Single Developer Environment

A 'single developer environment' is an environment where one developer is the only developer working on any single workspace. Our recommendations for single developers using Visual DataFlex are as follows:

• For maximum speed and efficiency, work on a local workstation hard drive.
• Back up your source code frequently.
• Ideally, use source code management (SCM) software and back up the data store frequently. See Using Source Code Management software (SCM) for more details.

Multi Developer Environment

A 'multi developer environment' is an environment where several developers work on any single workspace, meaning that these developers open files in the same workspace concurrently. Our recommendations for multiple developers working on joint Visual DataFlex projects are as follows:

• For maximum speed and efficiency, work on a local workstation hard drive.
• Work on a local copy of the workspace's source code.
• Use source code management (SCM) software. See Using Source Code Management software (SCM) for more details.
• Back up the SCM data store frequently.

These recommendations are consistent with the expected development strategies utilized by most modern development systems. Modern source code management systems are designed to work optimally with this type of environment.

Sharing a Visual DataFlex workspace over a network

Attempting to work with multiple developers on a shared network workspace at the same time is risky and error-prone.

There are many problems with sharing workspaces over a network:

• Developers risk overwriting each others changes and worse, there is no way to know if or when this has happened. The result can be a situation where source code is lost without anyone realizing it or the ability to properly recover or reconstruct the lost code.
• ClassList.xml and DDClassList.xml are shared and could be compromised.
• Multiple developers cannot compile at the same time.

For integrity reasons, the Studio will not normally allow you to share workspaces over a network. If you are currently doing this, we strongly encourage you to reevaluate this strategy. As an interim workaround, there is a way you share a workspace. The one directory in a workspace that cannot be shared is the IdeSrc directory. If an environment is configured where each developer has their own IdeSrc directory for a workspace, the workspace can be shared. This could be accomplished through the use of multiple .sws and .ws files or through alternate drive mappings. Although this allows multiple user access to the same workspace, it solves none of the problems listed above. This strategy is not recommended.

Using Source Code Management software (SCM)

SCM, also known as revision control, source control or version control, has many advantages for all programmers, ranging from solo developers to huge development teams:

• It allows developers to store multiple copies of the same source file and revert to an earlier version at any time.
• It allows developers to compare any stored copy of a source file to the current version of the file or to any other stored version.
• It allows multiple developers to work on the same project at the same time by providing methods for "handling conflicts". Conflicts are changes made to the same file by multiple developers. SCM software has various methods of handling such conflicts. See the links below or the documentation for your SCM software for details.
• It allows developers to add comments to source code checked into the data store, thus creating a was to document changes to a project.
• It allows labeling of an entire project as a particular "revision", thus allowing developers to revert back to a particular revision of an entire project.

Managing Visual DataFlex Projects using SCM

Typically, an entire workspace structure would be checked into an SCM system as a project. Special consideration may be given to the following:

• The IdeSrc folder in a workspace does not contain source code. It contains information about the state of the Studio for the developer (e.g. open files, find in files history) and meta-data that the Studio uses while working on a workspace. Developers may choose to check in this folder to be able to return to the Studio in the last state worked in after checking out a project at a later date.
• The Data folder may not actually contain the database used by the workspace during development, or it may contain data files that cannot be checked into an SCM system due to being in a shared state (e.g. a local client/server data store).
• The Help folder typically does not contain source code, only compiled help files.
• The Programs folder typically contains only one file that should be checked into source control: the .ws file (or multiple .ws files) for the workspace.

Reliable SCM software is available from many sources, including free versions; some vendors (e.g. SourceGear) even allow free use of retail products for single developers.