About element object and version references

You sometimes need to distinguish an element itself from the particular version of the element that is selected by your view. In general:

  • Appending the extended naming symbol (by default, @@) to the name of an element references the element itself.
  • A simple name (no extended naming symbol) is a reference to the version in the view.

For example, msg.c@@ references an element, whereas msg.c refers to a version of that element. In many contexts (for example, checkin and lsvtree), you can ignore the distinction. But there are ambiguous contexts in which you need to be careful. For example, you can attach attributes and hyperlinks either to version objects or to element objects. Thus, these two commands are different:


cleartool mkattr BugNum 403 msg.c
cleartool mkattr BugNum 403 msg.c@@

The first command operates on the version of the element selected in your view (that is, it attaches the attribute to a version). But the second command operates on the element itself (that is, it attaches the attribute to the element).

Attention: Do not create elements whose names end with the extended naming symbol. Such elements cannot be handled.