Newbie setting up (basic Repository question)

JamieD · Post by **JamieD** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 9:26 am

Hi all, I've really enjoyed FileDiff/Merge and it has made our life much easier. I'm trying to push our group to use Vault for version control, but no one here really has much experience with this sort of thing. We're still running an older ASP site, and have been accessing our files through a shared folder. I want to use Vault to protect those files.

I've setup the Server and a Client, and I can get the files from the repository and update them.. However, it doesn't seem like the updates propagate to the intended location.. Inetpub\wwwroot on the target machine.

So I guess what I'm wondering is, if those changes are made to files which came from that directory, why aren't they being reflected in the source files? Any suggestions?

lbauer · Post by **lbauer** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 3:31 pm

When you use Vault, you can add files from anywhere on your local drive to the source control repository. But files aren't necesarily updated in the location where you got those files to add.

Generally a Vault user has a working folder on their local machine. They Get the latest version of the code from the repository, then modify the files and check them in. The files are changed in the repository and in the user's local working directory.

To update a different directory, like Inetpub\www, you could use Shadow Folders, which get the latest version from a folder in the repository and populate a directory on the Vault server machine or elsewhere on the LAN.

Another option is to create a script that automatically gets files, using the Command Line Client.

Since you're new to source control, you may want to read this How-To by the founder of our company:

http://www.ericsink.com/scm/source_control.html

JamieD · Post by **JamieD** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:22 am

Okay, well, I went through the documentation and I think I have a better understanding in general now. Great. :)

However, it doesn't seem as though the shadow folders option is working as intended.. Changes I've made to files in the repository are no propagating to the main folder. Should there be a windows service running or anything?

JamieD · Post by **JamieD** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:42 am

Oh! Now it seems to have kicked in.. any ideas what happened there? I would imagine there's a bit of a lag, perhaps?

lbauer · Post by **lbauer** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 9:02 am

It's hard to say, without looking at logs, etc. Shadow folders are updated by the shadow folder service, which runs as a web service in IIS. If you are shadowing a number of folders or files, it could take a bit of time to build the shadow folder cache.