Checkin does not store changes.

[Thalko]

Does vault determine if a file has changed by looking at the size difference of when it was checked out VS the size prior to checkin to determine whether or not to actually checkin the file?

Scenario:

I check out a crystal report file (binary), make formatting changes(change the width of a column), and then save the file locally. I notice that prior to checking in the file the status says the file is "Unmodified". So i do a comparision between local version and the current one in the repository, and notice that they are infact different. I check in the file and the Version is not incremented and the changes never make it to the server.


I repeat this process but instead, after adding the formatting change, i add another field to the report, and this changes the file size. At this point the file size has changed in the "Pending Changes" window and it displays the file as "Modified". I proceed with the check-n and the changes are committed and reflected in the repository.

So, if you check out a file and make changes to it, but it does not change the file size, will the changes not be committed to the repository? I believe read somewhere that if a file is not changed and a user attempts to check it into the repository that it really will just undo the checkout.

[lbauer]

Does vault determine if a file has changed by looking at the size difference of when it was checked out VS the size prior to checkin to determine whether or not to actually checkin the file?

Vault looks at the timestamp of the file. Or, you can enable CRC's in Vault Client options. If a file is checked out, and the timestamp has changed from the time the file was originally retrieved, Vault considers the file modified.

Vault does a CRC check on checkin to determine if the contents of a file have actually changed and by default undoes the checkout if the contents have not been modified. If you want to checkin unmodified files, you can change the option in Tools->Options->Checkin Unchanged Files.

The other question is why Vault didn't detect any changes in your file. Did you save the file before looking at the status in the pending change set? Does the file that you're modifying have the same path as the file in the pending change set?

[Thalko]

I believe i have found what the issue may be. As a test i created a simple report with 1 field and formula on it and added it to the repository. I then checked out the report, made modifications to it, and saved it. The status said it was still the same size and was "Unmodified"... until i closed the Crystal Reports designer. Prior to closing the designer i kept refreshing with F5 the Vault client to see if the status of the checked out file had changed, but it did not. I looked at the timestamp on the local file and it was updated to the time that i saved the file. Then i closed the Crystal Reports design tool, and it was only then that the changes were reflected in the "pending changes" window and i was able to save changes to the repository.

I took a look at the settings i have in my Vault Client and i have the CRC option selected for comparison of check-ins.

One thought of mine is that Vault could not do a CRC on the file because the Crystal Designer had exclusive access to the file. I know VS.net will not be able to compile a project if one of the project's Crystal Reports is open in the stand-alone Crystal Designer(ie. not the one that comes with Visual Studio), so maybe this is what occurred.