How to use different repository access protocols in SVNKit?

When you have downloaded [http://svnkit.com/download/index.php the latest SVNKit binaries] and ready to start using it, a question arises: what initialization steps should be performed in order to set up the library? Direct interacting with a Subversion repository is carried out by a low-level layer, where the main class representing a repository access driver interface is an abstract [http://svnkit.com/kb/javadoc/org/tmatesoft/svn/core/io/SVNRepository.html SVNRepository] class. There are several protocol specific realizations of this driver, one for each protocol. Each driver is created by an abstract factory class - [http://svnkit.com/kb/javadoc/org/tmatesoft/svn/core/io/SVNRepositoryFactory.html SVNRepositoryFactory], which also has several protocol specific realizations, each one for each protocol. The following table matches a protocol against a corresponding SVNRepositoryFactory realization:

protocol	SVNRepositoryFactory realization
`svn://`	SVNRepositoryFactoryImpl
`http://`	DAVRepositoryFactory
`file:///`	FSRepositoryFactory

Instructions on initializing SVNKit

Prior to using the library you must set up an appropriate [http://svnkit.com/kb/javadoc/org/tmatesoft/svn/core/io/SVNRepositoryFactory.html SVNRepositoryFactory] realization for a particular protocol. For example, if you would like to work with a repository via the svn:// protocol, you must register the following factory:

   1        try {
   2             SVNRepositoryFactoryImpl.setup();
   3             ...
   4        } catch (SVNException e) {
   5             //handle exception
   6        }

After this step [http://svnkit.com/kb/javadoc/org/tmatesoft/svn/core/io/SVNRepositoryFactory.html SVNRepositoryFactory] knows how to create [http://svnkit.com/kb/javadoc/org/tmatesoft/svn/core/io/SVNRepository.html SVNRepository] drivers specific for the svn:// protocol since it now contains the registered factory. And further you create a driver itself:

   1        try {
   2             ...
   3             SVNURL url = SVNURL.parseURIDecoded(                                               
   4                       "svn://host/path_to_repository_root/inner_path" );
   5             SVNRepository repository = SVNRepositoryFactory.create( url, 
   6                                                                  null );
   7             ...
   8        } catch ( SVNException e ) {
   9             //handle exception
  10        }

In SVNKit all repository urls are represented by the [http://svnkit.com/kb/javadoc/org/tmatesoft/svn/core/SVNURL.html SVNURL] class. If a path string is not UTF-8 encoded yet, use the SVNURL's [http://svnkit.com/kb/javadoc/org/tmatesoft/svn/core/SVNURL.html#parseURIDecoded(java.lang.String) parseURIDecoded()] method to create a new url representation (it will be encoded if necessary). Then you pass the url representation to the [http://svnkit.com/kb/javadoc/org/tmatesoft/svn/core/io/SVNRepositoryFactory.html SVNRepositoryFactory] to create a new [http://svnkit.com/kb/javadoc/org/tmatesoft/svn/core/io/SVNRepository.html SVNRepository] driver. So, this way you can bind your driver to any repository location you would like.

attachment:SVNRepository_connection2.png

The diagram above illustrates how different drivers are created for different repository paths: one for the repository root (svn://host/path_to_root), one for a directory (svn://host/path_to_root/dirA) and one for a file (svn://host/path_to_root/dirB/fileB1). Most operations which [http://svnkit.com/kb/javadoc/org/tmatesoft/svn/core/io/SVNRepository.html SVNRepository] driver can perform against a repository, accept a repository path which may be one of two types:

path that does not start with '/' - is always relative to the location the driver is bound to
path that does start with '/' - is always absolute to the repository root (always starts at the top of the repository tree)

Using high-level layer

When you use SVNKit for managing Working Copies you also should set up appropriate factory classes since the high-level layer uses the low-level one for working with a repository. If you miss this initialization step you may get an exception saying that SVNKit could not create an [http://svnkit.com/kb/javadoc/org/tmatesoft/svn/core/io/SVNRepository.html SVNRepository] object for the provided url.

SVN*Client classes

All high-level operations for managing Working Copies are logically divided to [http://svnkit.com/kb/javadoc/org/tmatesoft/svn/core/wc/package-summary.html SVN*Client] classes: each SVN*Client class joins a separate group of operations (for example, [http://svnkit.com/kb/javadoc/org/tmatesoft/svn/core/wc/SVNUpdateClient.html SVNUpdateClient] provides API on update operations, such as checkout, update, switch, export). There're two different ways of instantiating objects of these classes:

Create only necessary SVN*Client objects.
Create a single

[http://svnkit.com/kb/javadoc/org/tmatesoft/svn/core/wc/SVNClientManager.html

SVNClientManager] instance which provides objects of necessary SVN*Client types.