I. Necessity of Version Management If the software crisis in 1970s led to the birth of software engineering ideas and the development of the theoretical system, then 80 ~ In 1990s, especially in 1990s, the rapid development of the software industry led to the emergence and implementation of another new idea, namely, software version management. As long as people who have participated in software development know, it is hard to imagine and impossible to complete the current software project by one person, usually there is a R & D team for joint analysis, design, coding and maintenance, and a dedicated test team for complete testing of software that has completed coding debugging. In this huge and complex process of software development, various personnel need to be involved. The communication and feedback of information is not only between members of the R & D team and between various R & D teams, it also exists between customers and developers. All the feedback may lead to modifications to the software. Small changes may be made to the definition of a variable in a source file, as big as re-designing the program module, it may even be the overall demand analysis changes. In this project, due to the inherent characteristics of software development, many software versions may be formed, and we cannot guarantee that there will be no wrong modifications, however, such a difficult situation is very realistic in front of the project development manager. How can he/she effectively solve these problems? Specifically, there are the following problems: 1. How to manage the entire R & D project; 2. How to coordinate members of the project development team with an effective mechanism; 3. How to centrally manage the subitems undertaken by the group members; 4. How to Make a unified summary of the changes made by the members of the R & D team; 5. How to retain the modified track so as to cancel incorrect changes; 6. How to identify, manage, and identify differences of software versions formed during the development process. In a very direct response, we must introduce a management mechanism, a version management mechanism, and version management in a broad sense. It not only needs to manage the version of the source code, it also manages the entire project. In the past, it was hailed as a good programming style, such as commenting on the reasons for modifying others' source programs, changing people and dates. If multiple members make modifications at the same time, then we need to compare and integrate the differences between humans in a timely manner to form a unified new version. This practice has become increasingly free of Space in the development of large-scale software. It can be said that it is a form of small workshops to face the social production of software, and it will no longer be feasible. In fact, the idea of version management exists in the minds of software developers for a long time, but the previous understandings are not as pressing as people are aware. The UNIX program development system has provided a tool for source code version management in the development team for a long time. Now Linux provides a powerful cross-platform version manager, the Windows-based version manager of foreign companies already has mature products. domestic research institutions such as the Case lab of the computer department of Peking University are also working in this area. Among the many mature products and test products, it will only be widely used here, microsoft Visual sourcesafe6.0, a version Manager product that has a great prospect and is easy to obtain, provides a detailed introduction to the common R & D team's solutions and implementation. II. Introduction to visualsourcesafe6.0 (vss6.0) Vss6.0 is now a member of the microsoftvisualstudio6.0 development product family, such as Visual C ++ 6.0 and Visual J ++ 6.0. 1. Simple Working Principle of VSS Microsoft vss6.0 solves the long-term version management problems faced by the Software Development Team. It may effectively help the project development team owner manage the project program, store all project source files (including various file types) to the database in a unique manner. Developers cannot directly modify files in the database, instead, the version manager copies the source program or subitem program of the project to the working directory of each member for debugging and modification, then, submit the modified project file as checkin to VSS for comprehensive updates. VSS also supports fast and efficient file sharing between multiple projects. When a member adds a file to VSS, the file is backed up to the database so that all Members can share the file. In addition, the changes made by each member to all project files will be recorded in the database, making it possible to restore and revoke the changes at any time and anywhere. The team members may get the latest version of the project, modify it, and save a new version. VSS project organization management makes the coordination between development teams easy and intuitive. When one and one group of files are distributed to another Member, group, web site, or any other address, VSS ensures the real sharing between them and the Security of different versions of the selected group of files. Nowadays, more and more developers can access the VSS feature through their development environment. In addition, VSS can be easily integrated with microsoftaccess, VisualBasic, VisualC ++, and visualfoxpro with other development tools. Once VSS is integrated into the development environment, it can be used like a control, it can reflect the ease-of-use and powerful features of VSS. 2. Several important concepts in VSS To better understand VSS, it is necessary to describe the following concepts. The first is the concept of a project. A project is a group of files in VSS (of any type). files can be added, deleted, edited, and shared between projects. A project has many similarities with the operating system folder, but it better supports file merging, history, and version control. All files are stored in the VSS database project, and developers cannot work on the master backup file in VSS (except for checking and comparing versions) instead, VSS provides each Member with a copy in their working directory for work. Although you can view a file without a working directory, to really work under VSS management, you must create a working directory. VSS can maintain multiple versions of a file, including a record