michal.Log : TFS Msscci Provider

Visual Basic problems with TFS, when referencing files outside of the project

michalma — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:14:00 GMT

I was asked recently to investigate problem when using VB6 and TFS Msscci Provider. We found out a limitation, that is not really surprising, but is still worth documenting.

The code base looks like this:

Source

SharedCode

Class1.cls

Project 1

Project1.vpb

Form1.frm

There are a few problems with TFS integration in this environment:

If Source directory is not mapped, we will ask you to map only Source\Project1 (this is root of the project and we know only that, we are not aware of Class1).
If SharedCode is not mapped we will fail to add any file except of Project1.vpb to source control
Creating workspace mappings outside of VB (with Team Explorer or tf.exe) that would map whole Source directory will solve above problems.
"Create project from Team Foundation" will never work seamlessly in this situation. Even if you do #3 and successfully add whole project to scc, and you have correct mappings in the workspace where you are doing "Create project ..." we will not download Class1. You need to download it later with tf.exe/Team Explorer. After that it should work fine.

Hope this will help you when dealing with more complex code base and a vb6+tfs mix!

Msscci 2008 with MS Access 2007

michalma — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:55:00 GMT

I have played a little with MS Access 2007, verifying that it's working with TFS Msscci 2008. In order to get SCC integration, you need to install Access Developer Extension - a add-in that allows Access to use any Msscci provider (and a few other goodies).

Access does not allow you to change SCC provider, so if you have installed a few of them on your machine, you may check my other blog post: http://blogs.msdn.com/michalma/archive/2006/03/01/541255.aspx

Everything seems to be working just fine - you can add tables, forms and queries to TFS, display History, Properties etc. The Source Control toolbar looks really cool.

The unfortunate problem, which we plan to fix in the next release of TFS Msscci is the fact that Access (the same way as VB6) verifies if item is checked out by somebody else, before allowing user to perform checkout. The problem is that we tell that file is checked out even if the pending change exists only in the shelveset, not in the actual workspace. This makes using Access and shelvesets in the same time very hard.

Msscci with RoboHelp

michalma — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:16:00 GMT

Yet another tool that should be working with TFS Msscci Provider is RoboHelp. The reported problem is "Server Busy" error message display over Msscci dialog.

The solution for this (until release of the new provider) is to create registry file (robofix.reg) with the following content:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Team Foundation Server MSSCCI Provider\Settings\RoboHelp]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Team Foundation Server MSSCCI Provider\Settings\RoboHelp\ROBOHTML.EXE]
"issues"=dword:000000D1

Then run it.
Of course this script is provided "as is". If it does not help, please remove this entry from your registry.

TFS Msscci Provider 2.0

michalma — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 03:31:00 GMT

Just before Holiday Season we released new version of TFS Msscci Provider - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=FAEB7636-644E-451A-90D4-7947217DA0E7&displaylang=en. Of course the biggest demand was to allow provider to work with the Orcas Object Model. This means, that if you install Orcas in your organization, you can use it with your VS2003/VB6/FoxPro tools as well, you don't need to install Whidbey just for them. If some dev boxes will still have only VS2005 - you may use old Msscci Provider on them - remember that Whidbey and Orcas client and servers are compatible.

So what changed besides Orcas dependency? We added 2 cool features for VS 2003:

we batch checkins of pending edits, done in multiple projects (before you were getting checkin dialog for each project)
we validate folder you selected during "Open from SCC" to check if it contains project file

We also added support for eMbedded C++ 4 (you could enable it before, casting a small spell - http://blogs.msdn.com/michalma/archive/2007/02/15/msscci-with-embedded-c-4.aspx).

