+5
Ability to open repository without closing others
I tend to run with only some repositories open but when I want to open another repository alongside them I have to select my currently open ones alongside the new one to keep them open. It would be great if there was a context option (or preference where it didn't close repositories when opening a new one.
Customer support service by UserEcho
The current behavior was intentional because otherwise it would become much easier for users to open all their hundred repositories and then might wonder why SmartGit gets so slow and memory hungry.
Please. I really appreciate the smargit UX in general for its efficiency, but that's IMHO the most annoying feature.
Ultimately, I do want to open one more repo. So I'll do. I'm just looking for the most efficient way of archiving it. Currently I ctrl-select the N repos currently open, plus the new one, and right-click "open". Really boring. But in my case, it's the best option. Usually, it's a worktree repo, and I want all repos linked to a project be in the same window. I cannot manage open-in-a-new-window IE6 style. I got lost and loose even more time.
Rgds
In case repo groups help your situation like they do mine - I put related repos in groups (and subgroups) and then use the group name context menu: right-click -> Open Repository. It opens all repos in the group. Open Repository in New Window also works on groups. I sometimes have 2 - 3 SG main windows open, each on a different repo group.
For me, I resolve any open multi-repo situation with Open Repository on a group name.
I keep up to 6 repositories opened and SmartGit works well. But if less repos are opened and I want to open more I have to select all previously opened repos to prevent closing them. That's annoying.
It's better to keep many repositories opened because in this case switching from repo to repo is very fast. If I need to open a repo every time I need to wait a few seconds. So I vote for option to not close repositories while another ones are opened. SmartGit may warn users when they enable this option. But I think for some cases it's much better to keep repositories opened. If there are too many repositories opened, user always can closes some of them.
Maybe tabs could do it. Multiple tabs displayed at the top of the windows, one tab per opened repository. Close the tab close the repository. Switching tab switch the display to the corresponding repository. Easy, efficiant. We could even get rid of the "Repositories" Panel which is seldom used by most user.
> We could even get rid of the "Repositories" Panel which is seldom used by most user.
lol I use repositories view *all the time*. I like it; a tree organizes the repos into groups and groups of groups. I have between 20 and 30 "top level" groups (stopped counting at 20) and many have nested groups and groups of groups. I have (guessing) well over a hundred repos across these groups. The repositories view allows me to decently organize them and quickly open a group of repos.
I can't think of how tabs would help improve anything, especially with simply "open a repo and keep the current ones open". Plus, I can't see a good location for tabs or room for them.
Source tree does it pretty well : when you click on the + icon in the tab bar, you get an "open repository" tab with all your saved repo, you can order them in groups. Then after double clicking on a repo it is opened as a tab.
Have a look at it !
OK, it is different. But why do you think it is better?
I didn't had problems with this before but had some troubles during lockdown...
Let me explain my day to day usage first :)
Normally, I launch first Smartgit which opens in a log window. I then click on my main group and open all of its repo.
Sometimes I need to access other repo, so I have other groups with related repo. I just have to right click on a group and select open in a new window.
But when I was working at home, I couldn't have the VPN always connected (bandwidth issues), and that leads to some repo in my main group and some in other groups to be unavailable. If I kept opening all the repo in the group Smartgit was becoming really low when fetching in background...
So I needed to open all the repo of the group, then right click on "VPN only repo" and close them one by one.
That was quite frustrating.
Of course I could have create other groups but that would change the way I organized my repo...
The main problem here is the fact that Smartgit doesn't remember all the repo opened. And that is worst if you add multiple windows...
With SourceTree, you decide which repo you open, when closing and re-opening you get all the tabs as they were before.
SmartGit should remember all the open repositories when closing it. I don't see how SourceTree would solve any of the problems you had.
I remember having no repo opened anymore in Smartgit when opening it, but I can't reproduce now.
However I did manage to get this :
open a first window, open a group, close one of the repo
open a repo from another group in a new window
do repository / exit
reopen smartgit
=> you get one window with the previously opened repo. i would expect to have 2 window as before ?
I wonder also what the behavior is when Smartgit is quitting due to a system shutdown ? I can't test this right now.
In SourceTree, you open some tabs, after a restart you get the same exact tabs.
SmartGit just reopens all the repositories (in one window) that were open before exiting, even if they were open in different windows. I reckon, you can't open multiple windows in SourceTree.
The only time I've seen SG not reopen last repos on startup is after an install upgrade - usually it reopens them but occasionally it starts with no open repos.
> I wonder also what the behavior is when Smartgit is quitting due to a system shutdown ? I can't test this right now.
I've just restarted my computer because of Windows updates, and after relaunch Smartgit showed no opened repo whereas I had a whole group opened before restarting.
Windows 10 1909
Smartgit 20.1.2 #15162, installed: #15124
The Repositories repo context menu has:
Both open the selected repository only. My simple request is a new context menu item to open the selected repo and keep the others open, having 3 open options: