Visual SourceSafe Seamless Integration

2 Agenda  Version Control  Architecture  Features  Integration  Configuration & Maintenance  Questions

3 I can’t stand it when I...  lose or overwrite my files!  want to restore to an old version!  have to merge changes with another developer !  need to compare differences !  need to find out who’s been messing with my code !  have a shared component but it’s in several different places ! “Someone may decide a day or two later that the changes should not have been made. With Visual SourceSafe, it's no problem-we just roll it back to the previous version," Brad Young, SPRY Webmaster

“Version Control should be like air. You don’t see it, but it’s always there keeping you alive.” Microsoft® Visual SourceSafe®

5 SourceSafe Usage  Source Code Control  Web Management  Document Tracking  Text or Binary Files

6 Basic Purposes of Visual SourceSafe  Version control systems in general... Support team development, by coordinating multiple users through a checkout/checkin protocol Support team development, by coordinating multiple users through a checkout/checkin protocol Track versions of files Track versions of files  SourceSafe’s competitive advantage... Track versions of entire projects Track versions of entire projects Track modular code: one file that is reused, or shared, by multiple projects Track modular code: one file that is reused, or shared, by multiple projects

 Secure and scalable  Project oriented  Advanced yet easy  Manage Web sites, source code, and ordinary documents  Integration with Microsoft and third-party products Design Themes

8 Key SourceSafe Concepts  All your files are stored in a centralized database on the server  Any kind of files can be stored in SourceSafe: code, DLLs, graphics, documents, help files, icons, …  A project is a collection of files in the SourceSafe database, analogous to a folder in Windows

9  Project Oriented Share files Share files Synchronize changes Synchronize changes Project history Project history  Reverse Delta Storage Rapid file access Rapid file access Minimize disk space Minimize disk space Restore past versions Restore past versions  Any Type Content Source code Source code Application components Application components Web content Web content Documents Documents Architecture Benefits

10 The SourceSafe Explorer

11 “Visual SourceSafe looks just like Windows Explorer, so there’s no learning curve at all…” Jamie MacLennan,Software Engineer,Micrografx Ease of Use  Drag-and-drop functionality from Windows Explorer  Menus, toolbars, right-click  Customizable

12 Visual SourceSafe, Editing Tools, and the Working Folder  You store and track your files in SourceSafe projects  You edit and compile your files in the “working folder” which your editing tools see  Your tool does not have to know about SourceSafe, and vice-versa! Working Folder (e.g. C:\WORKING) SourceSafe projects (eg $/A/B)

13 The SourceSafe Administrator

14 Administrator  Security Read-Only Users Read-Only Users Rights by Project Rights by Project Rights by User Rights by User  Other Exclusive Checkouts Exclusive Checkouts Archive / Restore Archive / Restore Web Projects Web Projects Shadow Folders Shadow Folders

15 Features  Merge  Visual Comparisons  Branching  Pinning  Shadowing  Promotion  Archiving  Security and Administration  Web Features  Reporting And many, many more...

16 The Four Key Commands  Get: Give me a local copy of a file or project in my working folder, read-only, to view or compile  Check Out: Give me a local copy of a file or project, writable, to edit. (*May or may not be exclusive!)  Check In: Copy my edited file back into SourceSafe, available to other users. (Stores old versions with reverse deltas.)  Undo Check Out: Cancel my check out, voiding all the changes I made

17 Other Important Commands  Create Project: Create a new project  Add Files: Add files to a project  Delete: Delete a file or project  Difference: Show me what changed in this file or project  Share: Copy files from other projects into the current project  History: Show me all the versions of this file or project

18 The Visual SourceSafe Command Line  All SourceSafe functionality fully available from the command line (except some of the Web- specific features)  Great for macros, batch files, and integration: also sometimes faster to use than the GUI  Commands look like “SS Get FU.Cls” (means, “Get this file from the current project into my current folder”)

