P4Web Release 2003.1 User Guide
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Editing Client Specs

Your Perforce client spec defines your workspace location, the depot files you plan to work with, and where they will be located in your workspace when you invoke Perforce commands.

To edit a client spec,

  1. To edit a client spec, it must be set as your current client workspace (check at the top of your screen under Client).
  2. To change your current client workspace:
  3. Select Go To->Edit Client to modify the current client spec.
  4. If you are a new Perforce user just starting out, the only client spec fields that you have to edit are Root and View, as described below.
  5. After you have edited these fields, click Save to return to the Path Browser.
As you learn more about what you can do with your client spec, you can edit it again and select different options.

Client spec field descriptions
A client spec consists of the following values:

Client:
The unique name of your current client workspace (this cannot be changed).

Update:
Shows when your client spec was last changed.

Access:
Shows when your workspace was last used.

Owner:
The user who "owns" the workspace and the client spec. (Unless the client spec is locked, ownership has no particular privilege.)

Host:
The name of the workstation or computer on which your workspace is located. P4Web uses this value to prevent you from accidentally using your workspace from the wrong machine.

If your workspace is on a shared filesystem, and you want to use it from more than one machine, leave the host value blank.

Description:
Optional information that can be used to described what this client workspace is used for.

Root:
The location of the the root of your workspace on the local filesystem. You should set this once, when you are first creating your client spec. Use the directory naming syntax recognized by your machine (for example, "C:\WS" on Windows, or "/usr/team/bill/ws" on Unix).

If you ever want to change your workspace root, you should first submit your opened files, then remove all Perforce-managed files from your workspace, and then use the Edit Client Spec page to change the root. After saving the new client spec, sync your workspace and files will be written to the new location.

Altroots:
You can enter up to two optional alternate client workspace roots. The first of any of these roots (main or alternate) that matches P4Web's current working directory is used; if none matches, the main root is used.

Options:
Controls some optional characteristics of how Perforce operates in this client workspaces. See Client Workspace Options, below.

LineEnd:
Controls how line endings in text files are translated when files are transmitted between the depot and your workspace. See Translating Line-end Characters, below.

View:
Describes how depot files will be "mapped" into your workspace. For example, if your client workspace name is "PatWS" and its root is "C:\WS", this view:
	//depot/projects/saturn/... //PatWS/SAT/...
will map all the files the //depot/projects/saturn path to a matching directory hierarchy under "C:\WS\SAT".

If you're creating your first workspace, you can leave the default values provided in the View field. Be aware, however, that if your Perforce server manages very large depots, the default view can cause your workspace commands to run slowly. For better performance, define a view that maps to only the depot paths you are interested in working with.

See the Perforce User's Guide for more details on client view mapping.

Client workspace options

These optional behaviors can be defined for your client workspace:

Translating line-end characters

Text files contain special characters that indicate where line endings occur. Different operating systems use different characters (usually CR and/or LF). When Perforce copies files from the depot into your workspace, it translates line endings as appropriate for your workspace machine. When it sends file content from your workspace to the depot, it translates them back.

The "LineEnd" field in the client spec lets you control the line-end characters Perforce uses when it reads and writes text files in your workspace. Choices are:

local Use whatever line endings the local operating system uses. This is the default, and the preferred setting for client workspaces that are not shared.
unix Use UNIX-style line endings, LF.
mac Use Macintosh-style line endings, CR.
win Use Windows-style line-endings, CRLF.
share Write files using UNIX-style line endings, but read files with either UNIX- or Windows-style line endings.

Note: Changing the "LineEnd" setting in your client spec doesn't affect the files Perforce has already put in your workspace. You must re-sync your files using the "force" option to make Perforce rewrite the files with the new line-end characters.


Copyright 2003 Perforce Software. All rights reserved.