Name of file or folder being deleted, with repository browser, as a suggested word

[Chris Watson]

Hello,

When deleting a file, or folder, using the repository browser, would it be possible to have the name of the file / folder being deleted as a suggested word in the log message?

For example, if deleting a folder called test, test is a suggested word when typing the log message.

Thanks,

Chris

[Stefan]

that would of course be possible, but honestly completely useless.

You should not describe in the commit message something that is obvious from the log itself. In this case, the log will clearly show that the file/folder was deleted, so why describe the very same in the commit message? Make zero sense.

Instead, you should describe in the commit message why you deleted the file/folder.

[Kalen Brown]

I completely agree with Stefan. And to give Stefan/TortoiseSVN a little more credit, there is a feature that if you right click in the commit message window pane, there is a paste file name option. HOWEVER, only use this to add descriptions of why each file was changed and DO NOT just commit the list. The list is what is shown with the commit in the log entry after commit anyway. Don’t betray me by committing only the list like the last person I told this to. 

[Chris Watson]

I disagree, I would find this a useful feature. However, perhaps my example was reductive.

The use case I have in mind is deleting feature branches. In our organisation, branch names follow a standard pattern of ACME_0000_FeatName, where 0000 is an issue number, and FeatName is a brief description; for example ACME_1234_SomeFeat.

When deleting these feature branches, a more accurate example of the log message entered may be:

"Deleted the ACME_1234_SomeFeat branch. Merged to trunk in r5679. (Acme #1234)"

As I hope this example demonstrates, the why is included in the message.

The reason for the request is that ACME_1234_SomeFeat doesn't really flow off the keyboard, so I usually copy/paste it from the "Remove ACME_1234_SomeFeat" textbox.

This is really the only scenario where I routinely find myself deleting folders using the repository browser. If I were to delete this folder from, say, a working copy of the branches parent folder, the log message textbox would suggest the name of the folder, as it would the name, or path, for any affected files, or folders. However, this behaviour, and the "Paste filename list" context menu item, to which Kalen refers, does not appear to be present on the commit dialog within the repository browser, being limited only to the commit dialog for a working copy.

Thanks,

Chris

[Daniel Sahlberg]

A little late to the party...

While I agree with Kalen's and Stefan's opinion, there may be project specific requirements. One is described by Chris, above, and another example is Subversion project[1] specifying that file names and function names should be spelled out in the log message for searchability reasons. (TortoiseSVN has the ability to search for file names in the Show Log dialog, but the command line client doesn't have this.) Another argument is that this feature is available in the normal commit dialog.

I have created a branch /branches/autocomplete_in_repobrowser_logdlg where the autocomplete feature is implemented also in the log dialog used by Repobrowser. I have created a thread[2] in the dev group where we can discuss the implementation details to see if this could/should be merged to trunk and be included in a future version of TSVN. Interested parties, please consider building your own version of TSVN and take it for a spin!

Kind regards,

Daniel

[1] https://subversion.apache.org/docs/community-guide/conventions.html#log-messages

[2] https://groups.google.com/g/tortoisesvn-dev/c/yP0Xq3h0VPo

[Chris Watson]

We have recently updated to v1.14.5 and this is working perfectly.

Thank you.

[Daniel Sahlberg]

fredag 8 september 2023 kl. 18:28:45 UTC+2 skrev Chris Watson:

We have recently updated to v1.14.5 and this is working perfectly.

Thank you.

Thanks for reporting back! It means a lot to know a new feature works as intended!