The tool appears to automatically enter details for the repository (based on the website I had displayed in Chrome before clicking on the dialog window). Automatic updating appears to be enabled by default, and I found the upgrade from version 3.1 to 4 extremely simple.The client displays the dialogs to add a new repository by default when you first log into the product, or on subsequent sessions if there were no repositories configured. I applied for my 14-day trial, downloaded the compressed file, and installed it on my MacBook. That said, I agreed to write this review in order to provide a sense of how easy Cornerstone is to use for a developer who does not approach the product already having deep Subversion expertise.For this review, I focused on the following activities and how to perform them with Cornerstone.The Cornerstone installation was straightforward. I also did not have any experience with Cornerstone prior to writing this review.The only other GUI tool I’ve used with source repositories before has been Tortoise, so I was expecting a layout similar to that. Buttons can trigger primary user functions at the top of the UI. Initial ImpressionsWhen I first opened up Cornerstone, I was impressed by the clean interface.
![]() Svn Client Upgrade From VersionShelving and CheckpointsThe first feature that I wanted to try out when faced with a product review for Cornerstone was the Checkpointing feature. This panel has a great deal of useful information in it. While informative, this panel traded a lot of real estate for a limited amount of information.The right-hand panel did not appear by default and wasn’t obviously available due to the size of the window when I opened the tool. In my opinion, this is a feature which should be better highlighted and advertised to users.By following the instructions in the detailed article on how to create checkpoints, I was able to create a series of checkpoints while adding new code to a Java microservice. It’s a cumbersome process, and the implementation of checkpoints within Cornerstone will be a handy feature.The only information I found on Checkpointing with Subversion was in the release announcement for Cornerstone 4.0 , and an article explicitly covering the new Shelving & Checkpointing features. When working with Git, I’ve accomplished something similar by creating a commit, and then reverting changes later if needed. UnshelvingAs I mentioned above, I was able to use the Shelf and Unshelf features to recover my work and return my code to a working state. By comparing this process with the process I usually follow when making incremental commits with Git, I preferred this approach, and the user interface made it easy to navigate. The crucial factors for the engineer would be making checkpoints at the right times and ensuring that meaningful names have been assigned to the shelves. Creating a Checkpoint with the Shelf FeatureOnce I had created a series of checkpoints, and had my code into a state where I was unable to unshelve the checkpoints without conflicts, I then used the Shelve and Revert feature to shelve all my changes and then used the checkpoints to Unshelf myself back into a working state.Realizing that the timeframe for my test might not be typical, I can see this feature being incredibly valuable. With the basic framework for my application, I added a few informational REST endpoints to the application on my MacOS workstation. MergingTo test the merge functionality, I set up a situation which would be typical where multiple engineers are assigned the same project. I think a diff tool might make this particular process more straightforward to work through.Other than resolving conflicts, my experiences with Shelving and Unshelving changes were excellent. Facing Conflicts when Unshelving ChangesThe only options I could see were available to me were to inspect the patch file and resolved the conflicts manually, or cancel the unshelf operation. The right-click menu indicates that External Tools can be used, but I did not yet have any of these installed.Viewing the files in the Conflicted view pane, I saw two options available at the bottom of the screen.Figure 4. Unfortunately, this option marked the file as having the conflicts resolved, which made sense, but didn’t help me resolve the conflicts within the file.Using the combined file and the versions generated by the Subversion merge process, I was able to manually move code around in the conflicted file to resolve merge conflicts, but I’d like to see if there is a diff tool which could show me both source files and let me combine them into the final file to commit.There did not appear to be any documentation on the Assembla site detailing how to resolve merge conflicts. Right-clicking on one of the problematic files, I found the option to Resolve Conflicts. I’m confident the logic to merge differing content is independent of the Cornerstone tool, so I’ll focus instead on steps I took to resolve the conflicts and combine both my local code and that which had been committed into the repository already.My first attempt was to find a way to view the differences between the versions of the files in conflict. The Result of an Update Execution Which Caused ConflictsIn attempting to merge the files, Subversion ran into a lot of conflicts. I committed my Windows-based changes first and then performed an Update with Cornerstone on MacOS updates.Figure 3. I was unable to find a way to launch a diff with Araxis Merge from within Cornerstone (even after restarting the application) in case it needed to pick up the configuration on startup.Finally, after navigating to the Conflicted tab and clicking on one of the files with conflicts, I was able to click on the Open button, and the file was opened in Araxis Merge. I then added the tool support from the Cornerstone Compare Tools dialog. Comparison with Diff ToolsFrom the primary menu, I was able to find the following list of potential comparison tools.I signed up for the trial version of Araxis Merge and installed it using the evaluation key I received. I had to introduce changes in both workstations again to produce the conflicts to try using an external diff comparison tool. I tried a comparison between different versions using this tool, and eventually found a combination which allowed me to merge the latest changes into the files.The Resolve option appeared to be a drop-down menu however, when I clicked on it, it marked the file as resolved directly. There was a minimal advantage to linking to the merge tool from within Cornerstone. However, it required me to find the files and set up the comparison myself. Initial View when Opening Araxis MergeAraxis Merge did allow me to view a diff between the version of the files. Find ms office for mac product keyOne of the aspects which made this hard was not having a way to change the file that I was viewing from within the timeline tool.I also experienced a little weirdness when viewing the timeline for a file which had a rename of the file in its history. The most confusing part was changing my perspective from its being a timeline for the project to the timeline for a specific file.
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