Using git with Flare for first time - best practices?

[sdcinvan]

Hello all,

I finally had time to configure MadCap Flare to our git system but I am haven't a lot of trouble with appreciating this new way for source control.

For instance...
Product stability?
When I configured bind for my first project, MadCap Flare crashed about 1/2 way into the process with an ambiguous "System.NullReferenceException" - "Object reference not set to an instance of an object"
I sent a report but, like all the others, I am not convinced sending reports does anything.

Hopefully that was an anomaly.

Workflow
Now, when I open a bound project, I am asked if I want to pull from the repository. Is there any way to turn this off? Since I am the only Flare user, there will almost never be an instance where I will pull from the repo.

Besides the Flare/git user guide, can anyone offer any best practices for using Flare with git or source code in general as it relates to Flare?

Thank you,
Shawn

[Robotman]

Hi Shawn,

You can switch off the message about getting the latest in the repository by opening a source control bound project then accessing the File menu > Options > Source Control tab. Tick the checkbox for "Do not prompt to get latest when opening source control bound projects"

Note: I am assuming this is the same for GIT as it is for SVN (which is what we use).

[Techno]

I'm no expert with git, but I am pretty much like you in terms of use being "almost" the sole user.

The primary purpose of git, even as a sole user, is to provide you with a backup. Each time you commit and push, you create a Restore Point.

I often do skip the "Pull" if I am 110% sure that no one else has made changes.

[sdcinvan]

Hi Shawn,

You can switch off the message about getting the latest in the repository by opening a source control bound project then accessing the File menu > Options > Source Control tab. Tick the checkbox for "Do not prompt to get latest when opening source control bound projects"

Note: I am assuming this is the same for GIT as it is for SVN (which is what we use).

Thank you. That did it.

[ghillerson]

It sounds like you're doing fine with Flare/Git, and perhaps Flare 2017 has resolved the issues that many of us were having with Git integration in previous versions.

However, if you run into more issues, you can consider using an external Git interface. I'm using SourceTree, which is free, easy to understand, and straightforward to use.

Flare/Git sort of worked for me, but every so often I would get completely screwed. Especially when setting up a new repo for a project or trying to connect a project to an existing repo (never could get that to work). That was with Flare 12, but I see no reason to give the Git integration in Flare a try; SourceTree is more flexible, easier to understand, and 100% reliable.

When using as a backup, I simply stage/push/commit changes at the end of the workday. When I want to work on the same project on a different computer, I pull on that computer. This was unreliable with Flare 12.