Documentation

P4Web is documented in "How to Use P4Web" and in embedded help files.

Requirements

• P4Web works with a Perforce Depot Server at Release 99.2 or higher.

• P4Web works with most web browsers. Some older browsers do not provide the authentication support needed by P4Web; those browsers can be used only when P4Web is running as a read-only "Viewer."

• On Windows and Unix, you must have P4, the Perforce command-line client, installed in order to interactively resolve files from within P4Web.

• On Macintosh, Unix, and Windows, P4Web can launch an editor. Which editor it launches is determined by the startup environment of the p4web executable, as described in "How to Use P4Web." You must set P4EDITOR before running p4web to control which editor is launched.

Latest Changes

Major New Functionality in Release 2002.1

• P4Web supports jobs. Functionality includes the ability to list jobs (including the ability to filter and select visible fields), to display job details, to create/edit/delete jobs, and to display job fixes.

• P4Web has extended support for labels. In addition to listing labels and displaying their details, functionality includes the ability to list files currently in the label, to create/edit/delete labels, to run labelsync, and to sync a workspace to a label.

• P4Web has extended support for branches. In addition to listing branch specs and displaying their details, functionality includes the ability to create/edit/delete branch specs, to integrate using a branch spec, and to compare file contents branched through a branch spec.

• Additional Browser support. P4Web supports Opera, iCab, and Mozilla 5.x Browsers.

• P4Web's Viewer mode now supports user authentication. See Passwords and Authorization for more information.

Changes Since Release 2001.1

2002.1/34618

33822: The P4Web helper on MAC OSX will generate an error if the browser is not running on the same machine as the helper.

33446: The Run menu now has a Label option instead of a Create Label option. The new Label option allows the user to choose whether to create, edit or labelsync using a specific label. (7769)

33074: The Labelsync page now has an option to labelsync to the head revision. The option to labelsync to a specific revision number was removed since this option is not useful when applied to multiple files. (7750)

33057: P4Web no longer generates duplicate "client unknown" errors when the client has not been defined. Also, the Path Browser page will not generate additional directory links after that error has been reported. (7794)

33025: The "Branch or Integrate" page, formerly called the Integrate page, now has a link to the Branches list page. (4571)

32959: The Jobs page now has a link at the top of the page to the form at the bottom of the page. (7728)

32878: The Delete label, branch and job confirmation pages now include links to the appropriate detail pages. (7795)

32859: The forms in the Run menu do not present redundant file selection options when the current path is at the head of the depot tree. (7064)

32798: The Sync page now contains a separate option to sync to a changelist. Now the Sync menu options from the Path Browser, Label Detail and Changelist Detail pages invoke the same Sync form with the appropriate options selected based on context. (7734)

32626: P4Web now provides a more useful error and a link to retry the connection when the user fails to connect due to a username/password error. (7791)

32599: P4Web now correctly renders content based on mime type for Visio and MS Project files. (7833)

32575: The "Show Depot File in Browser" and the revision links on the File Browser page now render files containing more than one period using the correct mime type. (7834)

2002.1/32489

32345: The P4Web viewer will generate a password error when the password used by the viewer is missing or incorrect. (7773)

31457: The default selection for most Run menu forms is now "Selected Files" instead of "Files in path". Only the Sync form still uses "Files in path". This helps protect the user from unintentionally performing an operation on all files in a path. (7631)

31333: The integrate form allows the user to prevent automatic sync to head revision. This option is only available with 2002.1 servers (and beyond). (7630)

31122: Paths in workspace mode are now displayed correctly with Opera 6.0 when p4web is running on NT. (7532)

31104: The -P option to set the password now generates a warning when used incorrectly. The -P flag can only be used when p4web is invoked without authentication (ie with the -b flag). (7587)

30823: The Path and File Browser pages no longer erroneously display the "not in client view" icon when a file is opened for branch from a remote depot. Now it correctly displays the "opened for branch" icon. (7523)

30768: The Path and File Browser pages no longer erroneously display the "not in sync" icon when a file is unmapped. Now it correctly displays the "not in client view" icon. (7523)

30627: The Submitted Changelists form now unsets the pattern value correctly when the user clears the field. (7517)

