Branch components

In Inspire, which is a Content Management System (CMS) that provides you with version control, you would want to branch a file for several key reasons:

• Parallel development and collaboration: Branching allows multiple individuals or teams to work on separate features, fix errors, or create experimental content without affecting the live production site or each other's work.
  • Reduce conflicts: By creating a separate workspace for each set of changes, you can significantly minimize the risk of content authors overwriting each other's work or introducing conflicts.
  • Streamline workflows: Teams can collaborate more efficiently, reviewing and testing changes within branches before merging them back into the main content repository.
• Maintain stability and quality: Branching ensures that the main content remains stable while new development takes place in isolated branches.
  • Control experimentation: Branches provide a safe environment to experiment with new ideas, designs, or functionalities without the risk of breaking the main website or affecting users.
  • Fix errors and perform rollbacks easier: If an error or issue is introduced, it's easier to pinpoint the source of the problem and revert to a previous, stable version of the branch. This approach helps minimize downtime and impact on the live content.
• Efficient Reviews: You can perform reviews on specific branches, allowing collaborators and stakeholders to focus on the changes related to a particular feature or task before merging it into the main repository.

Tips and tricks

• You can create a component branch from an existing component and add the branch to a specific component folder.
  • Create a component branch
  • Create a component branch in a project
• You can choose if the branch maintains all, some, or no content referenced in the source component.
• If a source component has a long list of references, you can bypass the wait time for the display to load and quickly create a branch.
• You can also accept the wait time and display the list of references and customize which specific components are branched.

When you select the Save as a branch... option, you can choose to either save all references or select only the ones you want to include in the new branch.

• To keep all the same references in the branch copy that exist in the source, click Create.
• To see the references or select a customized list of references in the List or Hierarchy view, select Show referenced components.

  When you select Show referenced components, a request is sent to Inspire to display the list.

  • If this is the first time you are selecting Show referenced components for this component, then you are prompted to make a selection:
    • Wait for the list to be built
    • Be notified when the list has been built

      

  • If you choose to wait, the Save as branch screen stays open while the references are being collected. Look for a notification in the top right corner of your Inspire screen telling you that the list of references for the component has been built. Then you can continue to select the references you want to keep.
  • If you choose not to wait, the Save as branch screen closes. Look for a notification in the top right corner of your Inspire screen telling you that the list of references for the component has been built. Then you can either:
    • Open the notification in the Notifications module to go to the component that you were working with.
    • Select the component again and select Save as branch...

      

  • After the list of references has been built for a component, it is saved in Inspire.
  • When you choose Save as branch and select Show referenced components for a component that has a saved list of references, the list appears right away.
  • You won't see the prompt again unless you select a component that doesn't have a saved list or if you update the component after the list is saved.

You may not see all referenced components on the Save as a branch screen.

• Components that are referenced in the source component are only listed if:
  • You select the Show referenced components option
  • In the Branch referenced components dropdown menu you select anything other than No referenced components
  • It doesn't have a tag applied to it called ExcludeFromBranch. For more details, read Prevent branching.

In the Components browser, the branched components have an icon corresponding to their place in the branch.

• Black is the source component for a branch.

  When you hover your cursor over the black branch icon, you see a tooltip telling you it has a branch and also how many branches have been created from it. For example, Has 2 branches.

  

• Green was branched because a source component referenced it.

  When you hover your cursor over the green branch icon, you see a tooltip telling you it is part of a branch. For example, Is a branch.

  

• Orange is both the source of one branch and included in another branch because a different source component referenced it

  When you hover your cursor over the orange branch icon, you see a tooltip telling you it is part of a branch and also how many branches have been created from it. For example, Is a branch and has 1 branch.

  

After you create a branch, you can view the list of references and relationships that are created for the branched component. This helps you understand which component is the original, which is the branched copy, and if the source of another branch references this component.

Using the Branch Management tool, you can manage all aspects of a branch, including:

• View: See all related branches
• Edit: Update the branched component
• Go to: See where the branched file is saved
• Relink to Original: Unlink a branched component

  

  • The existing relationship between the source branched component (Map V1.5) and its reference to the branched component you are unlinking (the red Chapter 3) is deleted.
  • Inspire creates a new component relationship between the source branched component (Map V1.5) and the original component reference (the blue Chapter 3). (In the diagram, this is shown by the green arrow with the yellow dots.)
  • The branched source component (Map V1.5) now references the original component (the blue Chapter 3).
  • The unlinked branched component (the red Chapter 3) remains and is no longer referenced by any other source component.
• Branch Report: Create reports on component branches

Use the Branch Management tool