Source Code Control

[EKelly]

Hello all,

I have a few questions regarding Visual Source Safe 5 and VB6. I have searched through previous questions on this subject but can't seem to find an answer.

I am working on a visual basic project along with one other developer. The source code has been shared and branched so that both of us have our own development paths. At intervals the source code is merged. The changes that are made in development path one must be merged into development path two. However development path two does not merge its changes into development path one.
I have the following issues/questions:
1) As far as I can find each form has to be checked for differences and merged individualy (there are over 50 forms in the project and over 30 modules). Is there any way of checking all files in a folder at once for differences?
2) If changes are made by one developer to the visual aspect of a form problems occur during the merge. Do you have to merge the frx files? What if visual changes are made on both development paths?

The main thing for me to understand is how Visual Source Safe handles visual changes on the forms as well as text changes in the code.

If I can't get this to work for me it will mean a large amount of wasted time and effort. Any help would be greatly appriciated. Can anyone even point me in the right direction!!
Thanks in advance
Erin

 

[chiph]

Is there any way of checking all files in a folder at once for differences?

You can use WinDiff (supplied with Visual Studio) to show differences within text-readable files. For binary files like .frx, it can only show you that they are different, not what the differences are.

An alternative is to buy a tool like Araxis Merge.

If changes are made by one developer to the visual aspect of a form problems occur during the merge. Do you have to merge the frx files? What if visual changes are made on both development paths?

The .frx files contains more than just visual style info. If you're using any 3rd party components, their state is often stored in the .frx file.

What you can do if the .frx files are different is open the form in the visual designer, then delete the .frx file. Save the form, and the .frx will be recreated.

You want to treat the .frm and .frx files as if they were the same file if you can.

VSS doesn't know anything about .frx files, other than the fact that they're binary. When it sees a binary file, it just stores it, and doesn't attempt to version it.

Chip H.


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If you want to get the best response to a question, please read FAQ222-2244 first

 

[EKelly]

Hi Chip,

Thanks for the reply. There are 3rd party controls used on the forms in the project so I really do need to get the .frx problem sorted. I tried your suggestion about opening the form and deleting the .frx, then saving the from. The problem with this is that after merging the two branched forms into one, this merged form crashs VB when I try to open it. If I try to open the form on its own outside the project, it loads incorrectly (controls are missing off the form) and therefore when I save it, Im saving a partial form. Have you any other suggestions? I would imagine this is a common enough problem for source safe users but i can't seem to find much help with it. I would appriciate your help with this very much!

Thanks in advance
Erin

 

[chiph]

I think the answer will be to not do concurrent development on forms. You really have to treat the two files as if they were one, and since one of the two is binary, that pretty much prevents two people working on it at once.

I'm surprised you had problems after deleting the frx. This is a common technique to restore it after it gets corrupted.

Chip H.


____________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please read FAQ222-2244 first