30623: Removing all files (with 'rmdir' set in the clientspec) from a directory in workspace mode and switching back to the path browser will now show the path to the missing directory so you can navigate out of it. This didn't always work on non-NT systems. (7399)

30616: Submit now provides the option to reopen files after they have been submitted. (7509)

30600: The Submitted Changelists form no longer seeds the "changelists up to" text box with the highest changelist by default, as this behavior interferes with setting a useful bookmark. (7497)

29981: Launch editor on Unix does not automatically launch an xterm with the editor when the DISPLAY environment is set. (7201)

29928: Launch editor now works correctly when the P4EDITOR variable has more than one word. (7322)

29663: The Integrate form from the Path Browser no longer appends "/..." to the path unless it is required. (7223)

29596: Files opened for add which were deleted at the head revision are now visible in the path browser even when the Show Deleted Files setting is turned off. (7235)

29593: The Open for Add form now includes files deleted at the head revision in the list of available files to add. (7196)

29275: The Submitted Changelists form allows the user to filter changelists by user and/or by client. This feature is only available if the server is 2002.1 or later. (6948)

29112: The Changelist Detail page now has menu options to sync all files to changelist, sync only files in changelist, and show fixes in changelist. (job005787)

29092: The Show button on the Submitted Changelists page now works correctly when in workspace mode with all supported browsers. (7123)

29076: In workspace mode on the Mac, files no longer show up as directories. (job007007)

28656: The files selected in the Selected Files field of the Run menu forms are sent to the server using client syntax to improve performance. (7011)

28510: The File Browser page shows all three file mappings when used with a 2002.1 or later server. (3383)

28469: Show the user@client who has a file opened in the path browser, only if the file is opened in the current client but not by the current user. (5282, 6018)

28443: P4Web allows the user to suppress the display of opened files in the path browser. (5796)

28157: The File Browser page now shows the user who has the file locked if the file is locked by another user. This feature is only available if the server is 2002.1 or later. (6577)

28123: P4Web now has improved mimetype detection for displaying file content. (4090, 4446, 5071)

28046: Pressing the Redisplay button on the Edit Pending Changelist form does not cause the Opera 5.12 browser to hang. (6624)

27976: The "Open for add" Run menu option is now always available from the File Browser page. (5513)

27268: Redisplay buttons on forms now work correctly on Netscape when user is in workspace mode. (6632)

27083: Labels List now allows users to show labels with files in the current path. (4897)

26195: Edit Pending Changelist and Submit forms now have ability to allow user to check or uncheck all files in the list. (3432)

26055: Action is now displayed for each file in the Revert form. (5476)

25895: Forms from the Run menu now give user the ability to check or uncheck all files in the list. (3432)

25658: The default page content limit is now displayed in the Settings page. (5436)

25524: File Browser now shows depot path of file when in Workspace mode. (5772)

25490: P4Web no longer generates spurious server error messages in the log. (6085)

25297: Forms which present choices relevant to the current user now correctly check case of username, based on server case sensitivity. (6017)

Major New Functionality in Release 2001.1

• A P4Web Helper can now show you your actual Perforce client workspace path hierarchy, as well as the depot path hierarchy. Use "Go To->Workspace root" or "Go To->Settings" to initiate workspace path browsing. See Settings and Preferences for more information.

• You can now set a Back-in-Time Browsing® point to see what your Perforce depot looked like at that time. See Back-in-Time Browsing® for more information.

• Users are no longer allowed to switch Perforce ports. Once a P4Web Helper starts up, it always uses the same Perforce user and port. Only users who know the password stored in the Perforce server at the startup port can connect to a P4Web Helper. See Passwords and Authorization for more information.

• You can now set a limit to the size of the pages displayed by P4Web. This should help users whose browsers are easily swamped by large pages. See Settings and Preferences for more information.

Changes Since Release 2000.2

2001.1/25842

25842: Files displayed or run by browser are exempt from page content limit (6439)

23813: Support for "integrate -t" added. (5848)

23767: No longer attempts to run xterm on Mac OS. (5819)

23419: Support for changing current client in Viewer restored. (5755)

23409: Workspace browsing available via "Go To", not "Go To->Settings." (5614)

23296: "Resolve preview" window no longer closes instantly. (5668)

23061: Fixed "Launch editor" warnings. (5631)

22960: "Launch editor" now can create new file. (5615)

22934: Files opened for add appear in the Path Browser even if directories haven't been created yet.

