Exploring the Desktop App
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In addition to the Web App, you can use the Copia Desktop App to manage your repositories and their contents. Most users will likely prefer to use the Desktop App in light of its advanced change detection features.
Copia encourages use of the Copia Desktop App as it provides custom and supported features that are beneficial for the automation industry. While it's possible to use the GIT CLI, this workflow should be performed with care as it may provide access to operations that are not supported by Copia. If you still have questions, reach out to us at contact@copia.io.
In the Copia Desktop App, the current selected repository will be show in the top right. This reflects the status (changes) of the Repository folder on your PC, and provides access to History of that folder.
This button not only displays the currently selected repository, but it can be selected to change to another repository.
Using this menu, you can change to another repository (grouped by Recent or Organization). The green dots indicate there are "uncommitted" (or unsaved) changes in the repository folder. The Arrow indicates that there are new changes to Pull from the server.
In addition, select the "Add" button to either add a local folder as a repository or clone (i.e. copy) a repository from the Copia server to the local system.
Next to the Repository selector, the Branch selector displays the current branch (or line of code) that is currently in the repository folder on your PC. Branches are explained in more detail in the Branching section, but in summary; A branch is a new/separate version of the main repository, that you can work in without changing the original branch (or contents).
Creating or changing the branch, will update the contents of the repository folder on the PC to that branch's contents. (in the case of a new branch, it will copy the source branch) This allows you to make changes, and then overwrite or merge into the original branch at a later time.
When you select the Branch button, you will have the opportunity to:
Select a different branch
Create a new branch, based off of the currently selected branch
View the current open Pull Requests for the branches shown (see Pull Requests for more information, but in summary they are a "request to merge two branches")
When you want to make changes, work on your project or add more data into the repository; you do this from the repository folder. This is just a folder on your PC that you chose, when you created or cloned (i.e. copied from Copia) your repository to this PC.
You may already know which folder this is, and you don't even need to use the Copia Desktop App to make changes. If you forget, Copia can easily get you to it!
If there are no changes, you can select "Show in Explorer" button, or you can access the same option from the Repository Menu at the top of the Copia Desktop App. You can also use the Ctrl + Shift + F hotkey to access the repository folder.
The Changes tab will display any files in your repository folder that have changed. You do not need to do anything, just make any change in the repository folder on your PC, and switch back to the Copia Desktop App, and it will detect that a file has been modified. The differences will be displayed on the right.
The example below shows a change to a text file in the repository folder, and upon switching back to the desktop app the change is highlighted in green.
Once you fetch and pull from the Copia server, you'll have access to your repository's full history of commits -- and to all file changes in each commit.
Click the History tab on the top left corner of the Copia Desktop app. You should see the changes in each revision rendered in a panel to the right.
You can also perform compares between history. See the Managing History topic for more information about this.
While Git is a powerful tool for individual engineers to track and understand changes to their files, it truly shines when used in collaboration with multiple engineers. Copia supports collaboration features like Organizations, Teams, Issue Tracking, and Wikis, which are covered extensively in the Managing Repositories section.
While viewing the History tab can be a helpful tool for understanding the history of your repository, it lacks the ability to represent complex repository histories, especially those with branches and merges. Understanding complex history can be made easier by viewing a graphical representation in the form of the Commit Graph. The Copia Desktop App has a Commit Graph view that is very similar to the one found in the Web Application. This section covers the features of the commit graph and how you can start utilizing it.
The photo above shows the Commit Graph in the Copia Desktop app. The Commit Graph is comprised of two main components: the visual commit graph itself, and the commit diff viewer. The commit graph will be the focus of this section since the commit diff viewer is unchanged from its standard behavior.
The visual commit graph shows the entire graphical history of the repository, including all branches, merges, commits, and contributors. Among other things, it allows users to quickly navigate through the history of a repository all in one view and in the same app that you are likely already interacting with the repository anyway. Unlike the Web App version of the Commit Graph, the Desktop version can be used on locally cloned repositories without an internet connection.
The Desktop App Commit Graph is not capable of performing Git actions in your repo. If you need to perform actions such as Checkout or Create Tag, you must use the standard History tab.
