Version-control and history tabs
Version-control operations and deployment history each have their own tabs, opened from the menus. This page lists what's there and what each is for; specifics of each action (commit, push, compare) belong to the per-tab documentation that lives in the app itself.
Version-control tabs: Git workspaces
Open from the Version Control menu.
| Tab | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Outgoing | Local commits that haven't been pushed to the remote. A Basket only checkbox above each list narrows the pending and committed sections to files currently in the deployment basket; the filter updates live as items come into and out of the basket. |
| Incoming | Commits on the remote that haven't been pulled. |
| Stash | Local stashes. |
| Manage Branches | Branch management organised into action tabs: Switch, Merge, Delete, New Branch. |
Menu also has direct actions that don't open a tab:
- Pull / Fetch. Background commands. The branch-management window's own Fetch button shows a busy overlay with a Cancel button while a fetch is running.
- Connection…. Opens the version-control connection dialog.
Manage Branches tabs
| Tab | What it does |
|---|---|
| Switch | Pick a local or remote branch and switch to it. |
| Merge | Merge another branch into the current one. |
| Delete | Remove local and/or remote branches. |
| New Branch | Create a branch inline (name, optional task ID, Based on with a filterable list). No sub-dialog — the input fields live on the tab itself, and create / task-link / checkout run as one continuous step. |
The Based on list has a filter box for repositories with many branches and a Locals / Remotes toggle.
Version-control tabs: TFS workspaces
Open from the Version Control menu.
| Tab | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Pending Changes | Workspace changes not yet checked in. Auto-refreshes when files are pended outside DataStar (via Visual Studio or tf pend). A Basket only checkbox narrows the list to files currently in the deployment basket and updates live as the basket changes. The check-in view's master Select All checkbox is three-state — it reflects partial selections and toggles all changes from a single click. |
| Incoming Changes | Changesets on the server not yet pulled. |
| History | Committed changesets. |
Menu also has Get Latest (pull) and Connection….
Releases run through TFVC always produce a real check-in, even when the deployment file hasn't changed: a release-marker changeset is created rather than failing with "No pending changes to check in".
Component-level VCS tabs
From the component grid's right-click Version Control submenu you can open two per-component tabs:
- Show Diff. Opens a dedicated diff tab for the selected component.
- View History. Opens a dedicated history tab showing the commit log that touched this file.
Other submenu entries (Revert Changes, Commit… / Check In…, Pull / Get Latest, Fetch) are commands that run in-place rather than opening tabs.
Revert Changes opens the same styled confirmation as Delete Stash and Delete Branch, listing the affected files when several are selected. Reverting works for new / untracked files as well as modified ones — they are removed from the working copy, matching the discard behaviour of other Git tools.
The Deployment History tab
Not a version-control view, but thematically related: the history of deployments run through DataStar.
Open with Deployment → History. Each row is one past deployment with a summary; expand a row to see the deployed components and the log. Actions from history include reversing or re-running a past deployment.
For the full reversal flow — prerequisites, audit tables, applying a reversal, and custom-script metadata — see the Reversal guide.
Conflict merge
When a pull / switch / merge produces conflicts, DataStar's conflict-merge window opens automatically. It shows the three-way view (Ours / Theirs / Merged Result) with toolbar actions Use All Ours, Use All Theirs, Accept Merge, and Cancel. The merged-result pane is editable; you can resolve by hand, then click Accept Merge.
Separately, when you switch branches with uncommitted changes, the Uncommitted Changes dialog offers Stash, Force Switch, or Cancel.