TFS - saving copies of a help project for archiving previous releases

[Guest]

Hi,

We're currently in the process of implementing source control using TFS and RH8. So far we've successfully installed the RH plug in and associated updates which stop the server busy error. The end result is that the everyday business of open a RH project edit and saving back into TFS is working.

The next step is to solve how we handle our help releases using TFS. Previously for each release we manually saved a copy of both the source RH project (Master) and the compiled output (Build) for each release which has proved to be a useful way of doing things.

Can anyone suggest the best way of doing this when working via TFS?

Thanks

Steve

[Willam_van_Weelden]

Hi,

Don't know if it's the best way, but it works for me Your source files are already in source control. No need to safe a different copy I'd say. When your documentation is ready, check in everything and apply a label to your source files. Whenever you need the 'release version' of the files, get the version with the label. Just don't get the latest version when you open RoboHelp and be sure to remove the CPD whenever you so this.

From here, you can also generate the output from an 'old' version of your source files. So it may not be nessecary to safe an output of a certain version. If needed, you can simply get the source files and generate a new 'old' output. This is: as long as your administration in TFS is correct. You can also get the source files of a certain date, but that involves more thinking This did safe me from a few RH crashes though

As for the output files, why not let the developers take care of that? (Unless you need some tweaking of the output.) Give the build machine a RH install and let them get the latest version and create the output themselves. By using the command line, you can complete automate the process.

Out of curiosity, what 'associated updates' are you referring to?

Greet,

Willam

[Guest]

Thanks William,

Regarding "associated updates"

The process we followed is covered in the following links:

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/226305?tstart=1

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/508/cpsid_50857.html

http://www.leinius.de/blog/category/Team-Foundation-Server.aspx

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/tfsversioncontrol/thread/6e020f2c-9356-40b0-9baf-16dd7...

So your saying you could use labelled versions to store the various releases of the help. I'll certainly have a look at that. What we're trying to achieve here is to first match and then exceed the benefits of doing all this manually. It's also worth noting that the TA team is basically me and one contractor and likely to remain so. Having said that I like most of what I've seen in TFS epecially commenting changes and then being able to list changes..