Visual SourceSafe comes bundled with Visual Studio for free, so it is one of the most popular source code control programs for Visual Studio developers. However, it will leave cruft in your source tree that you might want to get rid of if you send your code elsewhere.
In order to do its job, SourceSafe adds some XML elements to the Visual Studio solution and project files and adds some source control files to each project directory. These changes are transparent when using SourceSafe, but cause problems when sharing the solution with someone who does not use SourceSafe or someone who does not have access to your SourceSafe database. It could also cause problems if you are attempting to change your source code control provider from SourceSafe to something else, like CVS or Subversion.
You must change two things to remove all SourceSafe bindings. The solution file and all project files must have any source control information removed, and any files ending in .scc must be deleted. To do this, the Visual Studio solution and project files must not be in use, so close down the Visual Studio IDE.
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Visual Studio solution files are simple text files ending in .sln. Right-click on a solution file, select the Open With... option, then choose Notepad to open the file for modification. Examining the solution file for a sample Visual Studio application called SourceSafeBindingRemover yields this code:
Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 8.00
Project("{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}") =
"SourceSafeBindingRemover",
"SourceSafeBindingRemover\SourceSafeBindingRemover.csproj",
"{C7687560-4B36-47E3-AF33-748E76411259}"
ProjectSection(ProjectDependencies) = postProject
EndProjectSection
EndProject
Global
GlobalSection(SourceCodeControl) = preSolution
SccNumberOfProjects = 2
SccLocalPath0 = .
CanCheckoutShared = false
SolutionUniqueID = {634C866F-3CEB-43A1-9C7F-D34A03F0A044}
SccProjectUniqueName1 =
SourceSafeBindingRemover\\SourceSafeBindingRemover.csproj
SccLocalPath1 = .
CanCheckoutShared = false
SccProjectFilePathRelativizedFromConnection1 =
SourceSafeBindingRemover\EndGlobalSection
GlobalSection(SolutionConfiguration) = preSolution
Debug = Debug
Release = Release
EndGlobalSection
GlobalSection(ProjectConfiguration) = postSolution
{C7687560-4B36-47E3-AF33-748E76411259}.Debug.ActiveCfg
= Debug|.NET
{C7687560-4B36-47E3-AF33-748E76411259}.Debug.Build.0
= Debug|.NET
{C7687560-4B36-47E3-AF33-748E76411259}.Release.ActiveCfg
= Release|.NET
{C7687560-4B36-47E3-AF33-748E76411259}.Release.Build.0
= Release|.NET
EndGlobalSection
GlobalSection(ExtensibilityGlobals) = postSolution
EndGlobalSection
GlobalSection(ExtensibilityAddIns) = postSolution
EndGlobalSection
EndGlobalThe first line is the solution file version declaration. The first element is the Project section that begins on the second line and continues to the EndProject line. The second element is the Global section. The Global section contains things such as the active solution configuration and source control, and inside it are individual GlobalSections that contain the various settings. The GlobalSection(SourceCodeControl) contains the SourceSafe bindings. To remove the SourceSafe bindings from the solution file, remove the entire section from the line with GlobalSection(SourceCodeControl) until the first EndGlobalSection. Save the solution file before closing Notepad.
Each project file needs to be modified in a similar manner, but the project files are easier to modify. Using Notepad to look at a sample project file shows this format:
<VisualStudioProject>
<CSHARP
ProjectType = "Local"
ProductVersion = "7.10.3077"
SchemaVersion = "2.0"
ProjectGuid = "{C7687560-4B36-47E3-AF33-748E76411259}"
SccProjectName = "SAK"
SccLocalPath = "SAK"
SccAuxPath = "SAK"
SccProvider = "SAK"
>
<Build>
<Settings
ApplicationIcon = "App.ico"
AssemblyKeyContainerName = "
AssemblyName = "SourceSafeBindingRemover"
AssemblyOriginatorKeyFile = "
DefaultClientScript = "JScript"
DefaultHTMLPageLayout = "Grid"
DefaultTargetSchema = "IE50"
DelaySign = "false"
OutputType = "WinExe"
PreBuildEvent = "
PostBuildEvent = "
RootNamespace = "SourceSafeBindingRemover"
RunPostBuildEvent = "OnBuildSuccess"
StartupObject = "
>
<Config
Name = "Debug"
AllowUnsafeBlocks = "false"
BaseAddress = "285212672"
CheckForOverflowUnderflow = "false"
ConfigurationOverrideFile = "
DefineConstants = "DEBUG;TRACE"
DocumentationFile = "
DebugSymbols = "true"
FileAlignment = "4096"
IncrementalBuild = "false"
NoStdLib = "false"
NoWarn = "
Optimize = "false"
OutputPath = "bin\Debug\"
RegisterForComInterop = "false"
RemoveIntegerChecks = "false"
TreatWarningsAsErrors = "false"
WarningLevel = "4"
/>
... sections deleted
</CSHARP>
</VisualStudioProject>The lines that need to be deleted are all within the <CSHARP> XML tag. If it is a VB project, the tag will be VisualBasic instead. Delete all lines that begin with SCC within the opening CSHARP or VisualBasic XML tag. In the preceding sample file, the four lines starting with SccProjectName, SccLocalPath, SccAuxPath, and SccProvider would all need to be deleted. Save the file and close Notepad. You will need to do this for each project file in your application.
With Visual Studio 2005, the project file is a completely different format (it is now based on MSBuild), but the data you will need to delete is very similar. Here is the relevant section of the project file:
<PropertyGroup>
<Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' = = '' ">Debug</Configuration>
<Platform Condition=" '$(Platform)' = = '' ">AnyCPU</Platform>
<ProductVersion>8.0.40903</ProductVersion>
<SchemaVersion>2.0</SchemaVersion>
<ProjectGuid>{951EBC65-CA21-4C24-B501-DFF2A03A03F1}</ProjectGuid>
<OutputType>Library</OutputType>
<StartupObject>
</StartupObject>
<AssemblyName>SourceSafeBindingRemover</AssemblyName>
<RootNamespace>SourceSafeBindingRemover</RootNamespace>
<SccProjectName>SAK</SccProjectName>
<SccLocalPath>SAK</SccLocalPath>
<SccAuxPath>SAK</SccAuxPath>
<SccProvider>SAK</SccProvider>
</PropertyGroup>In this example, the elements named SccProjectName, SccLocalPath, SccAuxPath, and SccProvider would all need to be deleted.
The last thing to do is remove all the files that SourceSafe creates with the .scc extension. Every directory will contain a file called vssver.scc. Folders with project files will have an associated mssccprj.scc file. There are also files ending with <Project Name>.csproj.vspscc (vbproj if it is a Visual Basic Project) or <Solution Name>.etp.vspscc. All of these files should be deleted, and with that, your application will have all the SourceSafe bindings removed.
I have written a simple Windows application that automates the removal of SourceSafe bindings using the previous steps. You can download the latest version from http://workspaces.gotdotnet.com/SourceSafeBindingRemover.
You can see this application in Figure 1-16.
Using it is simple. Select the solution root folder using the Choose Folder button and click the Remove SourceSafe Bindings button. If the Remove Bindings? checkbox is unchecked, then the window will show you a preview of all the files that will be deleted. This will help you make sure that none of your source code files are accidentally included in the delete list. If the checkbox is checked, clicking the Remove SourceSafe Bindings button will remove all SourceSafe bindings from the selected root folder and any subfolder, recursively.
Currently this tool works only for Visual Studio .NET 2002 and Visual Studio .NET 2003.
Darrell Norton