Back-in-Time Browsing

Using Back-in-Time Browsing to view depot state

You can set Back-in-Time Browsing to view the state of the depot at a particular point in time using Go To->Settings. See Settings and Preferences for more information.

As you browse depot files and paths with Back-in-Time Browsing turned on, the information you see will be relative to the date (or other symbolic revision) value you entered. For example:

• Files that didn't exist at that Back-in-Time Browsing point won't be visible in the Path Browser. (Unless they are open in your workspace, in which case you'll see them, but they'll appear to be unsynced!)
• If you have "Show Recent Activity" turned on in the control panel, you'll see the most recent changelists relative to the Back-in-Time Browsing point.
• If you're looking at a filelog in the File Browser, the only revisions displayed will be those that existed at the Back-in-Time Browsing point.

Note that:

• The Run menu and most command shortcuts are not available when Back-in-Time Browsing is turned on.
• Viewing user specs, client specs, branch views, and so forth always shows up-to-date information, even with Back-in-Time Browsing turned on.

To turn off Back-in-Time Browsing, use Go To->Settings.

Using Back-in-Time Browsing to view web content

To use Back-in-Time Browsing with web content files, first navigate to a File Browser page for one of the files. You'll see the file's history displayed in a filelog. Click on a revision number in the filelog to enter Back-in-Time Browsing.

Note that once you start browsing web content, the only way to return to P4Web is to use your browser's "Back" button or re-enter your P4Web URL.

When does Back-in-Time Browsing work best?

Under certain conditions, browsing web content files with P4Web is exactly the same as browsing them with a web server. You can see images, click on links, and navigate through what appears to be a website. The same conditions give you the best Back-in-Time Browsing experience. These conditions are:

• The web content files do not contain any server-side executable code.
• Links to other files in the same website are either:
  • relative to each other (no links with absolute pathnames), or
  • absolute, with a path hierarchy that matches their depot location.

You can still use Back-in-Time Browsing under less than ideal conditions, but you may not be able to follow all links and see all content.