Slickedit and Perforce

[greggman]

I'm sorry if this ends up being a noob question. I'm new to Perforce and although I've been using slickedit since version 1.0 I haven't ever used the version control support

What I'm trying to do is setup slickedit so it works just like Perforce works in Visual Studio 2005. Basically if I start editing a file I want it to checkout the file automatically.  So far, that doesn't happen for me in. If I start typing in a file I don't have checked out I get a dialog with 4 options, one grayed out, none of which do what I want.

First, I don't want a dialog. Like Visual Studio I just want the file sliently checked-out

Second, the options in the dialog are

1) Check out the latest version

I don't want the latest version, I want permission to edit my local version. Getting the latest version would potentially mean I'd also need the latest version of every other file in the project.

2) Get the latest version

See #1. I don't want the latest version I just want to edit the current version

3) Make file writable

Well, that apparently just lets me edit the file but doesn't actually check it out from perforce so that's not what I want either

4) Save as new file

This is grayed out and also not what I need

Am I doing something wrong? Do I have something setup wrong?

Thanks

-gregg

[Matthew]

Are you using the SCC plugin (p4scc), or are you using the command line client version? If you're using the SCC version, then you can only configure it as much as the plugin allows.
If you're using the command line system in SE, then you can customize the flags and options that are passed on the command line. Go to Tools > Version Control > Setup, and select Perforce in the Command Line Systems list. Click Setup, which brings you to a dialog to customize the command lines that are used for the individual operations.
This type of source control won't be as full featured as the SCC provider, and of course will require a good knowledge of the command line client options and flags. But if you're looking to banish popup dialogs, it's a good way to go.

[greggman]

I'm using the plugin (that's what slickedit uses when I choose perforce)

As far as I know it's the only way slickedit can correctly mark the status of the various files (or am I wrong)

It's frustrating reading through the threads that it seems like you guys don't have more experience with Perforce. At least in my industry, video game development it seems like Perforce is used by 90% or more of the entire industry or at least the USA industry.

I'm hoping you can help me get it working as good as it works with Visual Studio.

[greggman]

I want to revisit this topic because Slickedit's Perforce integration is actually making it harder for me to get work done.

The first issue is that as far as I understand it, Visual Stdio also uses the SCC plugin for integration. If that's the case, why is visual studio able to silently "open for edit" files through perforce but Slickedit is not?

2nd issue (related to #1)  In Visual Studio I press some key, if the file is not checked out it is automatically checked out and my key is executed. In Slickedit, I press some key, if the file is not checked out I get a dialog box, if I click "Check out the latest version" the key I originally pressed is not applied. I have to press it again.

3rd issue. Slickedit often thinks it has a file checked out when it doesn't so it lets me edit the file even though perforce doesn't think it's checked out. When this happens I do a submit and now the build breaks for every other developer on my team because the files that slickedit let me edit but didn't checkout were no submitted. This happens once or twice a week.

Are there any plans to address any of these?

[Dan]

I am experimenting with the first two of these.  We might be able to put in options for different behaviors here, but I am having some problem with the behavior when there is a selection.

The last one bothers me a little more.  In these cases, are the files read only when you initially edit them?

[greggman]

I'm not sure what causes #3

One possibility is that maybe I'm typing so fast that I press Down, Down, Down, enter sometimes when I mean to be typing in the buffer but instead the dialog pops up and I'm picking "make writable" and not even noticing because it happens so fast. I have no way to tell if that's the case. All I know is that I edit 10 or so files and then end up having to use perforce's "Check Consistancy" to find the 1 or 2 files that somehow got edited but where not checked out first.

Sorry I haven't been able to narrow down the sequence of events. If it is the issue I just mentioned then fixing issue #1 so it just edits like Visual Studio (no dialog) would fix the issue.

[Dan]

Just wanted you to know I am still looking into this.  We are about to have another update, and I am hoping to put this in.  I will probably make it an option to turn it on.

[Tom Plunket]

First, I don't want a dialog. Like Visual Studio I just want the file sliently checked-out

Yeah this would be handy.    There is an option for "prompt for files," which I'd hoped I could turn off while keeping "auto checkout on edit" checked to give me this behavior, alas it does not and "prompt for files" is undocumented (or was when I last went looking...).

Second, the options in the dialog are

1) Check out the latest version

This is lying to you.    The first selection (as you may have discovered by now) does not automatically sync before edit.  However, if you're out-of-date, it will prompt your for whether you want to sync or edit current.

[Dan]

First, I don't want a dialog. Like Visual Studio I just want the file sliently checked-out

Yeah this would be handy.    There is an option for "prompt for files," which I'd hoped I could turn off while keeping "auto checkout on edit" checked to give me this behavior, alas it does not and "prompt for files" is undocumented (or was when I last went looking...).

Second, the options in the dialog are

1) Check out the latest version

This is lying to you.    The first selection (as you may have discovered by now) does not automatically sync before edit.  However, if you're out-of-date, it will prompt your for whether you want to sync or edit current.

This performs an SCC Checkout.  Are you saying that in Perforce this only locks, but does not get the most up to date version?

[Tom Plunket]

Unlike SourceSafe, yes, 'p4 edit' only marks the file as checked out.  It doesn't actually lock the file either unless the file properties are set such that the file should be locked on checkout.

There is a second prompt though when you don't have the latest version.  I suspect this second prompt is from the P4 SCC plugin though because the font in the dialog is distinctive to their stuff.

Perforce offers all of their tools for free.  The only limitation when running without a paid license is that you can only create two users or two client specs.  They even have a demo database available for downloading so you can test on a "real" dataset.

FWIW, I like the fact that Visual Studio buffers the keystrokes and adds them into the file once it is opened for edit.  The only problem with that is if the file changes, the keystrokes get added to the wrong place.  However, this is very rarely something that happens in typical Perforce usage (because usually you don't want to sync before edit).

[skydvr]

This is lying to you.    The first selection (as you may have discovered by now) does not automatically sync before edit.  However, if you're out-of-date, it will prompt your for whether you want to sync or edit current.

IMHO, the text of this should be changed then - it's confusing to be prompted to "edit latest", when you want to edit current.  If you're never prompted with the 2nd prompt (which you wouldn't know about without a trip to the forums :-) ) then it's very reasonable to assume that the sync occured under the covers.

I thinkthe behavior (as described) is acceptable - it's just the text that I feel needs correcting.