INFO: VSS 5.0 Readme: Sec. 4 & 5, VSS 4.0/VSS Home Page Users (157719)

SUMMARY

The Visual SourceSafe Readme.wri file should be located in the SourceSafe root directory. It contains important information, some of which is not available in the printed documentation or the Help files. This article covers Sections 4 and 5, NOTES FOR USERS OF VISUAL SOURCESAFE 4.0 and VISUAL SOURCESAFE HOME PAGE. Please see REFERENCES below for more information on the other sections.

The Readme.wri includes:

1.0 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION INFORMATION

   1.1  (Administrator) Creating a Visual SourceSafe Installation on a
        Server

   1.2  (Each User) Using NETSETUP to Create a Personal Installation
   1.3  Using the Custom Setup Option
   1.4  Upgrading a Previous SourceSafe Installation
   1.5  Using the Installation Maintenance Program
   1.6  Uninstalling Visual SourceSafe
   1.7  WININET and MFC DLLs

2.0  GENERAL NOTES AND TIPS

   2.1  Back Up Your Visual SourceSafe Database, and run ANALYZE
   2.2  Installing Two or More Visual SourceSafe Databases on One Computer
   2.3. Loss of Network Connection Produces Numerical Error Message
   2.4  Canceling a Client Setup
   2.5  System Date/Time

3.0  NEW FEATURES IN VISUAL SOURCESAFE 5.0

   3.1  Archive Utility
   3.2  Visual Merge
   3.3  Project Diff
   3.4  "Edit" Command
   3.5  Open Databases
   3.6  Web Features

4.0  NOTES FOR USERS OF VISUAL SOURCESAFE 4.0

   4.1  No 16-bit Support
   4.2  Get --> Get Latest Version
   4.3  Results Display
   4.4  Multiple Project Support in Visual Basic/Visual C++ Integration

5.0  VISUAL SOURCESAFE HOME PAGE

MORE INFORMATION

4.0 NOTES FOR USERS OF VISUAL SOURCESAFE 4.0

Users of Visual SourceSafe 4.x will note a number of major changes to the product. New features are listed separately above, but some of the important miscellaneous changes are listed below.

4.1 No 16-bit Support

Versions 4 and earlier of Visual SourceSafe came with "16-bit versions" which could run in MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows 3.1, and Microsoft Windows for Workgroups. These versions are no longer built with Visual SourceSafe 5.0, or with any future versions. This means that Visual SourceSafe 5.0 will not run under DOS or Microsoft Windows 3.x. Windows 95 (or above) or Windows NT 3.51 (or above) is required.

Your 16-bit users can continue to use Visual SourceSafe 4.0a: the format of the SourceSafe database did not change between these two releases. These users will not have the benefit of the new 5.0 features, but they will be able to continue working with your code. The "SS_16Bit" subdirectory on the SourceSafe CD contains executables that these users can work with. Note that you must have a license for every user on your system, whether they use the 5.0 or 4.0 version of the product.

If users are running SourceSafe 4.0 directly from the server, your 5.0 upgrade will overwrite their on-line help files. They will no longer be able to bring up context-sensitive help from within the SourceSafe Explorer.

4.2 Get --> Get Latest Version

The command previously referred to as "Get" is now called "Get Latest Version."

4.3 Results Display

The results of a Visual SourceSafe command (which files were retrieved after a Get operation) used to be displayed in the "results window," a floating dialog that appeared, displayed information, and then disappeared. This has now been replaced with the "results pane," a permanent resident on the bottom of the Visual SourceSafe main screen (below the project tree and file list).

4.4 Multiple Project Support in Visual Basic/Visual C++ Integration

If you chose the "Prompt for Connect" option in Visual Basic or Visual C++ integration with Visual SourceSafe 4.0, you were given the opportunity to choose a SourceSafe database whenever you added a project to SourceSafe for the first time, or retrieved a project from SourceSafe for the first time. (If you are not familiar with what this paragraph is referring to, you can skip this note.) You specified a database by typing in a special string which went in your Srcsafe.ini file after the Data_Path variable.

This ability is no longer supported in Visual SourceSafe 5.0, having been replaced with the (much friendlier) "Open Databases" dialog. The new functionality is quite different from the old, because it involves choosing a SRCSAFE.INI file instead of a Data_Path line. Therefore, it may require some changes on your part to get the new system to work properly. These changes are described below.

4.4.1. If you had different SourceSafe installations, with different Srcsafe.ini files for each Data_Path, you do not need to take any extra steps initially. The first time you are prompted for a database, you will "Browse" to find the alternate Srcsafe.ini file. Thereafter, you will simply be able to choose a database from a list whenever you add or retrieve a project for the first time.

4.4.2. If you had only one Srcsafe.ini file, you will need to create more than one: one for each Data_Path directory. You can simply copy your existing Srcsafe.ini file, remove all the Data_Path entries except one, and remove the parentheses for that one. So each Srcsafe.ini file should have only one Data_Path, pointing to one data directory. Then, once again, you can browse for these paths in the "Open Database" dialog. The recommended place for putting the new Srcsafe.ini file is immediately above the DATA directory it refers to: for instance, for directory \\code\public\vss\data, create \\code\public\vss\srcsafe.ini. If the SRCSAFE.INI is not in this location, the "Run SourceSafe" option in your development environment may not work properly.

5.0 VISUAL SOURCESAFE HOME PAGE

Microsoft Visual SourceSafe has a home page on the Internet. This home page features a variety of information including articles on SourceSafe, a self- running demo that you can download and run, a collection of helpful SourceSafe utilities, and much more. The URL for the home page is:

http://www.msdn.microsoft.com/ssafe