The contents of the directory tree and the file table are initialized when a project is opened by reading at least the contents of the root directory into memory. Whether the complete project shall also be read into memory at project startup or not can be configured in the project settings (Project Settings).
The scanning and refreshing of the project's directories and files is in general performed in the background, so you can immediately start to work after opening a project and you may continue to work while the project is refreshed. If a Refresh is currently in progress, the status bar shows a Refreshing text and symbol.
The scanning is performed breadth-first, so you will immediately have the complete root directory refreshed. When scanning a large working copy, you can force SmartSVN to give certain subdirectories higher priority in being scanned: Just select the (already scanned) directory in the Directories tree you would like to have scanned recursively as soon as possible. SmartSVN will then reorganize its breadth-first strategy accordingly. The same holds true for file selections: SmartSVN will give priority in scanning their common parent directory (and the path up to the root).
When changes to known (i.e. in memory) files or directories occur from within SmartSVN, they are refreshed automatically. In case of external changes, an explicit refresh via View|Refresh or by the corresponding toolbar button is required. You can configure the kind of refresh ('depth') within the application preferences (Refresh).
Tip |
The initial scanning/refresh is in general much slower than subsequent refreshes due to the system disk cache. On Windows, you can enable the Status Cache to get a first 'preview' of your working copy quickly. This preview also allows to perform most of the commands, so you can start certain SVN operations even before the file system has been scanned. |