Connecting to Helix Server

The first time you launch P4V, the Connection Setup Wizard (Mac: Connection Setup Assistant) runs automatically. You can use the wizard to specify connection settings and create a user and workspace if required. In subsequent P4V sessions, the Open Connection dialog is displayed by default. To run the wizard/assistant manually, go to Connection > Set Up Connection.

To connect to a Perforce service using a connection that you have used previously, do one of the following:

If P4V is already running, go to Connection > Open Recent and select the connection.
When you launch P4V, select the connection from the Connections drop-down in the Open Connection dialog. The Connections drop-down lists recent and favorite connections.

Note
If your Connection preference is set to Restore all previously opened connections when you launch P4V, P4V opens the most recently used connection and skips the Open Connection dialog.

To connect to a Perforce service using a new connection:

Launch P4V or, if P4V is already running, go to Connection > Open Connection.
In the Open Connection dialog, enter the Perforce service name and port number for the connection using server_host:port_number syntax.

If your Perforce service is enabled for SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption, use the following syntax: ssl:server_host:port_number

Important
If you attempt to connect to an SSL-enabled Perforce service and you see a warning about an untrusted SSL connection or altered SSL fingerprint, contact your Helix Server administrator before completing the connection.
In the User field, enter your user name.
- To browse for a particular user, click the Browse… button and select the user from that list.
- To create a user, click New… and fill in the appropriate information.
(Optional) In the Workspace field, specify the name of your client workspace.
- To browse for a particular client workspace, click the Browse… button and select the workspace from that list.
- To create a client workspace, click New… and fill in the required information.
Click OK.

P4V connects to the specified Perforce service and displays a new instance of its main window.

Note
If the server you are connecting to is configured with multi-factor authentication (MFA), you are prompted for another layer of verification. Depending on the setup, you may need to select a method of verification before you can enter your credentials.

For more information, see p4 login2 in the P4 Command Reference.

Note

You can set Windows environment variables for Perforce connection settings, which makes the settings available to other Helix Server client applications (for example, P4EXP, the Helix Plugin for Windows Explorer).

To set connection-related environment variables, go to Connection > Environment Settings… and specify the settings you want.
To configure P4V to use environment connection settings at startup, go to Edit > Preferences… and, on the Connections page, enable Open the connection that matches your Perforce environment settings.

You can also click the Change Settings button on this page to set your connection-related environment settings.

Favorite connections

You can maintain a list of favorite connections and assign descriptive names to the entries. This frees you from having to remember port numbers and service host names.

To add a favorite connection, go to Connection > Favorite Connections > Add Favorite Connection….
To modify existing favorites, go to Connection > Favorite Connections > Manage Favorites….
To connect to a favorite connection, go to Connection > Favorite Connections.

Connecting to unicode-mode Perforce services

The first time you connect to a Unicode-mode Perforce service, P4V requires you to choose a character set. If you are connecting to a Unicode-mode service, it is vital to configure this setting correctly to ensure that files are transferred properly between your client machine and the Perforce service. If you are unsure which setting to choose, consult your Helix Server administrator.

To configure a default encoding for Unicode-mode Perforce services, go to Edit > Preferences… (Windows) or P4V > Preferences…(Mac) and open the Display page.

If you are connecting to a Unicode-mode Perforce service for the first time, P4V displays the Choose Character Encoding dialog after you dismiss the Open Connection dialog. Specify the encoding you want and click OK. The encoding that you specify overrides any default that is configured, and the specified encoding is used when you subsequently connect to the same Perforce service.

Helix Server supports several variants of the UTF-16 character set, because the Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms differ in their handling of UTF-16 encoding, specifically, in the ordering of multibyte characters and the inclusion of a byte order marker (BOM) in the file header. The standard UTF-16 setting, utf16, is configured according to the typical defaults for your processor and is the recommended setting, unless you are certain that your client computer requires different byte-order/BOM settings.

For full details about configuring client and services to handle Unicode environments and files, refer to the Internationalization Notes (http://www.perforce.com/perforce/doc.current/user/i18nnotes.txt) for your version of Helix Server.