22860: Workspace mode shows only current path contents instead of "phantom" new files in subdirectories. (5564)

22466: Corrected "Add" page for unmapped paths. (5524)

22444: Corrected help file link on "Open File for Add" page. (5523)

22443: Submitted Changelists fixed for workspace mode. (5519)

22388: Empty workspace root no longer causes error. (5495)

22333: The File Browser page no longer displays a link to workspace files that don't exist. (5483)

22326: Displaying empty file content doesn't cause browser errors. (5471)

21436: "Show deleted files" preference works with directories containing only deleted files. (5196)

21773: Directories with only deleted files no longer appear in a P4Web Viewer's Path Browser unless "Show deleted files" is in effect. (5240)

21336: Attempts to add previously deleted file no longer cause error. (5142)

21808: "Launch Editor" doesn't crash when attempting to edit file that doesn't exist. (5298)

19642: "Pending changelist" page shows only the files opened by the current user so that files opened by another user won't be included in a "Submit." (4689, 4705)

21823: Edit Pending Changelist and Submit Default Changelist now use same form. (5278)

21530: Revert buttons on Submit/Edit Pending Changelist forms now work correctly with default changelist. (5143)

21066: Can now revert changelists (4786)

22218: The "Entire depot/Client view" preference is no longer listed in the Show menu, since it's now available in "Go To->Settings" and in a shortcut button. (5418)

21380: P4Web Viewer now allows "Client view only" preference. (4864)

20087: Client view page now has a link to make that client the current client. (4058)

20101: Client edit form has a larger views field. (4597)

21863, 21853: Client syntax can be used in a Path Browser URL. (5238)

21203: Submitted changelists page now accepts user-selectable changelist range and file matching pattern. (4022, 4404)

21440: P4Web now shuts down properly when "Shut Down" is chosen from the "Special" menu on the Mac. (5156)

22078: The Mac doesn't crash after waking up from sleep while running P4Web. (3646)

21258: On the Mac, P4Web no longer includes "invisible" system-generated files (eg. "icon " and ".DS_Store") when listing files to open for add. (4945)

21435: P4Web now accommodates "%" and other special characters in filenames passed in URLs. (4993)

20780: file@rev1,@rev2 in URL can be used to show a Submitted Changelists page for that file and revision range. (4891)

21576: Interactive resolve now works correctly when selecting individual files. (5202)

21914: Filelog page now gives links to file text at each revision. (4681)

20190: Filelog now gives links to File Browser page for files integrated to/from the current file. (4057)

20735: Path browser at depot root level now shows all depots, including those which do not yet contain any files. (4472)

21268: Improved error message at startup when P4Web port is already in use. (5153)

Changes Since First Beta Release

2000.2/19495

"Open for add" can now scan workspace path for new files to add.

"Interactive resolve" replaces "safe automatic resolve" as the default.

The File Browser now offers a link to the workspace copy of the current file.

Launching the editor no longer causes the browser to wait or time out.

On Unix, launching an editor or interactive resolve is allowed even if the browser and the P4Web Helper are on different machines.

Added shortcut for "Launch editor".

Client spec form now shows abbreviations as well as verbose option descriptions.

4693 fixed: "&" in path causes bad "Return to browser" links.

4696 fixed: File text not displayed correctly on Mac.

4626, 4659 fixed: Resolve operates on invalid/missing filepattern.

4384 fixed: Interactive resolve launched even when there are no files to resolve.

4586 fixed: P4Web Viewer displays irrelevant client-related info.

4596 fixed: "Workspace diffs" gives wrong output when file is not at head revision.

4424 fixed: Now allows reconnecting after stopping & restarting browser.

Macintosh startup configuration dialog now available.

Support for Changing filetypes added.

Support for "Show opened files -- all clients" added.

4454 fixed: Case mismatch in username makes authentication fail.

4446 fixed: Trailing "?=" in file content URLs prevents some browsers from recognizing file suffix.

4326 fixed: Can't see filetype of opened files.

4507 fixed: Can't diff opened binary files.

4267 fixed: P4Web doesn't check for port in use before starting up.

Label spec and Branch spec list pages available.

