Microsoft Visual SourceSafe Tasks User Manual

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Contents


Introduction

These tasks provide an interface to the Microsoft Visual SourceSafe SCM. The org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.optional.vss package consists of a simple framework to support vss functionality as well as some Apache Ant tasks encapsulating frequently used vss commands. Although it is possible to use these commands on the desktop, they were primarily intended to be used by automated build systems.

If you get a CreateProcesss IOError=2 when running these, it means that ss.exe was not found. Check to see if you can run it from the command line -you may need to alter your path, or set the ssdir property.

The Tasks

vssget Retrieves a copy of the specified VSS file(s).
vsslabel Assigns a label to the specified version or current version of a file or project.
vsshistory Shows the history of a file or project in VSS.
vsscheckin Updates VSS with changes made to a checked out file, and unlocks the VSS master copy.
vsscheckout Copies a file from the current project to the current folder, for the purpose of editing.
vssadd Adds a new file into the VSS Archive
vsscp Change the current project being used in VSS
vsscreate Creates a project in VSS.

Task Descriptions

VssGet

Description

Task to perform GET commands to Microsoft Visual SourceSafe.

If you specify two or more attributes from version, date and label only one will be used in the order version, date, label.

Parameters

Attribute Values Required
vsspath SourceSafe path which specifies the project/file(s) you wish to perform the action on. Yes
login username[,password] - The username and password needed to get access to VSS. Note that you may need to specify both (if you have a password) - Ant/VSS will hang if you leave the password out and VSS does not accept login without a password. No
localpath Override the working directory and get to the specified path No
ssdir directory where ss.exe resides. By default the task expects it to be in the PATH. No
serverPath directory where srcsafe.ini resides. No
writable true or false; default false No
recursive true or false; default false. Note however that in the SourceSafe UI , there is a setting accessed via Tools/Options/GeneralTab called "Act on projects recursively". If this setting is checked, then the recursive attribute is effectively ignored, and the get will always be done recursively No
version a version number to get No, only one of these allowed
date a date stamp to get at
label a label to get for
quiet suppress output (off by default) No
autoresponse What to respond with (sets the -I option). By default, -I- is used; values of Y or N will be appended to this. No
writablefiles Behavior when local files are writable. Valid options are: replace, skip and fail; Defaults to fail
skip implies failonerror=false		 No
failonerror Stop the buildprocess if ss.exe exits with a returncode of 100. Defaults to true No
filetimestamp Set the behavior for timestamps of local files. Valid options are current, modified, or updated. Defaults to current. No

Note that only one of version, date or label should be specified

Examples

<vssget localPath="C:\mysrc\myproject"
        recursive="true"
        label="Release1"
        login="me,mypassword"
        vsspath="$/source/aProject"
        writable="true"/>

Does a get on the VSS-Project $/source/myproject using the username me and the password mypassword. It will recursively get the files which are labeled Release1 and write them to the local directory C:\mysrc\myproject. The local files will be writable.

VssLabel

Description

Task to perform LABEL commands to Microsoft Visual SourceSafe.

Assigns a label to the specified version or current version of a file or project.

Parameters

Attribute Values Required
vsspath SourceSafe path which specifies the project/file(s) you wish to perform the action on. Yes
login username[,password] - The username and password needed to get access to VSS. Note that you may need to specify both (if you have a password) - Ant/VSS will hang if you leave the password out and VSS does not accept login without a password. No
ssdir directory where ss.exe resides. By default the task expects it to be in the PATH. No
serverPath directory where srcsafe.ini resides. No
label A label to apply to the hierarchy Yes
version An existing file or project version to label. By default the current version is labeled. No
comment The comment to use for this label. Empty or '-' for no comment. No
autoresponse What to respond with (sets the -I option). By default, -I- is used; values of Y or N will be appended to this. No
failonerror Stop the buildprocess if ss.exe exits with a returncode of 100. Defaults to true No

Examples

<vsslabel vsspath="$/source/aProject"
          login="me,mypassword"
          label="Release1"/>

Labels the current version of the VSS project $/source/aProject with the label Release1 using the username me and the password mypassword. 

<vsslabel vsspath="$/source/aProject/myfile.txt"
          version="4"
          label="1.03.004"/>

Labels version 4 of the VSS file $/source/aProject/myfile.txt with the label 1.03.004. If this version already has a label, the operation (and the build) will fail.

VssHistory

Description

Task to perform HISTORY commands to Microsoft Visual SourceSafe.

Parameters

Attribute Values Required
vsspath SourceSafe path which specifies the project/file(s) you wish to perform the action on. Yes
login username[,password] - The username and password needed to get access to VSS. Note that you may need to specify both (if you have a password) - Ant/VSS will hang if you leave the password out and VSS does not accept login without a password. No
ssdir directory where ss.exe resides. By default the task expects it to be in the PATH. No
serverPath directory where srcsafe.ini resides. No
fromDate Start date for comparison See below
toDate End date for comparison See below
dateFormat Format of dates in fromDate and toDate. Used when calculating dates with the numdays attribute. This string uses the formatting rules of SimpleDateFormat. Defaults to DateFormat.SHORT. No
fromLabel Start label for comparison No
toLabel Start label for comparison No
numdays The number of days for comparison. See below
output File to write the diff. No
recursive true or false No
style brief, codediff, default or nofile. The default is default. No
user Name the user whose changes we would like to see No
failonerror Stop the buildprocess if ss.exe exits with a returncode of 100. Defaults to true No

Specifying the time-frame

There are different ways to specify what time-frame you wish to evaluate:

Examples

<vsshistory vsspath="$/myProject" recursive="true"
            fromLabel="Release1"
            toLabel="Release2"/>

Shows all changes between "Release1" and "Release2".