But my favorite is something else (and probably it's not noticed by nobody ;) While testing Msscci provider, we do "Open from SCC" and "Add to SCC" much more often than any person using provider for real work. This means that we spend much more time in "Pick folder item" dialog. In this version we finally cut number of server calls, needed to navigate the server structure and select path we want. I can tell you one thing - it saved Ben and me a lot of frustration, while working inside vpc against our personal, slow tfs servers. :)

Msscci with eMbedded C++ 4

michalma — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:22:00 GMT

We recently discovered new IDE that works with TFS Msscci provider (well, almost ;) - eMbedded C++ 4. The only problem is that it displays often "Server Busy" message while doing SCC operations. The solution for this (until release of the new provider) is to create registry file (evc4fix.reg) with the following content:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Team Foundation Server MSSCCI Provider\Settings\Microsoft eMbedded Visual C++]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Team Foundation Server MSSCCI Provider\Settings\Microsoft eMbedded Visual C++\EVC.EXE]
"issues"=dword:00000011

Then run it. After the registry was updated, start eMbedded C++ 4 and enjoy source control with TFS :)

Missing Msscci in VB6

michalma — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 00:21:00 GMT

This is a very old issue, which appeared for the first time (and was resolved) in this thread. However, it comes every month or so on the forum so I want to describe here the problem and resolution in as easy way as possible.

Problem:

VB6 was installed without SourceSafe support. After installing TFS Msscci, VB6 does not have Team Foundation menu.

Solution:

Edit vbaddin.ini (start->run: vbaddin.ini (its in the windows dir)
Add the line VBSCC=3

Nicer TFS Msscci in VS2003

michalma — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 01:08:00 GMT

Recently I started testing new TFS Msscci Provider. Doing that, I discovered a few Visual Studio settings that I should turn on long time ago.

What is a little irritating while working in VS2003+TFS Msscci is that when doing checkout I’m prompted to provide comment. TFS does not have comments for checkouts so it’s ignored anyway. The other option which I can change there is lock type (in Advanced options) but I hardly ever do this. So “Tools->Options->Source Control->Display silent check out command in menus” was made for me. Please keep in mind that File->Source Control will still include non-silent checkout and that you can set global lock level in File->Options->Source Control->Scc Provider->Advanced. Unfortunately “Checkout on Edit” will still display checkout dialog.

The other handy option is “Display silent check in command in menus”. TFS allows you to provide much more information during the check-in, than just the comment (work items, checkin notes, override policy comments), so we display the TFS Check-in dialog anyway. The only time when you would like VS2003 check-in dialog to be displayed is when you want to select “Keep checked-out” option.

Enjoy J

Tracing in TFS Msscci provider

michalma — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 21:20:00 GMT

Tracing can be enabled in Msscci the same way as in tf.exe or devenv. In the setup directory (the one containing TfsMsscciSvr.exe) you need to create file named TfsMsscciSvr.exe.config. Here is what it should contain:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<configuration>

<runtime>

<gcConcurrent enabled="true" />

<assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">

<publisherPolicy apply="yes" />

<probing privatePath="PrivateAssemblies" />

</assemblyBinding>

</runtime>

<appSettings>

<add key="VersionControl.EnableSoapTracing" value="true" />

<add key="VersionControl.TraceDownloadContent" value="false" />

</appSettings>

<system.diagnostics>

<switches>

<add name="TeamFoundationSoapProxy" value="4" />

<add name="VersionControl" value="4" />

</switches>

<trace autoflush="true" indentsize="3">

<listeners>

<!--<add name="myListener"

type="Microsoft.TeamFoundation.TeamFoundationTextWriterTraceListener,Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Common, Version=8.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"

initializeData="c:\hatteras-dev.log" />-->

<!--<add name="perfListener" type="Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client.PerfTraceListener,Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client, Version=8.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"

/>-->

</listeners>

</trace>

</system.diagnostics>

</configuration>

Two listeners defined there are:

myListener is recording all web method calls, value of the parameters, time it took to execute etc. into file specified in attribute initializeData
perfListener will popup perf dialog during the application start that will list each web method name and time it took to execute

Two enable the listener just remove the comments around it.