BUGBUG: poor title : scci

VS 2008 users: remember to download the SourceSafe CTP

Richard Berg — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:23:28 GMT

You've probably all seen Soma's announcement that the 2008 suite of products officially shipped this morning. Good luck downloading -- our servers are pegged :)

If you plan to use VS 2008 with SourceSafe, make sure to pick up the Update CTP too. Without it, some features like "Open from Source Control" will not work at all. Pay close attention to the install instructions as well. As it says in the KB article:

You may receive error messages when you use Visual Studio 2008. This problem occurs because some compatibility fixes require the Tdnamespaceextension.dll file to be reregistered after you install Visual Studio 2008. To reregister the Tdnamespaceextension.dll file, type the following command at the [elevated - RB] command prompt:
regsvr32 "%programfiles%\Microsoft Visual SourceSafe\tdnamespaceextension.dll"

Sorry about the manual install step. It sucks, I know. The next Update won't have this requirement. (We wanted to ship it before Orcas but ran into some last-minute delays. Expect it before the end of the year.)

Why does SourceSafe need an update anyway? Aren't VS plugin interfaces supposed to be backwards compatible? Yes, they are. In fact, there are no changes to the MSSCCI API in 2008; none of the fixes are related to MSSCCI. (3rd party source control developers can now breathe a sigh of relief). The changes come from the way SourceSafe implements Open from Source Control, Add to Source Control, and Share inside Visual Studio.

Starting in VSS 2005, these functions let you browse the database inside VS's open/add dialogs instead of hanging off the File -> Source Control menu like most other source control providers. It's a cool trick known as a namespace extension. In VS 2008, as you may have noticed, those open/add dialogs got a facelift: like VSS 2005, VS 2008 now uses the standard Windows dialogs. So Vista users in particular get a spiffy new one with integrated search & everything. Unfortunately, that change broke us pretty badly, leading in one way or another to at least 10 of the bugs on my list. Bottom line, you don't want to be caught without the Update linked above.

Hopefully these fixes demonstrate our commitment to keep SourceSafe 2005 a viable option with VS 2008, Vista, and beyond!

Intro to Solution Binding in TFS, plus bonus FAQ

Richard Berg — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 04:10:11 GMT

Solution Explorer isn't working the way I expect. How do I fix it? In TFS, the answer is usually quite simple, because TFS uses workspaces to do most of the dirty work. So if you're familiar with our workspace model, a quick behind-the-scenes tour of solution binding should equip you to solve most problems yourself. (If not, start here).

You may have heard the best practice "always use the Add To SCC / Open From SCC features the first time you work with a solution." The reason is that these features handle all the extra work needed to make sure Solution Explorer, your source control provider, and the integration between the two is initialized and talking to each other happily. Let's take a high-level peek inside Add To SCC, which must perform 3 main tasks:

See if the root of the project / solution is mapped

If so, do nothing
If not, prompt the user for a new mapping

Pend Adds on all child projects & files as necessary
Record the mapping into the *.sln and *proj files. Such entries in the sln/proj files are known as "bindings". They are what tell Solution Explorer to activate its Source Code Control Integration (SCCI) features: special status glyphs, adding Checkin/Checkout to the context menu, etc.

Immediately, we can see why using Source Control Explorer or the tf.exe command line to add your solution won't turn on SCCI -- you skipped step 3, and possibly step 1 as well. So how do you fix it? The answer lies in the mysterious Bind dialog.* (File -> Source Control -> Change Source Control)

I'm actually stealing an image from VSS here. In VSS and many other source control providers, this is where you configure your local <-> server mappings, control which projects are online vs offline, and otherwise manipulate bindings. In case VSS users are wondering -- yes, VSS does have its own "working folders" but they are too fragile for this purpose.

TFS, on the other hand, does use its internal mapping scheme (workspaces) for this task. As a result, all buttons are disabled except Bind/Unbind and Refresh. The "advanced bind dialog" (what you get when clicking a single row, then clicking the "..." that appears underneath Server Binding) is also gone. When you click Bind, TFS will ask your current workspace what the server name of the sln/proj file is, then blindly write that into the bindings. Depending on whether those files actually exist on the server, it may or may not come up Valid. If not, you can't fix it from here. It's all controlled by the workspace.

