Visual Source Safe

1
Visual Source Safe

• Office of the Accountant General (AE),Andhra
  Pradesh,
• Hyderabad

2
Source Code Integrity

• In VLC like vast systems the source code
  integrity plays an important role
• Before changing the component by way of defect
  fixing, it is imperative to keep a copy of old
  version as a safety measure
• The new component if found to be meeting the
  requirement of the user, it can be copied onto
  all the client systems

3
Source Code Integrity (contd.)

• We should always be in a position to rollback to
  the old version in case of any problems during
  defect fixing.
• It is very cumbersome to maintain various
  versions manually on a system
• It is also difficult to identify as to which
  version of the component is the latest.

4
Visual Source Safe

• To overcome the above problems, the Microsoft VSS
  software enables to keep the different versions
  of the component at one place.
• It is possible to get all the latest components
  at one go.
• This software also provides for archiving of
  entire project.

5
Steps to implement VSS

• Install the VSS software on a client machine
  where it is not accessed by the users other than
  EDP staff.
• All the baseline versions of the components
  relating to VLC application has to be copied into
  VSS.
• While copying the components can be organized
  into directories representing the modules. Under
  each module sub directories can be created for
  copying Forms, Reports, Menus etc. for easy
  identification.

6
Steps to implement VSS (contd.)

• Create a folder on the hard disk VSS and
  create a sub-directory Checked out under the
  directory VSS.
• Set the default working directory to VSS\Checked
  out.
• Whenever a component is required for defect
  fixing the component should be checked out first.

7
VSS (Contd.)

• From checked out folder the component can be
  copied onto any system for defect fixing.
• When the component is through, copy it onto the
  VSS system in the checked out folder.
• This changed component can then be checked in to
  the VSS.