URGENT: Possible Bug with VSS action?
 

Hi All,

I may just not be doing things correctly, or maybe it is by design, but I think I've found a defect with the VSS Checkout Action.

What I am trying to do is the equivalent of the VSS "Check-out -> Do not get local copy" which basically doesn't over-write local files that have been updated while checked in.

I have tried having the "Handling of writeable local files" set to "Skip" and "Merge", but the file is skipped and the step still fails, "A writeable copy exists".

I can't even do the equivalent of "Check-In -> Keep Checked Out" so doing it this way won't work.

Am I missing something? Any help with my problem would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Rob Manger
robm@devtest.com

It is working as designed. The SourceSafe action wraps the VSS command-line program (ss.exe), which unlike the VSS Explorer, doesn't distinguish between checked-out vs. non-checked-out local writeable files when getting (which is reasonable since it doesn't make sense to prompt the user during an automated operation). It also will return a non-zero exitcode on get if any of the local files specified are writeable.

For automated builds, it's usually a good idea to use the Replace option on get (overwriting any local writeable files) to ensure a consistent build. If you do have local checked-out files, make sure to always get non-checked-out files read-only and use the 'Skip' option when getting latest to prevent the checked-out files from being replaced (marking the get step to ignore failure).

Thanx for the prompt reply.

The reason I am doing it this way is that many of the developers need to disconnect from the domain in order to develop and test their apps on multiple custom domains. This is causing many problems with the link to VSS.

A work around to this is to put some steps into my VisBuild script to automate copying their directories to a CodeDump directory on the server and check it in from there before commencing with the build.

I guess the only solution is to keep those files constantly checked out, then automatically check them in, then check them out again straight away.

Thanx again,

Rob
robm@devtest.com

Keep Checked Out
 

If you want to do a "Check-in, Keep Checked out", all you have to do is provide the extra command line argument (-K) in the VSS checkin action - works for me

Cheers
Joe