of modifications made between different versions. Version control includes the following: Intra-group coordination-in general, ensure that only one member modifies a specific file at any time, so as to prevent files from being accidentally updated by modifications made by other Members. Of course, the VSS administrator can change this default setting to allow multiple checkout operations on a single file at the same time, and prohibit other modifications from being overwritten. Version tracking-source code and other files of old versions are archived and tracked, and these versions can be re-obtained for Bug Tracking or other purposes. Cross-platform development-supports version control when the same code is used across multiple development platforms. Reuse or object-oriented code-tracks which programs use and which code can be reused. The meaning of version control will be further discussed in later chapters. As we know, VSS provides version control and history services to ensure that each version of a file is recoverable. VSS uses a date/time stamp to record when a file is checkout or modified. It has three methods to track the file and project version: Version: this is an internal digital maintained by VSS, and the user has no control over it. Each file and project version has a version number, which is always an integer and increases progressively. Date/timestamp: It indicates when a file is last modified, or when a file is checkin. VSS supports both 12-hour and 24-hour time formats. The working directory is the place where the user can debug and modify the project file. When the user checkout or extracts a file, VSS copies the item to the user's working directory, when the user modifies the file and submits the file, VSS copies it from the user's working directory to the VSS database. When a user performs checkout, VSS automatically manages his working directory, such as creating necessary subdirectories. The working directory can be created or modified at any time. 3. Some new features and functions of vss6.0 Archive and restore-In vss6.0, these two operations are performed in a user-friendly VSS administrator wizard. in earlier versions, they can only be implemented through command lines. Move file-when you move a file, vss6.0 automatically shares the file to a new project and deletes it from the original project. In the new project, the attributes of the file are shared. Comparison of differences between multiple projects-this feature allows users to compare differences between different projects. Expand a single file-in earlier versions, VSS can expand only one directory (folder). In vss6.0, one file can be expanded at the same time. Quick extraction-as vss6.0 improves performance, file extraction speed is about twice faster than the previous VSS version. History filtering-vss6.0 allows you to view the history of files and projects without tags. Clear Temporary Folder option-this new feature allows you to easily clear temporary folders. Check external hyperconnections-in earlier versions of VSS, only internal hyperconnections and project jumps are checked. vss6.0 allows you to check the hyperconnections and jumps outside the project. Create a shortcut to open the VSS database-you can use this new feature in vssexplorer to create a desktop shortcut to open a specific VSS database. HTML Help-previous versions of VSS use winhelp format. Iii. vss6.0 Solution After having a comprehensive understanding of the working principle, functions, and new features of vss6.0, we start to enter this section, that is, how to use vss6.0 to solve version management and control problems in software development projects, and how to effectively construct a system solution. First, let's take a look at the actual situation of our development team. The most common situation is that the whole project uses a microcomputer environment, each developer uses Microsoft Vc, VB, and vj to develop sub-projects or sub-modules under their respective Windows computers, generally, this group is part of a LAN or a relatively independent subnet, and may be equipped with dedicated servers. Such a development environment is very advantageous and intuitive for implementing version control and management using vss6.0, because vss6.0 also needs this network environment. Secondly, for the project itself, after a project is analyzed and designed, it is generally divided into several sub-projects, and several development teams are responsible for coding and debugging respectively, however, the actual situation of software development determines that different groups are not completely independent. In many cases, they need to coordinate interaction and information feedback, each step in the development process may lead to correction of the previous phase of work, because software development is a spiral process to a large extent, not to mention mutual communication within the group. In this process of continuous interaction changes, we can imagine the number of stages, versions, and complete versions of the project that may be formed, in the past, the Common Manual version management method was no longer competent. In addition, a very important aspect cannot be ignored, which is especially evident in the development of system software, that is, the software hierarchy. The general practice is to develop applications for multiple applications on top of common system software. In contrast, project development groups are generally divided into system development groups and application development groups, during the development and use of application software, numerous problems of the application itself and system software will be reported. If you only modify and update the system software version for each application, this will inevitably lead to the inconsistency of multiple system versions, which makes it impossible to truly solve the problems existing in the system. Vss6.0 is suitable for the development architecture of this software. It can create its own projects for each group, and these projects belong to a general project, all modifications will be summarized to form a unified latest version. For the most common software development environment and organizational structure, vss6.0 is an effective and cost-effective solution for version control management: Install vss6.0 server software on a WindowsNT server or a relatively independent Windows98/95pc, and create a database for storing the entire project, then, create various projects and