Changing the Team Version Control Model

We examined the team cooperation checkout models in Chapter 5. If during development you decide to change the checkout model for the database, you can do so by using the Option window in the Visual SourceSafe Administrator.

To enable the multiple checkout model, (enabling multiple users to check out a file at the same time) select the Allow multiple checkouts option. To restrict the checkouts only to the latest versions, (force a get latest operation) select the Only allow checkouts of the latest version option.

The Only allow checkouts of the latest version option is new in Visual SourceSafe 2005 and it is designed especially for disconnected scenarios as we've seen in Chapter 6. It controls the file version that will be checked out as a result of a check-out operation.

If it is enabled, only the latest database file version can be checked out. This is for compatibility with older SourceSafe versions and can lead to data loss.

If it is disabled, local file versions can be checked out also. The ability to check out local file versions is critical when reconnecting to the database after checking out files in disconnected mode because it avoids manual file merges and possible data loss.

To avoid data loss keep this option disabled.

Note

Because initialization and customization data is read by SourceSafe clients only while starting up, these options will take effect only after the logged-in users restart any opened SourceSafe client and Visual Studio.