FAQ: Visual SourceSafe Integration with Visual Basic 4.0

ID: Q135995

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, 32-bit, for Windows versions 4.0, 5.0, 6.0
Standard, Professional, and Enterprise Editions of Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows, 32-bit, version 5.0
Standard, Professional, and Enterprise Editions of Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows, 16-bit and 32-bit, version 4.0

SUMMARY

This article covers some of the most frequently asked questions (FAQ) about the Visual Basic Add-In to Visual SourceSafe.

Q. I have installed Visual Basic and Visual SourceSafe, but Visual SourceSafe is still not available in the Visual Basic Add-In menu. Why?

A. Make sure Visual SourceSafe was installed after you installed Visual Basic. If you install Visual SourceSafe before Visual Basic, Visual SourceSafe does not know you plan to use the add-in functionality because it does not find Visual Basic. Therefore, the installation does not install the add-in hooks. You must install Visual SourceSafe (Client, Custom, or preferably Netsetup.exe) after installing Visual Basic.

If you install the custom version, you must select the "Visual Basic and Visual C++ Registration" check box in Visual SourceSafe version 4.x, or "Enable SourceSafe Integration" for version 5.0 or later. This is what installs the registry hooks necessary for Visual Basic to find Visual SourceSafe.

For more information about what the registry hooks are and how integration works, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q133018 Visual SourceSafe Setup Registration Settings

Q. I have a project under Visual SourceSafe control. Why can't I make any modifications to my files in this project now?

A. When anything is under Visual SourceSafe control, the files must be checked out of Visual SourceSafe before they can be modified in Visual Basic. There are several easy ways to tell if the files are checked out:
1. When viewing the project in Visual Basic, if a file is checked out, there will be a check mark in the box on the left side of the given file icon. When viewing the code, if the file is checked out, you will be able to make modifications. If the file is not checked out, you will see (read only) on the top.
  
  In addition, within Visual Basic, when you select any control, there will be a black stretch box instead of a white stretch box.
2. In the Visual SourceSafe Explorer, if the files are checked out, there will be a check mark on top of the icon next to the file name and there will be a check-out directory specified.

Q. I have my Visual Basic project under Visual SourceSafe control. Now I see miniature icons appearing by my file names when I view the project. What are these and what do they mean?

A. These miniature icons are called glyphs. There are a variety of glyphs used by Visual SourceSafe, Visual Basic, and other programs to let the user know the status of each and every file under Visual SourceSafe control.

For files that are under SourceSafe control but not checked out, you will see a little red padlock on the corner of the icon for that file. This means that the files are under SourceSafe Control and are not checked out.

The glyph you see when you check out a file is a check mark on the side next to the icon. This means the file is checked out of SourceSafe to you and that it is editable.

The Visual SourceSafe Explorer uses these and a number of other different icons to represent different states of various files. See your Visual SourceSafe documentation for details.

Q. I have renamed a file in the Visual SourceSafe Explorer. Why is the file not renamed in Visual Basic?

A. Visual SourceSafe doesn't have a way to tell Visual Basic to rename a file in a given project. On the other hand, Visual Basic, through the integration component, can tell SourceSafe that a file has been renamed. Therefore, the best way to rename a file is to do it within Visual Basic. This will update the Visual SourceSafe Explorer.

Additional query words: vss FAQ Q&A vbwin VB Visual Basic

Keywords : kbSSafe400 kbSSafe500 kbSSafe600 kbVBp500
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Issue type : kbinfo