This assumes that you are working on a project that is not yet stored in the VSS repository. Always check with your system administrator before doing this to make sure that the project is not already in the VSS. If it is you need to follow the instructions further below for downloading a project from a VSS to a local copy.

1.Open the Help+Manual project you want to connect to your VSS repository. Then select Version Control > Bind Current project to VSS in the File menu.

If the current project is a single-file HMXZ project select Version Control > Convert to Uncompressed XML and bind to VSS. This will save the project as uncompressed XML (choose an empty folder) and then connect it to your VSS repository. All the next steps are the same.

2.Select your version control system from the top drop-down list. This will be Visual SourceSafe or a 100% compatible system. If no system is displayed here it means Visual SourceSafe or a compatible system is not installed or registered correctly on your computer.

If you want you can use Check Version Control System to check the link to the DLL that links you to VSS. Then click on Next.

3.The next dialog connects you directly to your VSS repository, where you can create a new project for your Help+Manual project. In addition to the current directory of your project this dialog shows the last repository you accessed and the associated user name. These will change in the next step if you link to a different repository as a different user.

Click on Open or Create a VCS Project to select the project from your repository. It's a good idea to select Store username in project to keep your username for your repository in your stored Help+Manual project.

4.Clicking on Open or Create a VCS Project will open the access dialog for your version control system. The screenshot below shows the dialog for Visual SourceSafe 2005. Your dialog may look a little different.

Clicking on OK opens the repository navigation dialog of your version control system. Follow the instructions displayed there to create a new project in your VSS repository. You may need to consult the Visual SourceSafe documentation for instructions.

5.Once you have created the new project in your VSS repository you will be returned to the Help+Manual dialog and the link data for your project will be displayed:

Then just click on OK to confirm – you will be returned to your Help+Manual project, which is now linked to your VSS repository. This is indicated by the lock icon in the project name in the Project Explorer:

You can then start editing normally. By default, all the check-in and check-out operations for your VSS system are handled automatically. See Auto & manual check-in/check-out for more information on this subject.

When multiple users are editing their linked local copies at the same time, multi-user editing is performed in almost the same way as for any other multi-user editing project. For the user, almost everything will behave in exactly the same way as any other multi-user editing project. The main difference is that the file locks for topic access are handled by the version control system, which is transparent to the user. In addition to this, you must also check out the TOC for editing when you are using manual check-out mode.  See the chapter on Multi-User Editing for instructions on working in multi-user mode.

If a project is already stored in your VSS repository you must "download" a linked copy of it from the repository and store it locally before you start working on it. This is done with the Load a VSS project and open it locally function.

1.Locate or create the empty folder in which you are going to save your project. There should not be any other files in this folder now (you can add them later).

2.Select Version Control > Load a VSS project and open it locally in the File menu. This displays the following dialog:

3.Click on in the Output File: field and select the empty folder where you want to store your local copy of the project. Then click on Next to display this dialog:

Select your version control system from the top drop-down list. If no system is displayed here it means Visual SourceSafe is not installed or registered correctly on your system.

If you want you can use Check Version Control System to check the link to the DLL that links you to the version control system. Then click on Next.

4.The next dialog connects you directly to your VSS repository. In addition to the current directory of your project this dialog shows the last repository you accessed and the associated user name. These will change in the next step if you link to a different repository as a different user. Click on Open a VCS Project to select a project from your Visual SourceSafe repository.

Click on Open a VCS Project to select a project from your Visual SourceSafe repository. It's a good idea to select Store username in project to keep the username for your repository in your Help+Manual project.

5.Clicking on Open a VCS Project will open the access dialog for your version control system. The screenshot below shows the dialog for Visual SourceSafe 2005, your dialog may look a little different.

Clicking on OK opens the repository navigation dialog of your version control system. Follow the instructions displayed there for selecting the project from your Visual SourceSafe repository. You may need to consult your Visual SourceSafe system documentation.

6.Once you have selected the project in your VSS repository you will be returned to the Help+Manual dialog and the and the link data for your project will be displayed:

Then just click on OK to confirm – the local copy of the project will be created automatically and the project will be opened in Help+Manual. The project is now linked to your VSS repository. This is indicated by the lock icon in the project name in the Project Explorer:

You can then start editing normally. By default all the check-in and check-out operations are handled automatically. See Auto & manual check-in/check-out for more information on this subject.

When you open an HMXP project that is linked to a copy in a VSS repository, Help+Manual activates the connection to the VSS repository and checks whether any changes have been made to the copy of the project in the repository since the last time you worked on it. If changes have been made they are updated in your local copy. This also includes changes made by other users who have linked the same VSS repository version to local copies of their own. You will see both your own changes and changes made in the meantime by other users.

This updating process is done in the background. Nothing is actually checked out of the VSS repository until you start editing topics. This makes it possible to lock only those topics that are actually being edited. When you edit a topic, the topic file is checked out of the VSS repository until you save your project.