I know, tight coupling with a totally separate dialog doesn't sound good. But trust me, it makes life easier. As we'll see in the Q&A section, virtually all problems can be solved by the same advice: fix your workspace and rebind. So if you understand workspaces, you're set. Meanwhile, fixing VSS bindings requires you to grok weird Visual Studio-specific concepts like "unified binding root." See Alin's awesome explanations:
http://alinconstantin.members.winisp.net/webdocs/scc/Bindings.htm
http://alinconstantin.members.winisp.net/webdocs/scc/VSNetVC6.htm

Let's summarize what we've learned so far by mimicking the Add To SCC feature on our own.

Bring up the Workspaces dialog. Type 'tf workspace <wsname>' or use the dropdown in Source Control Explorer. Verify that all the projects you're trying to add can be mapped onto a server path. If not, add an additional mapping.
Pend adds on your files. 'tf add <solutiondir> /r' will do it, as will the Add dialog in SCE.
Bring up the Bind dialog.* Highlight all rows and click Bind. If you did steps 1-2 correctly, they should all light up as 'Valid'.

(VSS users take note: at this point you need to save & Checkin. The files are only pending Add, not committed to source control yet).

We're now equipped to answer some common questions.

Q: I added all my code to TFS. When I opened one of my solutions from disk, Solution Explorer didn't show any SCCI / I got an error. How do I fix it?
A: Bring up the Bind dialog. If there are any old bindings there (e.g. to a previous source control system), use the Unbind button to remove them. Once everything is unbound, highlight all rows and click Bind.

Q: I moved my solution to a different location on disk, now SCCI doesn't work. Why?
A: You should've used the Workspace dialog to move the folder(s) for you. Tf.exe and Source Control Explorer won't work until you fix your workspace. Do so and SCCI will be happy too.

Q: I want to add a new project, but Add Project To Source Control is not an option on the context menu! What gives?
A: Chances are that project file already has bindings of some sort. Bring up the Bind dialog. Unbind + Bind should fix it.

Q: There's an extra mapping in my workspace that I don't remember adding. Where did it come from?
A: If you ran the Add To SCC wizard, and one of the projects wasn't mapped in the current workspace, then you probably got a dialog like this one:

What you may not have realized is that your choice resulted in a new mapping from the specified local folder to the server path you chose.

If you used Open From SCC, we will actually add missing workspace mappings automatically.

That's all for now. Next time, some limitations of this model.

*Two caveats. First of all: no, you aren't blind, it's really the "Change Source Control" dialog, but nobody calls it that. Sorry. Second, since we're starting from scratch here, make sure you have the correct SCC plugin selected in Tools -> Options -> Source Control.

SourceSafe users, update your bookmarks! Alin Constantin's homepage has moved

Richard Berg — Wed, 02 May 2007 21:10:00 GMT

Power users should be familiar with the great work Alin did during his time on the SourceSafe team. He was one of the most active forum participants and compiled a great set of tips on his personal website. Not to mention his extensive development on the product itself.

Until now, his website was hosted on his own server at home via dynamic DNS. While it was surprisingly stable considering the circumstances, it was hardly the place for such useful info. Any time his ISP went down or he rebooted the machine, we'd get desparate emails from customers or even internal MS support engineers. Luckily, we can now lay those to rest. Microsoft Visual SourceSafe and Visual Studio source control integration help and tips now has a permanent home. Topics covered:

Microsoft Visual SourceSafe and Source Control resources
Installing and configuring Microsoft Visual SourceSafe for Internet (Remote) access
About Visual SourceSafe Passwords and Security
Source Control Bindings explained
Microsoft Source Control Interface
.root folders explained
Is Source Control integration really worse in VisualStudio .NET than in Visual C++ 6.0?
Renaming and deleting files in projects under source control in Visual Studio (the good, the bad and the ugly)
The SUO file and Web Projects in VisualStudio .NET
Files used by source control integration in VisualStudio .NET
I got an "Unspecified error" message in VisualStudio .NET, what now?
Using Visual SourceSafe 6.0 with Visual Studio 2005

Be sure to check it out if you never have. There's also some new content, such as Vista instructions & screenshot in the Remote Access article.