Merging in Visual Studio

[buckey]

There are times when we need to temporarily bypass one or more file versions in Vault, and don’t want to have to “merge” changes when we check them back in. Would it be possible to add some type of “ignore merge status” to the merge warning we get during check in?

An example of this would be when we are working on an enhancement to some piece of code. After the enhancement is complete, the file gets checked in and goes through our testing process. If, after the file is checked in, we discover a bug on our production system that needs immediate attention, we need to make changes to the version of the file that is currently in production because the latest version hasn’t completed testing yet. We do not want to merge bug fix with the enhancement for this reason.

I have simplified the description to avoid writing a novel, but I think it explains it fairly well.

Thank you.

[Beth]

You can right-click the file and select "Resolve Merge Status." Then the status will go to edited. When you check it in, that version of the file is now the latest version and might be a higher version than the one where you have testing going on. You will want to make sure you put in clear comments what is what when doing this, so that there's no confusion.

What some do for bugs is they may make a branch from history where they want the fix to be, then they make the change and release from the branch. When the change in the branch is ready, then one would merge branches to move the changes back to the main trunk.

You may find the following articles helpful when it comes to branching and bug fixes:

• Eric Sink's Source Control How To: http://www.ericsink.com/scm/source_control.html
  Best Practices for Managing Branches: http://support.sourcegear.com/viewtopic.php?t=193
  Basics of using Label, Cloak, Share, Pin, Branch and Merging: http://support.sourcegear.com/viewtopic.php?t=9