Organizing Branches

shawn_crocker

Before I create an official request for this and look like a dummy for something obvious, Does is seem logical that we should be able to rearrange version branches?  I do a lot of stuff where we use a master configured document to release different product styles on demand.  To keep this master easier to track with regards to changes of document elements, I bust everything out to reside in its own branch.  Effectivly like keeping everything in is own doc but maintaining the advantages of being able to merge it back into other workspaces for more concise editing of needed changes.  I find myself overthinking sometimes when to and when to not create a branch for an item to avoid having a messy, confusing version tree with branches all tangled about.  It seems like it would be nice to be able to have control over the position of a branch.  Would be nice to be able to grab a little handle or something at the top of the branch and slide it back and forth to move it closer to something that is related or whatever.

S1mon

Without seeing the documents and the details of the different product styles, it’s hard to say.

I tend to think of branches more for things like:

• “let’s try out this new idea before we commit to releasing it into production” (I.e. a “dev” branch)
• “Mary is working on details around this end of the part in her branch, and Joe is working on the other end in another branch, and when they both have something reasonable, we can merge them into main”

It almost sounds like you’re using branches to do things that might be better done with configurations, but again, without seeing the details it’s hard to say. 

My sense is if you have so many branches that the branch graph is becoming confusing, perhaps there are two many and maybe you want to do things a different way.

shawn_crocker

S1mon said:

My sense is if you have so many branches that the branch graph is becoming confusing, perhaps there are two many and maybe you want to do things a different way.

I know what you mean.  I also think Onshape certainly has an intent for the usage of branching that is probably more in line with your example and also inline with how we would use them when designing something custom and customer specific.  Branching is just so useful in many ways outside of that more focused intent and if only there was just a few little tweaks to there presentation.

tim_hess

I'm with @shawn_crocker on this one - There's a lot of potential in the history tree and branches, but its hard to unlock that potential due to the interface. 

In addition to being able to move the branches around, I would like to see some sort of filtering of the hisotry (so I could hide actions like show/hide or to show only drawing edits, or edits by a particular person). I'd also would like some sort of visual indicator of merge actions. 

There's so much good functionality and information there, but its just hard to navigate. 

shawn_crocker

@tim_hess
There is some decent filtering available in the search drop down above the versions.