Web/RCS Usage Instructions

* Running Web/RCS

There are two ways to run Web/RCS. You can access the "frames" version via the URL http://intra/webrcs_frame/. This gives you a split screen with the documentation menu on the left side of the screen, and the Web/RCS application on the right side.

You can also run Web/RCS "directly", using the URL http://intra/webrcs/ followed by the path to whatever file or directory in the RCS tree you want to look at.

For example, if the path to the directory you use most often is /projects/pacbell/isis/, you can access it directly with the URL http://intra/webrcs/projects/pacbell/isis/. You can even bookmark the URL in your browser for easy access.

* Navigating Directories

Web/RCS provides a familiar interface for navigating through directory hierarchies. Simply point and click your way to the file you are looking for. Once you find that file, it will be labeled with one of three possible icons.

The Checked In icon indicates that the file is available to be checked out. You can view, copy, or download this file to your PC. You can also check it out, of course.

The Checked Out icon indicates that the file has been checked out, either by yourself or another user. You can view, copy, or download this file to your PC. You can also unlock it or check it back in, if your are the user who checked it out.

This icon indicates that there is No RCS Information for the file. In other words, it's just a regular file. It must be checked in before anything can be done with it. However, you can still view, copy, or download this file to your PC.

* Working With Files

Once you click on a file, you will see a screen with all the RCS information and possible actions that are available for that file:

Note: When you are in the file information screen (or in one of the functions available from that screen), you will see a little arrow icon (like this one ) on the bottom of the screen, directing you back to the file or directory levels. You should get into the habit of using this icon to navigate rather than relying on your browser's Back button.

* Working With Revisions

If an RCS file has multiple revisions, the file information screen will be divided into multiple sections, one for each revision. Each section will contain buttons indicating which actions are available for that revision.

If you click on View, Copy, or Download for a particular revision, then Web/RCS will check out that revision (without locking it) and show it to you. This makes it easy to compare different revisions of a file. It also makes it easy to grab the wrong version of a file, so be careful.

The Diffs function is also quite handy. For whatever revision you choose, it shows the diffs from the prior revision. As you might guess, you can't show diffs for the "Initial" revision.

* Checking Out a File

In order for a file to be checked out, it must be checked in. If it's a new addition to the RCS directory, it must go through the initial check-in process.

There are two steps to checking out a file. First it must be locked with the Lock function. Once this is done, you must create a local copy of the file so you can make changes to it. This can be done using the View, Copy, or Download functions.

Important: Since Web/RCS allows you to work with both current and prior revisions of an RCS file, it is important that you make sure you get the current (i.e. most recent) revision of the file after you've placed a lock on it. If you attempt to check in an older revision of the file on top of a newer revision, Web/RCS will assume you know what you're doing.

If you change your mind and decide you don't want to change a file, you can simply Unlock it. It is not necessary to check it back in.

* Checking In a File

Checking in a File you have made revisions to is fairly straightforward, and there are two ways to do it. The Check In (File) function will check in the file from your personal RCS directory, and the Check In (Upload) function will check in a file after uploading it from your PC (Note: Only recent versions of Netscape and MSIE support uploading).

In each case, RCS creates a new revision of the file. As you might guess, the file must be locked under your user ID in order for either method to work.


Copyright © 1998 PROVISTA Software Intl.