How to tell where a file is checked out to?

ssccoorrcchhiioo · Post by **ssccoorrcchhiioo** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 2:49 pm

A recent post asked the question: "How to tell where a file is checked out to (which machine)?" ... I have a more basic question ... how do I tell which directory it is checked out to?

I have multiple versions of my software in development at any one time. Each version is a complete set of the source in its own directory. I want to check in the few files that I have changed in one of these directories but I'm not certain which files I have checked out to it! How do I know?

Another question (perhaps should be a different post) ... when I check in, how can I say which directory to check in from, as in my case it isn't always the directory I checked out to?

Thanks,
James
(brand new to SOS as an interface to VSS, which I have been using for years).

Beth · Post by **Beth** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 8:12 am

When you say you have multiple versions being worked on, do you mean that you go into history and perform Gets from previous versions, or check out from there?

Or do you create branches for each version of your software? It sounds like branches would be a better way to go and then merging changes as needed with the different versions.

When you open up your Vault GUI, you should see Local and Remote version listed. If you don't, then to go Tools - Options - File List Columns. You can also enable Check Out Location from there.

Are you using IDE integration?

Vault only checks in from the working folder. It has a cache where it compares the baseline to what's on disk and then checks in a delta that is only the changes. In the Vault GUI you can change your working folder, but if you are using IDE integration, then Visual Studio controls the working folder portion and it's not going to pick up that other file as part of the project.

If you are bouncing around in the history making changes, then I'd still recommend you look into branches instead. There are two articles that may help you in our KB Article Index under Source Control Commands and Practices .

Best Practices for Managing Branches
Basics of using Label, Cloak, Share, Pin, Branch and Merging

ssccoorrcchhiioo · Post by **ssccoorrcchhiioo** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 3:22 pm

Here's how I have been working using the VSS client ...

I have a fairly mature framework of code from which I develop a number of different flavours and variations of my application. If I want to develop a new feature I GET all the source into my main development directory and start coding and testing. Before I get to a stage where I can check in the changes I'll typically get an "urgent" bug to fix or customer request, so I GET the source into a separate directory and fix it. With the VSS client I can clearly see which files are checked out to this intermediate directory, check them in and GET them into my my main development directory. With over 300 source files it is rare that the same files are edited in both directories so I'm not really concerned about having to merge stuff.

The second question I have, about choosing where to check in from, is because sometimes while I am editing the intermediate fix I get an idea I want to try out that is going to take some time. If it doesn't work out I don't want to spend time reversing all the edits so I copy the whole directory to a third one. If my idea works out, I check in from there and if it doesn't well I delete it and go back to the directory I first checked out to.

So to sumarise, with the VSS client I can choose where to check out to (defaults to working directory but I can change it), I can see where I have checked out to and I can choose where to check in from (defaults to where it was checked out to but I can change it). I can't see any direct or indirect way of doing this with SourceOffSite.

You might have figured out from the above that no, I am not using IDE integration - I am very much driving this manually.

As for settings in the Vault GUI, what I am looking for are equivalent settings in the SourceOffSite GUI.

Thanks,
James

Beth wrote:When you say you have multiple versions being worked on, do you mean that you go into history and perform Gets from previous versions, or check out from there?

Or do you create branches for each version of your software? It sounds like branches would be a better way to go and then merging changes as needed with the different versions.

When you open up your Vault GUI, you should see Local and Remote version listed. If you don't, then to go Tools - Options - File List Columns. You can also enable Check Out Location from there.

Are you using IDE integration?

Vault only checks in from the working folder. It has a cache where it compares the baseline to what's on disk and then checks in a delta that is only the changes. In the Vault GUI you can change your working folder, but if you are using IDE integration, then Visual Studio controls the working folder portion and it's not going to pick up that other file as part of the project.

If you are bouncing around in the history making changes, then I'd still recommend you look into branches instead. There are two articles that may help you in our KB Article Index under Source Control Commands and Practices .
Best Practices for Managing Branches
Basics of using Label, Cloak, Share, Pin, Branch and Merging

Beth · Post by **Beth** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 4:56 pm

Then you can change your working directory for that project in the Vault GUI to wherever you wish to be working at that point.

I'd still recommend branches. If you send a fix, wouldn't you want that fix to be in your current version too? Branches makes it a bit easier to handle that. All that is explained in the links I posted. We have a branch here for each release, and then if we need to fix something in a previous release, it can be fixed in it's branch away from rest of the current code development, and then when we need it, we can just merge it into the current development. You can even create a branch for just trying something out and if you don't like it, delete the branch, or just keep it and it's history so you have a documentation of what you tried in case you want to come back to it.

ssccoorrcchhiioo · Post by **ssccoorrcchhiioo** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 8:00 am

Thanks for the work-arounds.

It seems that I am going to have to start working in a way that suits the tool rather than having a tool that suits the way I work. Shame that it doesn't just show me where a file was checked out to.

Beth · Post by **Beth** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 1:47 pm

It does show where a file is checked out to in the Vault GUI, but if you are wanting to check in from a location other than where you checked out to (which is the working folder), then Vault isn't aware of that location. It will only know where the working folders are and track what's going on there.

Look at the file you have checked out in the pending change set, and it will show where that file is at.

It's sounding like you want several versions checked out at one?

ssccoorrcchhiioo · Post by **ssccoorrcchhiioo** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 2:03 pm

No, I don't want several versions of the same file checked out at once.

I want different files in the same project to be checked out to different Windows folders at the same time.

You say that the GUI isn't aware of another location to the one I checked out to ... well it could be - if it bothered asking when I check in (VSS client does).

As for your mention of the Vault GUI ... I am using SourceOffSite, not Vault (unless I have messed up, this is being posted to the SourceOffSite forum). Not too familiar with the SourceGear products but I guess what applies to one doesn't necessarily apply to the other.

Thanks,
James

Beth · Post by **Beth** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 2:39 pm

Sorry, yes, I was answering for Vault.

The same concept applies for SOS too though.