When you save your work, all the changes you have made are written to your local copy and to the copy in the VSS repository. If you have activated automatic check-in and check-out, your updated topic is then checked back into the VSS repository so that other users can access it. Otherwise, the topic is not checked back in until you do this manually. If another user then accesses their linked copy it will automatically be updated with the changes that you have made.

Editing a project that is linked to a VSS repository is basically exactly the same as editing a normal project. By default your topics will be checked in and out of the VSS repository automatically by Help+Manual. See Auto & manual check-out for details on the manual options.

As soon as you start editing a topic it is automatically checked out of the VSS repository and locked for all other users. Topics that are checked out are identified with additional icons in the Project Explorer. You will see green check icons for topics that you have checked out and red check icons for topics checked out by other users.

Multi-user editing in VSS-linked project

When multiple users are all editing their linked local copies at the same time, everything works almost exactly as it does when multiple users are editing a project that is not linked to a VSS repository. See Multi-User Editing for more details. The only difference is that you also need to check out the TOC to make editing changes in it (new topic, move topic, delete topic, edit topic caption) when you are using manual check-out. See Auto & manual check-out for details on this.

When you save your project your topic files are automatically checked back into the VSS repository and unlocked for other users to access – the check icons will then be cleared from the topics in the Project Explorer. Here too, you don't have to do anything yourself.

You can only link uncompressed XML projects (.hmxp project file) to a VSS repository. If your project is stored in the compressed, single-file HMXZ format you must first convert it to uncompressed XML. There are two ways to do this:

•Use Save As... in the File menu to manually save your project to uncompressed XML, then use Bind current project to VCS (see above) to connect it to your VSS repository.

•Alternatively, you can use Version Control > Convert project to uncompressed XML and bind to VCS in the File menu to save a new copy of your project in uncompressed XML and then connect the copy to the VSS repository in one process. Apart from the first step (save to uncompressed XML) the procedure is exactly the same as for Bind current project to VCS (see above).

When you select a topic or topic file by clicking on it in the Project Explorer, the system first checks to see whether anyone else has that topic checked out of the VSS repository.

•If the topic is checked out by another user, you will get a message telling you that it is locked and read-only. You will not be able to edit the topic until the other user saves their work and switches to a different topic. Until the other users saves and checks their copy into the repository you will also only see your own older local copy.

•If the topic is "free" you will be able to edit it. The VSS repository copy of the topic is checked out while you are working and it appears as read-only to any other users who try to access it.

•When you save your project and move to another topic your changes are saved to your local copy and to the VSS repository copy. The topic file is checked back in to the VSS repository, after which other users are able to check it out and edit it.

All users working on the project are able to make changes to the Table of Contents (moving topics, creating new topics, deleting topics, editing topic captions in the TOC). If two users make conflicting changes the last one who saves their project will get a conflict resolution dialog asking them to decide if they want to keep their own changes or the changes made by the previous user.

How this works depends on whether you are using automatic or manual check-out. See Auto & manual check-out for more details on this.

Automatic mode: Always select Refresh Project before editing the  Table of Contents

If you are using automatic check-out mode you should always save your project and select Refresh Project in the Project tab to make sure that your local copy is updated with any recent changes made by other users before making changes to the Table of Contents. Then you can confidently make your own changes, after which you should always save immediately to commit your changes to the VSS repository.

Manual mode: Check out the Table of Contents before editing if you are using manual check-out

If you are using manual check-out the Table of Contents is protected against simultaneous editing by multiple users. To make any changes (new topic, delete topic, move topic, edit topic caption) you will need to check out the Table of Contents:

1.Select the Table of Contents heading in the Project Explorer.

2.Select Project > Manage Topics > File > Check out or right click on the topic in the Project Explorer and select Version Control System > Check Out in the context menu.

The Table of Contents header will be marked with a green "checked out" icon and will be locked for other users. When you have finished editing save your project and check the TOC back in again.

See the chapter on Multi-User Editing for more details on this.

The situation here is the same as for for the Table of Contents. Unlike topics, your project's configuration settings cannot be checked out and locked for exclusive editing. All users working on the project are able to make changes the settings in the Configuration section in the Project Explorer. If two users make conflicting changes the last one who saves their project will get a conflict resolution dialog asking them to decide if they want to keep their own changes or the changes made by the previous user.

Always select Refresh Project before editing project settings!

If you know that other users may be working on the same project you should always save your project and select Refresh Project in the Project tab to make sure that your local copy is updated with any recent changes made by other users. Then you can confidently make your own changes, after which you should always save immediately to commit your changes to the VSS repository.

Assign one team member to be responsible for project settings

The best approach here is to assign one member of your team to be responsible for making changes in the project configuration. If anyone needs a change they should ask this team member to make it instead of making it themselves. This will guarantee that you never have conflicts.