Version control with SVN - Many projects checked out together - No version control available

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Frodo Mueseler
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Joined: Mon May 07, 2018 7:04 am

Version control with SVN - Many projects checked out together - No version control available

Unread post by Frodo Mueseler »

If I understood the description correctly, one should check out each project individually. If I do that, then I also get the button in the ribbon for version control.

However, if I open a project from my current workspace, this button is missing. We have checked out a folder that contains a lot of projects.
Is it possible to enable version control in this case as well? Unfortunately, I have not found a way.

We do not have the possibility to check out each project individually. Many projects are included and many are linked together. The file structure must remain the same. So it is hard to explain how users have to check out which projects to which places.

Thanks for the help.
With kind regards
Frodo Mueseler
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon May 07, 2018 7:04 am

Re: Version control with SVN - Many projects checked out together - No version control available

Unread post by Frodo Mueseler »

Actually, we only need the following SVN functions in the team: adding and deleting topics.
Everything else is not really used. The rest we do via Windows Explorer. Mostly not only one project is edited, but several. Pictures are also added, etc.
Then we upload that together.
The update runs also in such a way. All projects are updated once and not individually.

However, if the automatic adding and removing of Topics is not present, then this is a high source of error. Many forget to add these topics, because they are not selected during the checkin.
So important topics are missing in the documentation.

So it would be enough for us if the adding and removing is communicated with SVN.
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Tim Green
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Re: Version control with SVN - Many projects checked out together - No version control available

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Frodo,

If you're managing multiple projects in a single repository (which is not a good idea) you will have to manage your SVN manually. The Help+Manual setup is for single projects and will only activate if the project contains its own .svn folder. If that is the case, then any new topics, images and other assets in the project folder will be added when you synchronize.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Frodo Mueseler
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon May 07, 2018 7:04 am

Re: Version control with SVN - Many projects checked out together - No version control available

Unread post by Frodo Mueseler »

Hm... Unfortunately I don't know how to implement this. We have more than 500 hmxp projects per language.
Each product has its own project. Technical data that is the same is then included from other related products.
So many projects are included in many others.
I don't know how to manage each project separately with SVN.
Especially since then every employee has to make sure that the projects are arranged in the same relation to each other.
A big problem is when a project is merged. Or renamed. Then I have to set up the new structure for each employee.
Currently I can change something in many places and say: Update please. And everyone has everything as it should be.
I don't know how I can organize this in a small way.
But OK, I have to clarify this in our team if we can work without SVN support for now. Then we need to adjust work processes to the manual adding/removing.
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Alexander Halser
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Re: Version control with SVN - Many projects checked out together - No version control available

Unread post by Alexander Halser »

We are working on this.

It currently does not work, because H&M looks for the hidden ".svn" folder in the project folder [only]. If that isn't present, it considers the project to be not under SVN control.

The solution will most probably be to introduce a setting how many levels of parent folders to check for a hidden ".svn" directory, to flag "true" for SVN version control. We don't want to go all the way up to the root folder. Not only does it take time when opening a project (every project), we do a superficial check for the folder only, not for its content. So, H&M could be misled by any folder called ".svn" in the directory structure.

And we will most probably implement this for the Custom Version Control only. This is a special case, where you need to know the configuration of your version control tool and should know what the script does. The GIT script, for example, does not just execute GIT, it also verifies the existence of a ".gitignore" file in the help project folder and creates it with defaults, if there is none. This automatism could silently overrule an existing GIT configuration in one of the parent folders.

You can start off by activating Custom Version Control: make a copy of the SVN script and reference it as the command file in the VCS configuration dialog of Help+Manual. It will still not work, because H&M checks for a custom hidden directory in the project folder (only). When we implement a check of the parent structure, it will come to life.
Alexander Halser
Senior Software Architect, EC Software GmbH
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