How to merge two versions of the same project in xcode? - iphone

My colleague and I work together on an iPhone app in Xcode. Now and then, we want to merge our work. Ideally, this should also work when we are offline and use a USB stick to exchange eachother's projects.
For the case the majority of the changes are non-conflicting, what way can I use to merge these two whole projects locally, and keeping the local GIT repository in sync with these merges?

To merge the changes into your version, you need to add your colleague's version as a remote repository (although stored locally on harddisk) to your project and then pull the changes from your colleague's project into your own project.
Details:
I'm assuming you have two copies of the same Xcode project, with different changes, on your local harddisk, yours and the one with the additional changes from your colleague that you want to merge into your own version.
Moreover, I'm assuming that both of you use a local GIT repository for local version control. That's the default when you start a new Xcode project, so unsually you don't need to worry about this.
Let's assume the project folders are in these locations:
/Users/UserName/projects/YourVersion
/Users/UserName/projects/YourColleaguesVersion
For adding your colleagues project as a remote repository to your project, do this:
Go to the Organizer (click in Xcode's Menu: Window > Organizer)
Click on Repositories at the top of the Organizer window
Locate YourVersion in the list at the left side of the Organizer window
Click on "Remotes" under YourVersion
Click on "Add Remote" at the bottom of the Organizer window
In the Dialog which appeared, type in this:
Remote Name: YourColleaguesVersion
Location: file:///Users/UserName/projects/YourColleaguesVersion
Click the "Create" button and close the Organizer window
Now for pulling the changes from your colleage's project into your project, do this:
Click in Xcode's Menu: File > Source Control > Pull...
A Dialog opens and says "Choose remote from which to pull changes." - It should show YourColleaguesVersion/master as the remote repository and it should say Remote is online. Click on the "Choose" button.
You're done.

This is what source control is for. You mention git, and that's a reasonable source control system to use. git is very good at branching and merging and makes it pretty easy. You should read the git book chapter on branching. It explains it pretty well.
There are a variety of ways you can do it, but if you both work on different computers, it seems like the easiest way is to have a git server that hosts the main repository. You can each branch and merge locally or from the server. You shouldn't need to share a memory stick, though you could theoretically keep a local git repository there and each have branches on it. But git was intended to be used by many people distributed in different places each making their own frequent branches and merging them back together.
I should add that you can start a git repository locally and later move it to a server if you don't have a server right now. You can also use something like github to store your project on a server without having your own server.

Related

What Egit actions do I take to get copy of src file TESTGIT1 from MainServerRepository into LocalServerRepo to work on?

As a new Egit user, aiming to set up version control to update the way a team manages source code without changing locations of our build and dev servers and to identify correct Egit commands to use for check in and check out code from both servers.
In a single Eclipse workspace, initially had one project without use of Egit just a basic automatic and adhoc file copy back up of changed development directory into folders with dates of backup. Promotion to the build server was done by manually copying source files and binaries, doing a diff between source on the MainServer and local server to manage any merges. Now need to implement a proper version control system, using Egit, so as a first time Egit user. I have set up two test Eclipse projects in my workspace: project A shared with MainServerRepository and project B shared with LocalServerRepo. The two git repositories will be in different directories: MainServerRepository on the network and LocalServerRepo on my area on the network where I backup my PC.
What Egit actions do I take to promote latest TESTGIT1.src from MainServerRepository into LocalServerRepo to work on in my local server? (Team > Fetch from upstream is grayed out). Then, once tested, how do I check in src for TESTGIT1 into the main build server project, source and objects are in MainServerRepository?
I've used Team > Commit successfully to check in, but am using cut and paste to move code between two projects (prior to commit) and feel there must be a better way to do this or to set up the projects differently within Eclipse.
Or should I be using Team > push or Team > merge?
Do I need local repository or should I just check out into workspace?
Any comments/ question/assistance would be welcome as haven't figured it out from reading the EGit/User_Guide.
Edit TESTGIT1.src in Eclipse project shared with LocalServerRepo(testGitRepo) until work on it is complete on local server. Then, apply same changes to TESTGIT1 in the main build server project, using right click copy +paste from right click, team > check in. Then in Git Staging view, click plus sign to add to index (staging area), then click commit button, merging in with any other changes made to TESTGIT1.src by other developers. Don't use push command to push entire contents of LocalServerRepo. Or is there a better answer?

Is it possible to share a project without commiting?