sub-projects in the database, and the VSS administrator creates an account and their respective permissions for each member of the group; Install the VSS client software on the PC of other members of the development team and create their own working directory. In this way, during the software development process, they only need to log on to the VSS server through the client software and checkout the project or file currently to work, if any modification is made, submit the checkin to the VSS server at the end of the work for unified updates. Solution 1. Iv. Installation of vss6.0 Server After providing the entire solution, let's take a look at how to install the VSS server. Vss6.0 is a member of the microsoftvisualstudio6.0 suite. We will take this version as an example. Step 1: Put the CD1 of visualstudio6.0 into the CD-ROM, automatically enter the installer, select the second item "serverapplicationsandtools (addonly)", 2; Step 2. Select "visualsourcesafeserver" in "serversetups" servercomponents ", click" Install ", and add" CD2 "as prompted, as shown in 3; Step 3: Follow the prompts in installationwizard to continue the installation process. Select the installation path and click the button in the upper-left corner of Figure 4. The system continues the installation until you are prompted to restart to make the newly installed program take effect, restart the computer. The installation of vss6.0 server is relatively simple. It can be installed either under WindowsNT or Windows 9X. V. Installation of vss6.0 Client After the vss6.0 server is installed, you can install the client software under the guidance of the VSS administrator. Because we are in a Windows environment subnet, each PC client can access the VSS server through a network neighbor. After the VSS administrator instructs the user about the location of the vssclient software installer “netsetup.exe, the user can find the program in the network neighbor through the resource manager "Explorer" and double-click it to run it, as shown in Figure 5. After netsetup.exe is started, install the VSS client. In the following prompt box, enter the user name and workgroup name, as shown in figure 6. Select the installation path of VSS and click the installation icon in Figure 7 to go to the actual installation step. The system will automatically complete the subsequent work. When the system prompts you that VSS has been successfully installed, all the installation work has been completed. Vi. vss6.0 server configuration and management After the vss6.0 server is installed, you can configure and manage the VSS server for the development project, which must be completed by the VSS administrator. First, create a VSS database for the entire project (when the VSS server is installed, the system has created a default database common), start visualsourcesafe6.0admin (start/programs/microsoftvisualstudio6.0/microsoftvisualsourcesafe/visualsourcesafe6.0admin ), in the window of 8, click createdatabase in the drop-down menu tools... menu item. In the displayed window, select the path of the new database, for example, create a MyApp database, and click OK. The system will complete the creation. Step 2: create a user for the newly created database (such as MyApp). First, open the database and click users/opensourcesafedatabase from the drop-down menu ..., select the database MyApp and open it, as shown in figure 10. Select the menu item adduser... and enter the user name and password, as shown in Figure 11. Create other users in sequence. Step 3: Create a project in the new database. Start microsoftvisualsourcesafe6.0 (start/programs/microsoftvisualstudio6.0/microsoftvisualsourcesafe/microsoftvisualsourcesafe6.0). In the displayed window, click opensourcesafedatabase in the drop-down menu file ..., in the dialog box 13, select a database (for example, MyApp), double-click it, or press the OPEN button to open the database. A project is a set of related documents or a collection of files, VSS allows you to store and organize your projects in any hierarchy. In the VSS database, you can create one or more projects. Click the createproject command in the File menu ..., create a project, for example, myproject, 14. After creating a project myproject, you need to add a file to myproject. Click the addfiles command in file. In the displayed dialog box, select a file or directory, click Add to add them to myproject, as shown in Figure 15. The configuration of the VSS server has basically been completed. Databases and projects have been created and corresponding users have been created for them, in this way, you can directly log on to the VSS server in the integrated development environment such as the client VC for development under the VSS Control Management. 7. Use sourcecodecontrol in client VC When the installation and configuration of the VSS server are complete and the VSS installation is completed on the client, you can enable VSS to manage and control the source code and document version management of the entire development team. In this section, we take the widely used VC ++ 6.0 as an example to illustrate how to use VSS on the client to achieve that all development work is under the effective control and management of VSS. Start microsoftvisualc ++ 6.0. In the integrated development environment of VC, click the openworkspace command in the File menu, as shown in dialog 16, there is a major difference from a VC that does not have the VSS client software installed: An "openaprojectfromsourcecodecontrolsourcecontrol" item is added at the bottom of the dialog box ". Click the sourcecontrol button. The logon dialog box 17 is displayed. Enter your username and password and click the Browse... button to select the database you want to log on. Select a project and enter its local working directory in the development area. The VSS server copies the source code under the working directory for development, debugging, and modification, as shown in Figure 18. Similar to local development, move the mouse to the border of the VC window, right-click and select sourcecontrol. The sourcecontrol toolbar appears, as shown in Figure 19. Select the corresponding button in the sourcecontrol toolbar to obtain the latest version of a project file, add a new file to the VSS database, and submit the modified file checkin to the VSS database, view the historical information of a project file, compare files of different versions and projects, and share a project or file. Is this easy ?! |
