MOD2000: How to Configure Files and Projects for VBE/VSS Integration (235253)

MORE INFORMATION

The following conventions are used in this article:

• "Documents" are .xls, .doc, .ppt, or .vba files.
• VBA "objects" are modules, class modules, or forms that make up a VBA project.
• All VSS operations on the documents are performed in the VSS Explorer.
• VSS operations on the objects are performed in the Visual Basic Editor (VBE) by using the VBA Source Code Control option on the Add-ins menu.

Step 1: Organizing the Documents

One user creates the initial folder structure and files for a Source Code Control project, which can be modified by any user later on. It is important to keep the files that make up an Office application in a logical, self-contained folder structure.

In the example for this article, the application is named Sales and has three levels: general information, history, and forecasts. The files that relate to general information are in a folder called Sales, and there are subfolders for history and forecasts. There is another subfolder for VBA projects that are independent of any specific document. With this example, the folder and file organization on each user's hard disk would look as follows:

Documents can be organized in many different ways, but they should always be within the same folder hierarchy. In a multiuser environment, each user has local copies of all the files that make up the application. The path to the Sales folder can differ from one user to another, but from that folder downward, the structure must be identical for each user.

Although some file types, notably Access, are outside the scope of this article, all other files that make up the Office application should be organized following the same guidelines.

IMPORTANT: Documents that are under VSS control for the purpose of managing the VBA source code must be sample files used only for testing while developing the application. After the application is ready, the VBA objects can be exported for use in the actual documents.

Step 2: Adding the Documents to VSS

The user who creates the initial VSS folders and files adds the documents to VSS. The easiest way to do this is to use drag the documents from Windows Explorer into the VSS Explorer.

In this example, you could create the parent project in VSS (for example $/office apps), and drag the Sales folder from Windows Explorer to the $/office apps project in VSS. Click to select the Recursive check box in the Add Folder dialog box, and then click Yes to set <path>\Sales as your personal working folder for $/office apps/Sales.

Regardless of the method that you use to add documents, it is important to set the working folder for $/office apps/Sales to <path>\Sales. By default, the working folders for the VSS subprojects under Sales will be the corresponding subfolders on each user's hard disk.

Step 3: Adding the VBA Projects to VSS

In each document that contains a VBA project that you want to add to Source Code Control, run the Visual Basic Editor, and add each VBA project to VSS. When you add a VBA project to VSS through the Source Code Control Add-in, you are required to create a new VSS project using the Add to SourceSafe Project dialog box. Do not use the VSS Explorer to create the subprojects that will contain the VBA objects.

Although you can add a VBA project to any location in the VSS project tree, it make sense to follow a hierarchy similar to the one used in organizing the files.

Using the previous example, the VSS project structure would look as follows:

   $/office apps
      /Sales
         sales.doc
         sales.ppt
         sales.xls
         
         /sales_doc (subproject for VBA objects in sales.doc)
         /sales_ppt (subproject for VBA objects in sales.ppt)
         /sales_xls (subproject for VBA objects in sales.xls)
        
         /History (subproject of Sales)
            history.doc
            history.ppt
            history.xls

            /history_doc (subproject for VBA objects in history.doc)                                              
            /history_ppt (subproject for VBA objects in history.ppt)
            /history_xls (subproject for VBA objects in history.xls)
				

You can use a different project organization, but be sure to maintain a clear and consistent mapping from where the document itself is stored in VSS to the subproject that stores the VBA objects contained in that document.