I'd like to use "Share Project..." in Eclipse without actually commiting to SVN. Unfortunately, I am not able to find an option for doing this.
Instead, I want the relevant files only be added to SVN.
My goal is, that SVN should track all the files I move into the project using the package explorer.
Share Project needs to accomplish two things:
It sets up some internal linkage in Eclipse that connects your project with the SVN Team Provider so that SVN menu actions are exposed and so that activities you perform are routed to the SVN provider to "handle".
It has to establish your project as SVN "working copy" so that the SVN API that needs to be called on behalf of your actions can do what it needs to do.
So the key here is that if you already have a SVN working copy then Share Project will recognize this and be able to do option 1 without needing to do anything else. But otherwise, it has to establish a working copy which requires it to do svn checkout from your repository. If it has to create the working copy then it makes the assumption it needs to create the project in the repos and then check that out on top of your local project. So the one commit it will do is a svn mkdir for a folder in the repos.
If you do not want to do that, then do something to establish a working copy locally before you get started, such as checking out some existing location in your repository. As others have noted, you may want to be using branches and switch if you are refactoring something that already exists.
When you commit data to the SVN repository, you publish this new data or make changes to existing data (i.e. you make your changes available to others). Therefore, you need to commit your changes if you want others to see it in your SVN repository and collaborate.
As far as I recall, "Share Project" command in Eclipse is designed to import your non-versioned project to the SVN repository (i.e. make a first-time import) -- it converts your local data into a working copy and commits it.
I do not understand what exactly you mean by "share but not commit" (you may want to elaborate). However, you can always select which files to add and commit or import into the repository, but I guess that you will need to use standalone SVN client outside of Eclipse.

Eclipse - sharing project directory with multiple users

We are trying to set up Eclipse so that two users can share the same project directory on our server. Is this possible? Every time we try, it creates a new folder and project.
Thanks!
Chris
No, this isn't possible. Eclipse only supports a single user accessing a workspace (not just a project) at a time.
Use a source control system such as Git or SVN to share code. Eclipse supports many such systems and has extensive sharing support in the 'Team' menus.
The best way to do this would be to use source control.
Sharing the actual workspace or the files with different eclipse instance is a recipe for trouble.
An easy way to do this would be to install git on your machine and also on his machine. Eclipse actually already has git in it ready to go so you probably dont need to install anything.
The one with the files locally will create a repo locally on his computer and commit the files to it.
Next you want to init a new empty repository on a shared folder and push your local chances to this as you would to github for example.
Your partner can then git clone from this repository to his machine and work locally.
Each of you will develop on your own copy and commit your changes locally. You will share your changes by pushing your commits in that central repo and pulling from it to get changes from your partner.
You could also just open an account on GitHub, GitLab or BitBucket (there are many others too) and use that instead of a shared folder. big advantage with these services is that they will be available from anywhere.

Eclipse and EGit: How to easily review changes to ALL modified files before committing to *local* repository

