Visual SourceSafe 4.0 Protects Precious Code

David Streams

September 12, 1995

New version features integration with Visual Basic 4.0 and Visual C++ 4.0

Code is a precious resource. To protect it, developers need to safeguard files against unauthorized changes and unexpected failures with some system of version control. These systems can vary from gentlemanly agreements about commenting on changes and storing old versions to sophisticated software systems that track changes and histories automatically.

Most of these source control systems work well for individual source files. However, almost all fail to establish relationships between files. This can pose quite a problem in the Windows-based environment, where a single application may consist of multiple executable files and dynamic-link libraries built of many different source files that, in turn, may be reused among many other applications. Today it is as important to manage the relationships between source files as it is to protect the contents of the source files themselves.

New features in Visual SourceSafe 4.0 include integration with the Visual Basic 4.0 and Visual C++ 4.0 development environments, a new Windows 95 Explorer look and feel to the user interface, and updated menus and icons. Visual SourceSafe 4.0 also offers more flexibility with long filename support, customizable columns, drag-and-drop file sharing, accelerator keys, and tab dialog boxes for easy customization.

Visual SourceSafe works with any type of file, including text or binary. Visual SourceSafe is a multiplatform development tool, supporting Windows 95, Windows 3.1, Windows NT, MS-DOS, and Macintosh platforms. Visual SourceSafe for UNIX is also available from Mainsoft Corporation.

To understand the benefits of project-oriented source control, simply compare it to a file-oriented system. A standard version control system (such as the UNIX utility RCS) is essentially a collection of tools that operate on individual files, controlling file access and updates and comparing previous versions. To operate on a group of files, you write a batch file or specify wildcards on the command line.

Visual SourceSafe stores files in a central database on the network, rather than in ordinary MS-DOS directories. Projects viewed through Visual SourceSafe contain all your source files and histories organized into project hierarchies.

When you retrieve a file, Visual SourceSafe marks the file as checked out to you in its database, then allows you to make changes to the file on your computer. When you check the file back in, Visual SourceSafe updates its database and changes the file's access privilege on your computer back to read-only.

So how is this any different from file-oriented source control?

With each change, the Visual SourceSafe database records and tracks project information not available to file-oriented systems. Each time a file is added, modified, shared, moved, or deleted from a project, Visual SourceSafe updates both the file and the project's history. You can use project history to:

• View the status of all files in a specific project and all subordinate projects prior to building.

• Zoom in on a specific file change that might have caused a bug in a build on a certain date.

• Recreate any previous version of an entire application.

• Maintain source files that are shared among many different applications.

• Determine which projects are affected by changing a file that is shared among many different applications.

• Manage client-specific versions of a general application.

Attempting these tasks with file-oriented systems can be incredibly burdensome and frustrating for software developers. Visual SourceSafe project-oriented version control is designed to make all of these tasks more straightforward.

Pricing and availability

Visual SourceSafe is scheduled for availability in October. It will be released in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese versions. The estimated retail price of the full stand-alone version is US$499. Users of SourceSafe version 3.1 can upgrade for an estimated retail price of US$99.95. In the United States and Canada, contact your local reseller. Outside North America, contact your local Microsoft subsidiary.

David Streams is a product manager for Visual SourceSafe.