replays form a “tree” that can be queried in the Cross-Platform Client showing the history of how a change package has been propagated to other views.

Note: Icons in front of change packages are different in the Replay viewer are different for new, uncommitted change packages than for committed change packages. The change package icon for a New change packages contains a red arrow. The committed change package icon is the same, but without the red arrow..