I'm using Eclipse Indigo SR2 with the (built-in) EGit plugin v.1.3.0.201202151440-r and haven't been able to find any way to easily review all my changes before making a commit.
I used Eclipse with SVN for years, and this was always very easy to do. I would typically right-click on my project, select Team->Synchronize, double-click on the first changed file (in the Team Sync perspective), then hit Ctrl-. repeatedly to review all changes in one file, and then proceed to the next file, as I wrote a summary of my changes for the commit message.
But of course, git is very different from Subversion, and so my workflow must change. With EGit, "Team Sync" only appears to be useful for reviewing changes between my local files and the remote repository (i.e. before a push to the remote). I need a way to review changes since my last commit to my local repository. I generally don't even care to (re)review changes before a push to remote (and if I did, I'd prefer a simple equivalent of git log to see what commits I'm about to push).
If I right-click on my project and select Team->Commit, I am presented with a window that does almost everything I need to do (select files to stage, commit, write a commit message, amend a previous commit, etc.). What it doesn't allow me to do is quickly and easily review all my changes in a compare editor. I can't believe this capability doesn't exist! It seems I am required to double-click on each individual file, review the changes, close the compare editor, and double-click on the next file. That's ridiculous!
TL/DR - I am looking for a simple GUI equivalent (in Eclipse) to do what I am easily able to do from the command line using git vimdiff (where vimdiff is a git alias that uses vimdiff as the "difftool" to cycle through all modified files) followed by git commit (with perhaps a git add or two in between).
If no one has a good solution, I am curious about how others handle their commit workflow with EGit. I've been getting along fine committing from the command line (not that Eclipse is happy about that) but I can't believe that EGit is as near-useless as it seems to me. Perhaps my google-fu is not as strong as it once was?
Says here that you can see the diffs between the working tree and any given reference. Perhaps you should try out the latest version (Juno) of Eclipse/EGit and see if it's gotten any better?
Update: I've tried this out in the latest Eclipse, and as far as I can see it works fine. Here's how:
In the moment of writing this, Eclipse Juno 4.2 is the version you should go for. On the download page, you can pick between several packages according to your needs. The 'Eclipse IDE for Java Developers' comes bundled with EGit, but you can also install EGit into any distribution using the Eclipse Marketplace (under the Help menu).
Once you've imported your project into Eclipse, make sure the project is "shared":
Right-click project -> Team -> Share Project.. -> Git
Now do the following:
Switch to the Team Synchronizing Perspective.
Click the little synchronize button in the Synchronize View.
Choose Git
Pick a suitable branch to sync against, like refs/remotes/origin/master
Make sure to check the "Include local uncommitted changes in comparison" box
Click Finish
Now, change some files and watch them appear in the Synchronize View. Double-click the changed files to see the diff (like in the screenshot below).
Are you aware of the 'Git Staging' view. It keeps track of all the files that have changed and you can review the changes any time. (This can be a bit better than using the commit dialog)
An alternative is to commit all changes without reviewing, and then use the history view to compare two commits (Simply select the last top most commits, right click and select 'Compare with each other'). This way you do not have to keep double clicking individual files. If you need to change something you can always 'Amend' the last commit. (I usually follow this approach)
I am writing this as of Eclipse Oxygen, but it should apply to other versions as well.
Option 1 with team synchronizing view: right click the project > Compare with > Commit. You can choose your latest commit here, even if you haven't pushed it to repository.
Option 2 with diff view: If you want to see the "diff" version without committing, you can achieve this by right clicking your project > team > stashes > Stash Changes > check Include untracked files. This will save all of your changes to a stash. Then you will right click project > team > stashes > select stash you saved. You click the green arrow at the top right to re-apply all of your changes you stashed back to your code. In the same stash window, you will see a "Diff" tab at the bottom right. Clicking on the diff tab will show your changes in the red/green highlighted diff style. I wish there was a way to generate a diff view without stashing, but this is the only work-around I have found.

Eclipse Subversive plugin: Why can't I create this branch?

I recently switched from Subclipse to Subversive for SVN integration in Eclipse, and I'm having trouble creating a branch of my source code.
I've tried a few different variations of my method, but they all led me to the same roadblock. Basically, here's what I'm trying to do.
Navigator pane
Right-click on project folder (want to branch the whole thing)
Team > Branch
In the Location field, browse to select the /branches folder in my repository
Add the branch name to the path field, i.e. "/testbranch" (not pictured)
The dialog then looks like this, and I can't continue.
http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/1011/branchingfail.png
What am I doing wrong here? Why can't I create this branch? If nothing else, can it at least be confirmed that I'm following the right process, and it's something about my environment or configuration that's stopping the branch from being created?
I found that SVN is very particular with the SVN connectors. If you connected and downloaded SVN code with one connector and then switched to a different connector when you started using Subversive, you'll definitely have problems.
I've had unexplained Subversive problems in the past and they've almost always tracked back to different connector usage. The solution for me was to reset all of my local SVN code. I deleted everything local and rechecked out all of my code. Everything appeared to be fine after that.
I hope this helps.
I don't consider this a proper solution, but it's at least got me working again. Instead of running a branch operation, I created a new folder inside my branches folder, and then copied the contents of the trunk folder into it. I was then able to switch to my new "branch".
Make sure you do not have any uncommited changes, and then do a Team>cleanup. Also make sure you are branching from the trunk and that you do not have any mixed version. For example you can have a folder below the root be from another branch while the rest of the project is from trunk. This will cause the branch creation to fail. When having issues with branches from the navigator, try reverting the project (right click choose team>revert) several times. Then execute the cleanup several times.
Also you may consider creating the branch from the SVN Repositories view. From this view right click on the location you want to branch from (ie truck) and select New>branch from the context menu. One last step is from the navigator view you will need to swtich your project to the newly created brancn: right click on the project root and select Team>switch from the context menu