The Commit Graph may or may not already be enabled in your Desktop Application. If you see a "Commit Graph" button at the top of your Desktop App next to the Fetch/Push/Pull button, your Commit Graph is already enabled and you can skip these steps. Otherwise, follow the steps below to start using the Commit Graph in the Copia Desktop App.
In the Copia Desktop App, click on File > Options in the menu bar at the upper left of the application
Click Advanced
Select the Enable Commit Graph checkbox
Click Save
That's it! You should now see the Commit Graph button on the main repository page
Elements of the Commit Graph are annotated by red circles with numbers in the above photo, which will be used when referencing elements in this section.
Icon #1 shows the button used to show and hide the Commit Graph. If you do not see the button, follow the steps in this previous section to enable the Commit Graph. Clicking anywhere within this button will bring up the Commit Graph viewer. Clicking the X button will close the Commit Graph viewer and return you to the standard repository home page.
The Commit Graph is comprised of five columns located by the icon #2. These columns are resizable to clicking and dragging on the vertical bar separating each column header. Each of these columns are described below.
Branches: The BRANCHES column shows the name(s) of the branch(es) in your repository's history. Your current branch will always be the left-most branch and denoted with a solid fill color for the branch name box and the commit nodes. There may not be enough screen space to show the full branch names if there are multiple branches associated with the same commit, as shown by Icon #6. In this case, additional branches are denoted by a +X icon, where X is the number of branch names being hidden. Hovering over this icon reveals a tooltip containing the name(s) of the other hidden branch name(s).
Commit Graph: The COMMIT GRAPH column shows all of the branches and commits in your repository. This includes any local branches and/or commits that have not yet been pushed to the remote repository. If you're repository contains a complex branching structure, the branches may extend beyond the bounds of the column. In this case, you can either resize the column to fit your graph, or use the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the column to navigate left and right.
Commit Message: The COMMIT MESSAGE column shows the commit messages associated with each commit located in-line with the message, as well as the commit author's avatar. Hovering over the avatar will reveal a tooltip with the author's name and email address. Commit messages containing hyperlinks such as Issue mentions or PR links (see Icons #4 and #9) are clickable and will launch in your default browser. Any commits containing any associated Git tags are shown with the tag icon, show near Icon #5. You can also Right-Click > Open in Web App on any commit to open that commit in your default web browser.
Commit ID: The COMMIT ID column shows the commit ID (also know as commit SHA or hash). This is a unique identifier for that specific commit in the history, which can be helpful when troubleshooting a repo's history or when running any command-line instructions. You can copy the SHA to your clipboard by hovering over any part of a commit in the graph and performing a Right-Click > Copy SHA.
Commit Date: The COMMITTED column shows the date-time when the commit was made. This is the date-time of the local commit, not the date it was pushed to a remote repository. Hovering over the date will reveal a tooltip with the detailed timestamp.
Icon #3 shows the icon Legend for the commit graph. Active branches are denoted by commit nodes with solid infill. Merge commit nodes are denoted by commit nodes with a solid center circle surrounded by an offset concentric circle outline. The repository's default branch is denoted by a bookmark icon. Any protected branches that may exist are denoted by a shield and lock icon.
Left-clicking any commit in the Commit Graph will open the commit diff view in the lower half of the window. This diff view is the same as the one in the standard History tab, showing all file modifications and allowing you to click on files to view the detailed difference rendering.
As shown at Icon #7, this view can be closed by clicking the X button. You can click the square maximize button to make the diff viewer use the entire window. Clicking the same button again will return the diff viewer to its normal size. You can resize the diff viewer by left-clicking, holding, and dragging the horizontal bar separating the Commit Graph and diff viewer.
The Copia Desktop App provides additional menu items for you to explore. Each menu item is described below:
File
The File menu provides the ability to create or clone repositories, as well as providing access to the Desktop App Options, which are described in more detail in the Administration section.
Edit
The Edit menu provides the standard operations found in most PC-based software
View
The View menu lets you activate standard views that are typically available elsewhere in the client.
The Toggle Developer tools option may be needed in some cases to troubleshoot issues with Copia technical support.
Repository
The Repository menu gives you an alternative location for some standard operations.
It also provides access the the Git Command-line interface and Repository specific settings, including the .gitignore file, which allows you to "ignore" certain files in your repository from change control.
Branch
This menu provides an alternative menu for the commands that may be used to create, delete or modify branches.