"Recent activity" display now optional, not shown by default.

4443 fixed: wrong "Go To" menu items shown in Viewer mode.

Support for moving opened files between pending changelists added.

3532 fixed: No way to delete an empty pending changelist.

4426 fixed: Maxresults error prevents display of links to subdirectories.

4376 fixed: Changing settings to bad port prevents access to settings page.

Startup command flags & arguments have changed -- run p4web -h for info.

Support for "integrate" added.

Interactive "resolve" available on Windows and Unix.

Hide/show files now available.

4337 fixed: "Return to Browser" button now returns to File Browser page too.

4296 fixed: Showing command results in File Browser page invited futile refresh/reload.

4291 fixed: Attempt to show filelog on path (via URL) gave mangled results.

4261 fixed: No "all files" option in "revert" form.

4222 fixed: "Open for delete" showed empty "options" heading.

4219 fixed: "Show" menu operations caused inconsistent page titles.

4212 fixed: Shortcuts worked on "matching files" not on current path.

4167 fixed: On Mac, client root field was displayed incorrectly.

4132 fixed: Invalid URL crashed P4Web.

4100 fixed: Attempted to launch editor even if browser and workspace on different machines.

4086 fixed: P4Web crashed trying to launch editor on non-existent file.

4085 fixed: P4Web crashed when certain wildcard mappings occurred in client views.

4049 fixed: Some help file links not working in IE5.

4032 fixed: Path browser margins not lining up.

3993 fixed: P4Web doesn't pick a default port address; requires user to supply one.

3937 fixed: Deleted files not on workspace show up with "synced" icon.

3654 fixed: On Mac, client root field was cleared every time client edit page was shown.

3568 fixed: Password help file now displayed at authentication error.

3415 fixed: On Mac, now outputs a message if p4web.config file can't be found.

3247 fixed: Drop-down menus weren't pre-selected.

Introductory Help files added.

Path browser shows file revision and type info.

Interactive resolve available on Mac.

Editor launch support added.

Configuration Settings page added.

Support for MIME display of file content.

Support for extended filelog (filelog -i).

3843 fixed: Authentication problems on Unix.

The File Browser offers shortcut buttons for common file operations.

3421, 3491 fixed: Macintosh memory allocation problems.

P4Web's "Client mode/depot mode" concept has been replaced with client/depot view preferences available in the Path Browser's "Show" menu. Now you can view mapped files you're not synced to yet. (Same as what you see in P4Win.)

3494 fixed: Offline remote depots prevent viewing top level path.

3426 fixed: "Error: //* - must refer to client 'clientname'"

3399 fixed: No "resolve" page help.

3252 new: Support for browse-only P4Web.

3011 fixed: P4Web stops running (or won't start up) if it can't connect to a Perforce server.

3438 fixed: No "unlock" help.

3378 fixed: Problems with diff output page.

3433 fixed: Mangled $Id examples in help pages.

Unsupported Operations

This release of P4Web does not support:

• Doing single-file or single-directory operations from Path Browser page
• Diffing non-consecutive file revisions.
• Changing user name and/or password from a P4Web page. (2957)
• Showing unintegrated file state in Path Browser and File Browser.
• Showing pending changelists for client workspaces other than the current one. (5429)
• Showing submitted changelists that have no associated files. (5431)
• Operations that require Perforce superuser or review privileges.

Limitations and Known Problems

• This release of P4Web uses no Javascript or frames. Consequently, it may not look as sophisticated as other web-based applications. However, it is equally as usable in browsers that don't support Javascript or frames as it is in browsers that do.

• Using Internet Explorer on Macintosh Classic platforms (MacOS 9.x and below) causes P4Web performance problems. P4Web users on Mac Classic should try Netscape instead.

• On Mac and Windows, the "launch" commands are only available when your browser and your P4Web Helper are running on the same host machine.

• Neither the "Revert" button nor the "Revert if unchanged" operation work on files opened for branch or add. Revert those files with "Revert even though changed." (3400)

Please Send Us Your Feedback

Your feedback will help us improve P4Web. Please email your comments and bug reports to [email protected]. Be prepared to tell us:

• The version ID of the P4Web and the browser you were testing with. (Cut and paste this information from any P4Web page.)
• For bug reports, the URL of the P4Web page in question.