Visual Studio Hacks [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Hack 58. Move Quickly Between Source Control Providers

Using multiple version control systems is
normally a tedious operation. Here's a free utility
that makes it a snap.

Visual Studio provides a model for
source control vendors to write source control providers that plug
into Visual Studio. A third-party source control, or even
Microsoft's
GotDotNet Workspaces source
control, can work just like using SourceSafe from Visual Studio. This
is a great thing when you switch between various source control
providers, since the functionality and UI are consistent across all
tools when used through Visual Studio.

One problem though: it is not the easiest thing to switch between
source control providers. There is no quick switch in the IDE to
choose what source control provider you want to use, but thankfully
Harry Pierson (better known as DevHawk) has written an easy-to-use
utility called SccSwitch that will allow you to do just
that.

To use this utility, you first need to download the tool from
http://devhawk.NET/art_sccswitch.aspx. The
source and executable are both included in the zip file. After
extracting the executable and running it, you will see a screen like
the one shown in Figure 6-21.

Figure 6-21. SccSwitch

To switch source control providers, simply check the box of the
provider you want to use and then click the Update button. This will
switch what provider you use, and the next time you start Visual
Studio you should notice the change.

If you would rather not download a utility, you can also make these
changes right in the
registry. The key
you will need to modify is
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SourceCodeControlProvider.
The value of this key is a string that identifies what source control
provider is the active provider. The possible values for this key are
stored in a subkey called InstalledSCCProviders.
Any of the data values from this key can be substituted for the
current provider in the SourceCodeControlProvider
key. Making these changes in the registry is easy, but using the
utility is even easier.

As a consultant, I find this tool especially valuable, since going
from project to project you never know what source control you will
be using. (Plenty of times I use multiple source code providers on
the same day.) This tool is especially helpful if you get involved
with projects on GotDotNet.