Working with Streams
This chapter explains how to use Helix P4VS with Helix streams.
Before reading this chapter, review the "Streams" chapter in the Helix Versioning Engine User Guide and the "Basic Concepts" chapter in Introducing Helix, which explain fundamental stream concepts.
You may also find it helpful to see the P4V help (launch P4V from the context menu using Views > View in P4V, and click Help on the P4V toolbar).
Using the Streams tool window
P4VS provides two ways to view streams graphically: you can use the Streams tool window directly in P4VS, or you can call the Stream Graph, a P4V component, from within P4VS. This topic discusses how to use the Streams tool window.
In the Streams tool window, status indicators between streams tell you which streams have changes to contribute and where the changes can be copied or merged:
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Merge indicator |
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Copy indicator |
The arrows are color-coded to indicate status:
- Gray: no merge or copy required
- Green: a merge or copy operation is available
- Orange: stream must be updated, after which merge or copy is available
For example, the following arrows next to a stream indicate that you must update it by merging down from its parent, after which you can copy up changes to the parent.

Context-clicking on a stream in the Streams tool window shows the available copy and merge actions that you can perform. If you need to work in another stream to complete an action, you are prompted to switch workspaces, create a new workspace, or select a workspace from an available list depending on the existing workspaces that are available for use with the target stream. From there you can preview the copy or merge operation and complete it. After the copy or merge is done, you are prompted to select a changelist (if the preference is set for changelist prompts) and then to save or submit that changelist. When the merge or copy workflow is complete, your connection changes back to the original workspace that was in use if the workspace was switched during the merge or copy process.
Creating and editing streams
You must use P4V, the Perforce Visual Client, or p4
, the Perforce Command-Line Client, to create and edit streams. For more information, see the P4V help or the P4 User Guide.
Displaying and searching for streams
To display the streams defined for the Perforce depot to which you are connected in P4VS:
- Go to View > Streams to open the Streams tool window.
-
Search for streams using the filter fields.
You can filter by any combination of the following:
- Depot (requires an entry)
- Owner
- Name
- Parent
- Type
Use standard Perforce syntax (//streamdepot/stream
). For more information, see the P4 User Guide.
Note that because this tool window provides a hierarchical view of streams, you may see parent streams that do not match the filter. These are included in the list to show the hierarchy of the streams all the way to the related mainline, but are grayed out.
To change the order in which columns are displayed, drag the column headings right or left.
The details of a selected stream are displayed in the lower pane.