19 Advanced Visual SourceSafe  Web Features  Sharing  Pinning  Branching/Merging  Customization  The SourceSafe Command Line

20 Other advanced features  “Keyword expansion” puts version control information directly into your source file  “Shadow folders” create a public share that echoes a SourceSafe project  “OLE Automation” lets you drive SourceSafe from VC++ or VB  Label Promotion allows you to retrofit a file to a previously applied label  Branching and Merging allows parallel development

21 Sharing  Sharing is how you track reusable files  Technically, sharing means that one file is in multiple projects at the same time  All updates are automatically propagated, since there is only one file  There is no “master project”: all sharing projects are peers  Use the Links tab (Options dialog) to track Shared files

22 Sharing  “$/A and $/B share Fu.cls” … or…  “Fu.cls is in $/A and $/B”  In this picture, the file has 5 versions. If either project checks in the file, both projects will be on version 6.0 $/A$/B Fu.cls

23 Branching / Merging Release 1.0 Release 2.0 Release 1.1 (bugfix) branch merge

24 Visual Merge

25 SourceSafe Web Features If you are using SourceSafe to manage your Web site…  “Deploy” copies your files to the live Web server (via directory path or FTP)  “Check Hyperlinks” checks the validity of internal or external links  “Create Site Map” creates an HTML site map you can post on your page

26  All Visual SourceSafe operations performed by FrontPage® Server Extensions  No Visual SourceSafe client necessary on workstations  Authentication based on Web-server authentication  Run NTFS! Visual SourceSafe repository Check in and check out FrontPage 97 Windows Visual InterDev® FrontPage 97 Mac Web staging server HTTP Web Development

27 Web Security  Keep VSS integrated (development) on a different server than the production server  Web servers only respond to HTTP requests and cannot access the VSS directories.  No security breaches specific to VSS Resources:  p 

28 SourceSafe Integration into Editing Environments  “Integration” means you can execute SourceSafe commands directly inside your editing environment.  SourceSafe commands are added to the application’s menus.  Developers can perform checkouts / checkins and other operations without leaving the development environment.  Some less commonly used commands still require the SourceSafe Explorer.

29 Integrated Applications  Microsoft Visual Basic®  Microsoft Visual C++®  Microsoft Visual FoxPro®  Microsoft Visual InterDev®  Microsoft Visual Modeler  Microsoft Visual J++®  Microsoft Access  Microsoft FrontPage  Third-Party Applications

30 Integration Technologies  Source Control API SSCC.DLL SSCC.DLL Can be used by other SCC providers (e.g. PVCS) Can be used by other SCC providers (e.g. PVCS) Used by VB, VC,VFP..... Used by VB, VC,VFP.....  OLE Automation Recommended method Recommended method Used by FrontPage and Visual InterDev Used by FrontPage and Visual InterDev

31 Example - VFP Integration

32 Example - Visual InterDev

33 Configuration and Maintenance  Database Size  Analyze  Backup strategies  Best Practices

34 Database Size  Should be < 3 GB  Unrelated projects can be in separate databases  Performance considerations  Free disk space should be >= database size  How long does Analyze take?

35 Analyze  Should be run regularly (once per week or month, depends on usage)  Should be run on the server  Switches Run with no switches then review the output Run with no switches then review the output - or - Run with -f -d -c -v# Run with -f -d -c -v#  Needs disk space

36 Backup Strategies  Back up the Data directory  Should be done regularly  Full backup (not incremental)  Do not restore over the current directory  SSARC can be used as a supplemental backup

37 Best Practices  Make sure you don’t run out of disk space !!  Synchronize all clocks with the server  Use individualized working folders when doing multiuser development  Bloated SS.INI files can cause slow performance  Plan carefully, especially for sharing and branching  Make sure you don’t run out of disk space !!

38 Summary  Don’t lose your data  Protect any type of file  Increase team productivity  Version control can be transparent

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