Introduction
Code Historian (![[WWW]](/moindoc/sinorca4moin/img/moin-www.png){kind=small}
http://www.codehistorian.com) performs file-differencing, code analysis, and assists with code reviews using information already present in your CVS or Perforce version control system. There is no server installation, and Code Historian works with any CVS or Perforce client software. The functionality is available through Visual Studio 6.0, Visual Studio .NET, the right-button menu in Explorer, or the command-line.
Features
Side-by-side historical differences Show differences between any two revisions of a file, including changes not yet checked in. You can choose to ignore changes in whitespace or comments. See the entire file or just a few lines of context around each change.
Code Reviews Show all modified files and display differences between the local version and the version last checked in.
Visualize age of different parts of a file View file colored according to the age of each line, measured either by the time since the first time the line was written or the time since the line was most recently modified. Select a line to get the complete change history for that line.
Visualize authors within a file View file colored according to who changed the line last, all the contributers to a line, or all lines touched by the current user. Select a line to get the complete change history for that line.
Search across multiple files Search for changes across a set of files over a period of time, or for all changes not yet checked in. Search in directories or within Visual Studio projects or solutions.
Typical uses
Fixing regression bugs. "What Changed?" The version control system is the first place you go to fix a regression bug. If something worked three days ago and doesn't work now, you need to answer the question "What changed in the last three days?" Code Historian can provide the answer with Multi-File Searching and the Side-by-Side View.
Code Reviews The Code Review feature lets you search for all changes that have not yet been checked into the version control system. Therefore, this feature is well-suited as a code-review tool. You won't miss any changes, and the changes you look at contain the complete context of the file as well as single-click access to previous versions.
Situational Awareness Some source files have areas that are changed often (maybe too often). Some areas of a source file haven't been changed in years, whereas others were changed just last week. Having this kind of "situational awareness" about your source code is important both for developers (where more information means better-informed decisions) and project managers (where this information can be used to determine whether certain changes are risky, how extensive a change is, or the general state and health of the source code). Code Historian's Analysis View lets you tap into this kind of information.