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Setting Up Visual SourceSafe

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This content is no longer actively maintained. It is provided as is, for anyone who may still be using these technologies, with no warranties or claims of accuracy with regard to the most recent product version or service release.

Getting started with Visual SourceSafe begins with setting up and connecting to a Visual SourceSafe project. When you use Visual SourceSafe, your files are stored in a project, providing both safe storage and important historical information and version tracking. With the source control add-ins, you do not need to run Visual SourceSafe separately to realize the advantages of source code control.

The steps to integrating Visual SourceSafe into your Office 2000 development environment include:

  • Installing the Visual SourceSafe application

  • Assigning user permissions

  • Connecting to the Visual SourceSafe database

For more information about setting up Visual SourceSafe, see " in the MSDN™ Library. For additional information about using Visual SourceSafe, see the .

Installing the Visual SourceSafe Application

Generally, your Visual SourceSafe administrator installs Visual SourceSafe on a network server for you and then adds your name to the database user list. You can also install the Visual SourceSafe application from the Office 2000 Developer CD. Simply run the setup program, and select the option to install Visual SourceSafe.

There are three Visual SourceSafe setup options:

  • ****Shared Database Server  **** Used by Administrators to install a database and the necessary software on a network server. Individual users then install the Visual SourceSafe client from the network server using Netsetup.

  • ****Custom   ****Allows you to choose which components to install.

  • ****Stand-alone   ****Installs the components necessary to create and access a private database on your machine. You can also connect to existing databases on a network server.

Assigning User Permissions

Before you can access the database, you need to assign the appropriate permissions. You can also assign user permissions to other team members who want to share the files in your database. Use the Visual SourceSafe Administrator to add, change, or delete user permissions and passwords for your database.

Connecting to a Visual SourceSafe Database

You can connect to the database using either the Visual SourceSafe application, or through the source control add-in.

To connect to a Visual SourceSafe database from the Visual SourceSafe application

  1. Start the Visual SourceSafe application.

  2. From the File menu, click Open SourceSafe Database, and select one of the databases in the list box (such as Microsoft® Visual Studio®).

You can use this command to select an existing database from a Visual SourceSafe project that someone else has already created. This is how you enlist in a multideveloper project that someone has already set up.

To connect to a Visual SourceSafe database from the source control add-in

  1. For the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) Source Control add-in, in the Visual Basic Editor, select the VBA Source Control add-in from the Add-Ins menu.

    For the Access Source Control add-in, select SourceSafe from the Tools menu.

  2. The first time you access source control a logon box appears. Fill in the appropriate information for your database.

  3. The source control options change on the menu.

You can now place items in your project under source control.