Microsoft Visual Source Safe

Presented By:
Rachel Espinoza

Microsoft Visual Source Sa

fe 6.0

WHAT IS MS VISUAL SOURCESAFE 6.0?

The version control system that enables you to manage
your individual and team projects easier than ever before!
Developer 1

Function A

Developer 2

Dependency Function B

Developer 3

Dependency

Function C

Project

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VERSION CONTROL
Team coordination making sure, by
default, that only one person at a time is
modifying a file.
Version tracking archiving and tracking
old versions of source code and other files,
which can be retrieved for bug fixing and other
purposes.

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TRACKING VERSIONS OF FILES/PROJECTS

Version numbers: These are internal numbers
maintained by VSS. The user has no control over these
numbers. The version number is always a whole number
and always increases.
Labels: These are user-defined strings that can be
applied to any version of a project or file. A label is a freeform string of up to 31 characters.
Date/Time stamp: These tell when a file was last
modified, or when a file was checked in. VSS supports
both 12-hour format (with "a" or "p" suffix) and 24-hour
format.
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PURPOSE
Dont want to lose or overwrite files!
Want to restore to an old version!
Have to merge changes with another developer!
Need to compare differences!
Need to find out whos been messing with your code!
Have a shared component but its in several different
places!
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FEATURES
Project Oriented
Share files
Synchronize changes
Project history: view version info, comments, general
details
Reverse Delta Storage: In VSS, the current version of
a file is used as the baseline, and changes from the
previous versions are saved.
Restore past versions
Any Type Content
Source code
Application components
Web content
Documents
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SOURCESAFE ADMINISTRATOR CONTD

Administrator tasks:
Creating databases
Creating and maintaining userlists
Set Default Security Rights:
Read-Write, Read-Only
Enable Project-Security: Rights
by Project, Rights by User, Copy
user rights (Read, Check Out,
Add, Destroy)
Other tasks:
Enabling / Disabling Exclusive /
Multiple Checkouts
Archive / Restore/ Lock
Databases
Creation of Web Projects
Creation of Shadow Folders
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KEY SOURCESAFE COMPONENTS

All 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,
Files are stored in projects in the VSS database
analogous to files stored in a windows folder.
Each user is provided with a local copy of the file to read
or change in the user's working folder.
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SOURCESAFE EXPLORER

Microsoft Visual Source Sa

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FOUR KEY COMMANDS

Get: Gives a local copy of a file or project in the working
folder (read-only) to view or to compile.
Check Out: Gives a local copy of a file or project,
(writable) to edit. (*May or may not be exclusive!)
Check In: Copies edited file back into database making
it available to other users. (Stores old versions with
reverse deltas)
Undo Check Out: Cancels check out, voiding all the
changes made.

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OTHER IMPORTANT COMMANDS

Create Project: Creates a new project
Add Files: Adds files to a project
Delete: Deletes a file or project
Difference: Shows what changed in this file or project
Share: Copies files from other projects into the current
project
History: Shows all the versions of this file or project
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ADVANCED SOURCESAFE FEATURES

Sharing
Branching/Merging
Shadowing

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SHARING
Sharing is how you track
reusable files.

$/A

Technically, sharing means

that one file is in multiple
projects at the same time

$/B

5
Foo.cpp

All updates are automatically

propagated, since there is
only one file

There is no master project:

all sharing projects are peers

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BRANCHING
Branching a file breaks the shared link, making the file in
that project independent of all other projects.
The changes made in the file are not reflected
elsewhere, and vice versa.
Once a branch is created; two files (the file in the project,
and its counterpart in other projects) have a shared
history up to a certain point, and divergent histories after
that time.
Release 1.0

Release 2.0

Release 1.1
(bugfix)
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MERGING
Merging is the process of combining differences in two or
more changed copies of a file into a single, new version
of the file.
In VSS, a merge can occur in three different
circumstances: when using multiple checkouts, when
explicitly merging previously branched files, and when
getting a file.
There are two methods that can be used for viewing and
resolving merge conflicts: visual merge and manual
merge.
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VISUAL MERGE

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SHADOWING, KEYWORD EXPANSION, AND

LABEL PROMOTION
Shadowing:
Central, optional folder that contains current
versions of all the files in a project.
The shadow folder does not contain the
master copy of a file or the local copy of a
file.
It provides a central location from which to
view the overall structure of the project and
serves as a convenient place to build or
compile the project.
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INTEGRATION INTO EDITING

ENVIRONMENTS/ OLE AUTOMATION
Integration means you can execute SourceSafe
commands directly inside your editing environment like
VC++/VB.
SourceSafe commands are added to the applications
menus.
Developers can perform checkouts / checkins and other
operations without leaving the development environment.
Some less commonly used commands still require the
SourceSafe Explorer.
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SUMMARY
Data is not lost in any case
Any type of file can be protected
Team productivity is increased
Version control is transparent

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