Creating branches

Create a branch when you need to make changes to source files without affecting existing files. When you create a branch, you can:

  • Copy a selected repository and all subrepositories from the parent branch to the new branch. For example, if the Design subrepository is selected in the WysiCorp Development repository, the root repository in the destination branch is WysiCorp Development/Design.

  • Include or exclude specific repositories from the parent branch. For example, you can select multiple repositories to include from the parent branch and exclude subrepositories you do not need. The selected repositories are used as the template for the branch structure, which you can use when creating new branches later. See Using branch templates.

1. Select a branch and repository to create the new branch from.

If you do not want to include or exclude specific repositories in the new branch, make sure the repository to use as the root repository in the new branch is selected. To include all repositories in the new branch, make sure the root repository in the parent branch is selected.

2. Choose Branch > Create Branch.

The Create Branch dialog box opens. The read-only Parent branch field displays the mainline or parent branch name. The Repository field displays the path to the selected repository that will be used as the root repository in the new branch unless a template that includes multiple repositories at the same hierarchy level is used.

3. Select a Template option.

  • To copy only the selected repository and all subrepositories from the parent branch to the new branch, select <None>.
  • To use the same template as an existing branch, select it from the list or click Select to view the available templates. See Selecting branch templates.
  • To select the specific repositories to include or exclude in the new branch, select <New template> and then click Modify to select the repositories. See Including and excluding repositories for new branches.

4. Enter the New branch name.

Branch names cannot contain the following characters: \, /, *, ?

5. Enter any Comments, such as the purpose of the new branch.

6. Select a Branch type. The list includes branch types you have security permissions to create. See About branches.

7. Select a Create branch based on option.

  • Latest version creates a branch from the latest version of each file.
  • Timestamp creates a branch based on the selected last check in timestamp.
  • Label creates a branch based on the selected label. Labels are not copied to files in the new branch. Click Select to search for a label. See Selecting labels.
  • Latest version in state creates a branch from the latest version of each file in the selected workflow state.
  • If you are creating a branch based on timestamp, label, or the latest version in a state, select Include removed files to copy removed files from the parent branch to the new branch. For example, if you are creating a snapshot branch, you may want to include removed files to make sure you have a complete set of files.

8. Expand the Custom field options to set custom field options for files in the new branch. These options are not available for snapshot branches.

  • Set custom fields to their default values sets the custom field values on files in the new branch to the default values defined on the server.
  • Copy custom field values from the parent branch copies the custom values set on files in the parent branch to files in the new branch. If you are creating a branch based on timestamp or label, files in the new branch use the custom field values set on the latest version of the files in the parent branch.
Custom field values and workflow states are always copied from the parent branch when you create a snapshot branch.

9. Click OK.

The branch is created.