VS.NET - ASP.NET - SourceSafe - Projects - Deployment

[firstdivision]

Hi,

I'm a little confused about the integration between Visual Studio 2003 and SourceSafe. I currently have one large Visual Studio project stored in SourceSafe. What I want to do is split the project into multiple projects so that I can work on one portion of it at a time and release a change to that project only (by distributing the new .aspx files and .dll for that sub-project).

What's the recommended method for splitting a large web application into many sub-projects? The hierarchy I have in mind is something like:

Root (Main Project)
  |      |
  |      ---- Bin (Main Project dll and global classes)
  |
  |
  --- Sub Project 1
  |      |
  |      -----Bin (Sub Project 1 dll)
  |
  --- Sub Project 2
         |
         -----Bin (Sub Project 2 dll)

I have been able to get the diagram above to work using the recommendation from MSDN (

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;307467

), the only problem is that when you put it into SourceSafe and do a "GET" with source safe, you end up with all the project folders at the same level. This is because the layout of the solution does not correspond to the physical layout of the web directory in IIS. Each project is at the same level because Visual Studio can't have projects inside projects (only a project inside a solution).

This leads me to my second question. It seems hard to find information about how to use Visual Studio and SourceSafe together to maintain a large application like this. I have been able to Label the application in SourceSafe, but the only real documentation I've been able to find about creating patches and bug fixes is

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...skmaintain_multiple_versions_of_a_project.asp

It doesn't explain real well exactly how to do what they say. Can I use VS.NET to do it or is more of the administration through SourceSafe? Also, it seems like you have to manually identify each file that should be added to a previous label if you need to make a patch or bug fix. This means I have to somehow keep track of what files changed as a result of what change, and any relations between projects that might effect others. This seems like a good way to totally screw up my deployment, there must be software to do this?

There's over 500 files in the application now and I desperatly need to get a handle on it and bring it back under control. If I can do it I htink my pulse and blood pressure will drop considerably.


Thanks for reading,
FD

 

[firstdivision]

I may have found some answers here:

http://msdn.net/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnbda/html/tdlg_ch3.asp

Scroll to "Use a Consistent Folder Structure for Solutions and Projects" (or read thr whole thing).

I'd still like to hear other people's input about the way they solved these issues.

Thanks,
FD

 

[firstdivision]

Well, I still can't get it to work the way I want. It works until you get the whole solution from sourceSafe. When you do that it creates the folder tree based on how the solution is set up in Visual Studio, not how the folders are set up in the virtual IIS directory. So basically I would have to move a lot of folders around if I needed to deploy a labeled version from SourceSafe. Not a huge deal, just a pain.

I suspect this basically has to do with this quote from MS which I've seen in more than one place:

"The disadvantages of the multiple project method are as follows: • Visual Studio .NET does not directly support this method. You must perform additional steps so that separate Visual Studio .NET projects participate in the same Web application. "

This must be something they resolved in 2005 Team System??

-FD

 

[firstdivision]

Ah Ha!

You have to tell SourceSafe via "Set Working Folder" for each project and sub project where to put it. Then when you "GET" a label it will re-create the required directories so you can build and deploy!

Next step, figure out BuildIt so automate the process.

Woo hoo!

-FD