In my current gig I am a solo writer supporting an Agile environment. With the impending release of a major online service we will be bringing three more writers onboard very quickly. So my current installation for Flare 8 using Tortoise SVN on my local computer will very soon be completely inadequate. Our developers use Visual Studio and TFS, so that seemed like a good option, but alas getting the proper permissions established has been a nightmare thus far. (remember, agile... very busy... contractors = not important)
When I read about Microsoft releasing Visual Studio online as a "free" service for up to 5 team members, I thought this would be a perfect solution. In case you're thinking the same thing and haven't read up on the idea here in the forum, it works... sorta. What works is that I have configured a team project using Visual Studio Online anmd I will be able to add my new coworkers once they start. We will use TFS for source control, but the source control functions will be handled through TFS and outside of Flare. I will continue to tinker with authentication methods since this is where it fails to bind to source control in Flare. If you are interested in pursuing this as an option for a small team or solo use, currently at no cost, then here are the steps that have gotten me to this point:
- Download and install Team Explorer for Visual Studio. I am using the 2010 version, but the 2012 version is available to download at http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng#downloads. You can search Microsoft.com for the 2010 version if you prefer.
- Install all updates. This means Service Pack 1 if you use the 2010 version and http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2662296.
- The Visual Studio site uses Windows Live ID to login, and rather than entangling it with my personal Live ID I created a new ID based on my work email. This is a matter of personal preference, but if you opt for a new ID it is smoother to register for the ID before you create your Visual Studio account.
- Create your free account at VisualStudio.com. Make note of the URL that is created for the project as this is what you will use for the server name in Team Explorer.
- Create a working folder on your local drive to contain the local mapped working files (I used C:\Work)
- Start Visual Studio. Team Explorer is really just the Visual Studio shell and doesn't do muich of anything on its own. Once it is connected to a TFS server it gives you access to all of the features of TFS and is our local home for source control under this strategy
- Follow the steps to add a server connection (may be slightly different between versions, but basically just providing the URL you created when you opened your online account). Use the HTTPS protocol to connect. I found that the full format for the address worked best (projectname.visualstudio.com/tfs/DefaultCollection)
- Copy your Flare project files in their current working folders into the new working folder you created in the first step. Yes, I will admit to a healthy amount of paranoia when working with files: I copy them in just in case they are lost in some bizarre bi-universal subspace rift, or in case I fat-finger something. In any case, copying means you still have your original source files untouched if this doesn't work out or if you decide that TFS isn't for you.
- In Team Explorer (the right-hand pane in TFS) expand your project and then double click Source Control. This opens the Source Control Explorer.
- In Source Control Explorer, under the Folders pane, right click the project name and then click Add Items to Folder. Browse for your new work folder (where you just copied all of your precious Flare projects) and add all of the folders.
- In the central workspace (central pane) control-click each folder that you just added to highlight them. Right click and then click Check In Pending Changes. Add some comment to describe the initial checkin and click OK.
I hope this helps.
Todd