Setting general user options

Surround SCM user options can be customized to help you work more efficiently. For example, you can automatically log in.

User options apply only to the current user account logged in to the computer. Some user options may be disabled, which indicates they are set on the server and cannot be changed.

1. Choose Tools > User Options then select the General category.

2. Select any Server Connection options.

These are the same options in the login dialog box, except for the file compression option.

  • Always login with this username automatically logs in to the current server using the specified username and password.
  • Use single sign-on automatically logs in to the current server using your network credentials. Ask your administrator for more information.
  • Compress file transfers compresses data during file transfers, which is helpful if you have a slow connection to the server or proxy server (e.g., you connect to the server via an ISP). Compression works best on certain types and sizes of files. This option may slow performance because of the time needed to compress and decompress files.

3. Select a Display names as option to specify how user and customer names are formatted.

4. Select a Text File Format option.

Select Append end-of-line if necessary to ensure text files end with an end-of-line character.

5. Select a File comparison option. Surround SCM compares files before updating the file status or retrieving files from the server when a get or check out is performed.

  • By timestamp checks the timestamp to see if the file was modified after it was retrieved.
  • By timestamp and CRC checks the timestamp and performs a CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Checksum) check. This method is slower than the timestamp option. The difference is noticeable when recursively getting or checking out all files.

6. Select View HTML reports in external web browser to view reports in a browser instead of the internal viewer.

7. Select Override local computer name to override the cached computer name and enter a new name.

Select this option if you always want to use a specific computer name instead of the operating system value. When Surround SCM starts, it caches the computer name from the operating system. In some cases, the operating system may return the computer name inconsistently between sessions, which can cause working directory issues or prompt you that files were checked out to a different computer during check in.

For example, this may occur if you use a dual boot system and each boot configuration has the same computer name, but the operating systems have a different directory structure.

8. Click OK to save the changes.