Re: lone writer and Source Safe

["Sella Rush" <sellar -at- mail -dot- apptechsys -dot- com>]

I'm also a lone writer and use source safe mainly because the developers use
it.  But I only store the deliverable/finished versions of
documentation--not the winhelp project files, only the hlp,cnt files, etc.
(In my case this evolved because four years ago they were worried about
storage capacity on the server.)

The documentation files in source safe are customer-ready, basically, while
working files stay on my computer.  (This is pretty much how the developers
do it--files are updated in source safe when a new feature, etc., is
completed.)

Documentation is in SS for three reasons:

1) Versioning--I can go back an get old versions, see when a doc was
updated, etc. (a very rare occurance)

2) File access--anyone who wants to reference a document or send it to
someone can get it out of source safe and know that's the latest version and
that it's ready for prime time.

3) For online help, I share the help files into the same folder as the
program files.  This makes it easy for someone creating a deliverable CD (my
company does a lot of custom programming projects)--the files are right in
front of them, they don't have to go looking for them, they don't forget to
send them.

I use only a miniscule segment of SS functionality, and I don't have to do
any configuring--the developers take care of all that.  The most I had to
learn was how to share files in multiple folders.

A compromise like my situation could be useful, while at the same time
saving you from having to constantly check files in and out.

Sella Rush
mailto:sellar -at- apptechsys -dot- com
Applied Technical Systems (ATS)
Silverdale, Washington
Developers of the CCM Database
Demo:  www.apptechsys.com/demo