Checking out the next latest version

Products

• CA Harvest Software Change Manager - OpenMake Meister
• CA Harvest Software Change Manager

Issue/Introduction

I need to see the contents of all files in the repository as they were before the latest update.  Is there a way to check out the "n-1" version of all files in my project's repository?

Environment

CA Harvest SCM all versions and platforms

Resolution

The best way to accomplish this is by creating a snapshot.  A snapshot is a collection of

• the latest version of all files in a project's working view, or,
• all files in the project as of a specific day and time, or,
• the project's baseline (or a snapshot) plus a specific list of packages, or,
• just a specific list of packages.

Once a snapshot is created, your check out process can use that to check out all the versions contained there.  For example, if you can pinpoint a day and time when the latest versions of all the files were checked in, you can create a snapshot of the working view as it appeared the few minutes before those checkins took place.  Or, if you can identify the list of packages containing the "n-1" versions, you can create your snapshot based on that list of packages.  For example, if my latest versions were all checked in at 9:15 PM on Feb 2, 2026, then I can create my snapshot by selecting a time just before those checkins happened: 

Once your snapshot is created, checking out from that snapshot is done from a separate state in your project named "View SnapShots".  Expanding the snapshot looks very similar to expanding the working view of one of your previous states:

 

Additional Information

This proposed solution assumes the following things are configured for your project:

1. You must have a "Take Snapshot" process defined for the state from which you would like to create snapshots.
   
   
   
2. Your project must have a special state named "View SnapShots" (or anoother name that you prefer), and this new state must have a "Check Out for Browse" process defined.
   
   You can specify that the new state will contain snapshots only by selecting "No View" as the state's working view, and checking the "All snapshots" checkbox.