[p4] P4V vs P4Win

[Jason Williams]

David Weintraub wrote:
> P4V is the newer GUI that works across all systems including Linux,
> Unix, PCs, and even Macs. It is the GUI that Perforce recommends users
> to use.

I've never seen any official statement that Perforce recommends one over 
the other.  I've heard rumors that Peforce will eventually drop P4Win in 
favor of P4V, but nothing has ever been stated publicly and officially.

> However, many Windows users prefer p4win because it is more "Windows
> like" in its behavior.

I currently prefer P4Win not because it's more "Windows like", but 
because it's more intuitive and easier to explain.  If you've ever had 
to write down verbose steps on how to complete Perforce tasks, it's 
quite a bit easier with P4Win.

With P4V, the locations of buttons, widgets, etc. that all change based 
upon the context make it more difficult to explain and use in my opinion.

Here's an example...
If I want to display all changelists submitted between two changelist 
numbers for a selected directory in P4Win, I do this:
1) Select Changelists -> View Submitted Changelists
2) In the left pane, highlight a directory
3) Select Filter Submitted Changelists
4) Click Selected Files
5) Click Set Revision Range
6) Enter the range, click OK
7) Click OK

In P4V:
1) Select View -> Submitted Changelists
2) In the left pane, highlight a directory
3) Select Edit -> Copy
4) In the right pane, right click the Folder/file section and select Paste
5) Add on "..." to the end of the Folder/file entry
6) Add "@changelist,changelist" to get the revision range you want. 
Don't know the syntax? Too bad.  You'll have to figure it out if you 
want to filter correctly.
7) In the right pane, click the Filter button.

In this particular case, if you know a bit about the command line 
interface ("..." syntax, etc.), moving to P4V is easy.  But if you 
don't, there's limitations on what you can do because you don't know 
what you're supposed to input.

That's where P4Win wins in my opinion.  It helps guide users into making 
logical decisions without requiring they know the details.  This makes 
it easier to use for non-technical types.

I believe both clients have almost identical functionality (even if the 
terminology within them is different).  The one exception is the 
Administration tool in P4V now.

--Jason

> On 4/13/07, Dan Wierenga <dwierenga at valueclick.com> wrote:
>> I just took the class a few weeks ago.
>>
>> The instructor said that P4V is their new "flagship" client.  P4Win is
>> not being actively developed any more.
>>
>> P4V is pretty slick, I might add.  It runs great even on my Linux
>> machine.  There are a few features (revision graphs etc) that are worth
>> having once in awhile even if you're a die-hard command line user like
>> myself.
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: perforce-user-bounces at perforce.com [mailto:perforce-user-
>>> bounces at perforce.com] On Behalf Of Looney, James B
>>> Sent: Friday, April 13, 2007 10:40 AM
>>> To: perforce-user at perforce.com
>>> Subject: [p4] P4V vs P4Win
>>>
>>> About a year ago, I took a Perforce class where I could have sworn the
>>> instructor mentioned that Perforce was trying to phase out either P4V
>> or
>>> P4Win in favor of the other.  I don't remember him mentioning any kind
>>> of time frame, but thought I'd ask the group.  This question's coming
>> up
>>> now because I'm trying out the visual clients rather than sticking
>> with
>>> a purely command line interface.  Thoughts?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> -JB
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> perforce-user mailing list  -  perforce-user at perforce.com
>>> http://maillist.perforce.com/mailman/listinfo/perforce-user
>> _______________________________________________
>> perforce-user mailing list  -  perforce-user at perforce.com
>> http://maillist.perforce.com/mailman/listinfo/perforce-user
>>
> 
> 



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