Flare stops responding when source control unavailable

[KevinDAmery]

Am I the only one who finds it really, really annoying that Flare stops responding if the source control server is unavailable? I mean, I have everything checked out on my local drive, so it shouldn't need to go get anything. I can understand wanting to make sure the source control system is still there, but why the heck would you make Flare so that the entire app is busy until it gets a response? That should be happening in a background thread, folks....

[RamonS]

...and would not have been an issue if source control would have been implemented the way I proposed it. In that cause you'd get an error message when you try to access the source control system and it isn't available. Regardless of that, I wonder why the source control gets accessed when there is no command issued?

[KevinDAmery]

"Hey, source control--you still there? Oh, good, wouldn't want to think I'm alone out here."

"Hey, source control--still there? Still there? Oh, gee, it's getting lonely out here. Still there? Still...."

[SteveS]

'Sfunny. Don't have that problem with TFS. Just get a message that Flare can't connect to Benji (our TFS server).

You could try having a backup copy of your project file with the source control connection text removed. (I'd back up the whole shooting match before trying it though). Check everything out of source and then change the project file you're using by renaming.

Not the best, but if everything stops working and you're on a deadline might save the day.

[doc_guy]

I also don't have a problem with SVN and the PushOK plugin. I do get the message that source control couldn't be contacted, but I could click on an "work offline" button.

[Phil]

A previous writer, who has since left our company, set up a source control system via the PushOK plugin to our SVN repository. I can't get it to work; and anyway, I prefer to use Tortoise and manually check in the changes. Please can someone tell me how I redirect the Flare project away from the plugin? (in the .flprj file: SourceControlProviderType="PushOk SVNSCC")

Thanks!
Phil

[KevinDAmery]

I would unbind the project from source control. There's a help topic about it in Flare, called "Unbinding a Project from Source Control."

[KevinDAmery]

My network guys came to me today asking why my system was generating so much network traffic with our development server. Turns out its Flare talking to VSS and sending out an unbelievable number of packets (44 million from me to the server, and another 41 million back). I'm now unbinding my projects from VSS in Flare and checking things in and out manually instead. We're going to see if that has any effect on the stability problems we've had with our development server--my suspicion is it will, since the problems started soon after I started using VSS.

[doc_guy]

For many things I use Tortoise SVN because it is easier, but I'll tell you one place where I'm glad I have Flare bound to SVN through PushOK's plugin: When I need to rename or move files that are linked together in the project.

Unbound projects
When you have an unbound project (not connected to source control) and you need to rename a file, or restructure your project, you're in serious trouble. If you make the change in Tortoise SVN, then all your links, cross references, etc. break. Kaput. However, if you make the change in Flare, then you totally screw up SVN because you aren't doing proper file management (which causes you to lose reversion history, etc.)

Basically, this is a major, major pain. When I start a project, I often don't know the total scope of what I'm going to be trying to accomplish, or how I'm going to want my project organized, and when you get several hundred topic files in a project, it's not really manageable to have them all in the same folder; a directory tree makes much more sense. So even though my tree doesn't match my TOC, at least my topic files are organized. But if I have to make these changes, I'm hating life.

Bound Projects
When my project is bound to source control, I can move the files around in the Content Explorer in Flare. Flare moves the files in SVN, restructures the files in SVN, maintains links between files in Flare, and basically everything just works.

Summary
While Tortoise SVN is great for most of my repository needs, I find the PushOK plugin absolutely indispensable when I'm restructuring my project or renaming topic files.

[KevinDAmery]

Oh I agree, it would be better to have source control through Flare working--but if it's killing our dev server, guess what?

[doc_guy]

Oh absolutely. I wasn't countering your particular post on you unbinding, but I was meaning to give a general response to the discussion a little further up about just using Tortoise SVN instead of binding through PushOK's plugin.

[KevinDAmery]

Gotcha.

[Phil]

I would unbind the project from source control. There's a help topic about it in Flare, called "Unbinding a Project from Source Control."

Thanks Kevin! It's easy when you know how.

[daphna]

We found source control to prone to problems like this and never bound our projects to Perforce from Flare. Even though projects are not bound, Flare knows when files are not checked out (via a padlock icon), which is very useful.

[AlanFisk]

When my project is bound to source control, I can move the files around in the Content Explorer in Flare.

How do you pull off that trick? I've been asking for six months whether there is any way of organising topics in Content Explorer, and everyone assures me that there isn't, and that the only way to move your topics around is in the TOC.

[KevinDAmery]

When my project is bound to source control, I can move the files around in the Content Explorer in Flare.

How do you pull off that trick? I've been asking for six months whether there is any way of organising topics in Content Explorer, and everyone assures me that there isn't, and that the only way to move your topics around is in the TOC.

Those are two distinct processes.

- Moving files in the Content Explorer controls where the file is on disk. It has nothing to do with how users can locate that content in the completed help system.

- Moving items in the TOC controls where the topic appears in the TOC (i.e. book level, sequence, etc.). It has nothing to do with where the files are on disk.

What Paul (aka Doc Guy) is talking about here is how to move a file on disk so that a source control system (like Visual Source Safe) doesn't get confused about where the file is.

[LTinker68]

I've been asking for six months whether there is any way of organising topics in Content Explorer, and everyone assures me that there isn't, and that the only way to move your topics around is in the TOC.

There's not a way to arbitrarily move files around in the Content Explorer and have them stay in that order instead of being listed alphabetically. I organize my files in folders whose names roughly match the books in my TOC.

[QBF]

There's not a way to arbitrarily move files around in the Content Explorer and have them stay in that order instead of being listed alphabetically.

Actually, using Flare with Subversion can display the files in Content Explorer in non-alphabetically order. The group I work in all have this behavior. The behavior was confirmed by Madcap Support as a conflict that can occur with the Subversion/Flare combo. It's not as bad as it could be as I setup the Flare structure with good housekeeping in mind. However, working in our image folders is a nightmare as image folders are not subdivided.

[AlanFisk]

When I try to close the project, I get the message "You have pending changes in the project that have not been committed to source control.". Flare won't let me check it back in via Flare, and checking it in via SourceSafe still doesn't remove the message or the highlighted changes. What's more, "Show differences" tells me that the files are identical! Thank heavens for Windows Task Manager and its "End Process" button.