<vsshistory vsspath="$/myProject" recursive="true"
            fromDate="01.01.2001"
            toDate="31.03.2001"/>

Shows all changes between January 1st 2001 and March 31st 2001 (in Germany, date must be specified according to your locale).

<tstamp>
  <format property="to.tstamp" pattern="M-d-yy;h:mma"/>
</tstamp>

<vsshistory vsspath="$/myProject" recursive="true"
            numDays="-14"
            dateFormat="M-d-yy;h:mma"
            toDate="${to.tstamp}"/>

Shows all changes in the 14 days before today.

VssCheckin

Description

Task to perform CHECKIN commands to Microsoft Visual SourceSafe.

Parameters

Attribute Values Required
vsspath SourceSafe path which specifies the project/file(s) you wish to perform the action on. Yes
login username[,password] - The username and password needed to get access to VSS. Note that you may need to specify both (if you have a password) - Ant/VSS will hang if you leave the password out and VSS does not accept login without a password. No
localpath Override the working directory and get to the specified path No
ssdir directory where ss.exe resides. By default the task expects it to be in the PATH. No
serverPath directory where srcsafe.ini resides. No
writable true or false No
recursive true or false No
comment Comment to use for the files that where checked in. No
autoresponse 'Y', 'N' or empty. Specify how to reply to questions from VSS. No
failonerror Stop the buildprocess if ss.exe exits with a returncode of 100. Defaults to true No

Examples

<vsscheckin vsspath="$/test/test*"
            localpath="D:\build\"
            comment="Modified by automatic build"/>

Checks in the file(s) named test* in the project $/test using the local directory D:\build.

VssCheckout

Description

Task to perform CHECKOUT commands to Microsoft Visual SourceSafe.

If you specify two or more attributes from version, date and label only one will be used in the order version, date, label.

Parameters

Attribute Values Required
vsspath SourceSafe path which specifies the project/file(s) you wish to perform the action on. Yes
login username[,password] - The username and password needed to get access to VSS. Note that you may need to specify both (if you have a password) - Ant/VSS will hang if you leave the password out and VSS does not accept login without a password. No
localpath Override the working directory and get to the specified path No
ssdir directory where ss.exe resides. By default the task expects it to be in the PATH. No
serverPath directory where srcsafe.ini resides. No
writable true or false No
recursive true or false No
version a version number to get No, only one of these allowed
date a date stamp to get at
label a label to get for
writablefiles Behavior when local files are writable. Valid options are: replace, skip and fail; Defaults to fail
skip implies failonerror=false		 No
failonerror Stop the buildprocess if ss.exe exits with a returncode of 100. Defaults to true No
filetimestamp Set the behavior for timestamps of local files. Valid options are current, modified, or updated. Defaults to current. No
getlocalcopy Set the behavior to retrieve local copies of the files. Defaults to true. No

Examples

<vsscheckout vsspath="$/test"
             localpath="D:\build"
             recursive="true"
             login="me,mypass"/>

Does a recursive checkout of the project $/test to the directory D:\build.

VssAdd

Description

Task to perform ADD commands to Microsoft Visual SourceSafe.

Parameters

Attribute Values Required
localpath Specify the local file(s) to add to VSS Yes
login username[,password] - The username and password needed to get access to VSS. Note that you may need to specify both (if you have a password) - Ant/VSS will hang if you leave the password out and VSS does not accept login without a password. No
ssdir directory where ss.exe resides. By default the task expects it to be in the PATH. No
serverPath directory where srcsafe.ini resides. No
writable true or false No
recursive true or false No
comment Comment to use for the files that where checked in. No
autoresponse 'Y', 'N' or empty. Specify how to reply to questions from VSS. No
failonerror Stop the buildprocess if ss.exe exits with a returncode of 100. Defaults to true No

Examples

<vssadd localpath="D:\build\build.00012.zip"
            comment="Added by automatic build"/>

Add the file named build.00012.zip into the project current working directory (see vsscp).

VssCp

Description

Task to perform CP (Change Project) commands to Microsoft Visual SourceSafe.

This task is typically used before a VssAdd in order to set the target project

Parameters

Attribute Values Required
vsspath SourceSafe path which specifies the project you wish to make the current project. Yes
login username[,password] - The username and password needed to get access to VSS. Note that you may need to specify both (if you have a password) - Ant/VSS will hang if you leave the password out and VSS does not accept login without a password. No
ssdir directory where ss.exe resides. By default the task expects it to be in the PATH. No
serverPath directory where srcsafe.ini resides. No
failonerror Stop the buildprocess if ss.exe exits with a returncode of 100. Defaults to true No

Examples

<vsscp vsspath="$/Projects/ant"/>

Sets the current VSS project to $/Projects/ant.

VssCreate

Description

Task to perform CREATE commands to Microsoft Visual Source Safe.

Creates a new project in VSS.

Parameters

Attribute Values Required
login username,password No
vsspath SourceSafe path of project to be created Yes
ssdir directory where ss.exe resides. By default the task expects it to be in the PATH. No
quiet suppress output (off by default) No
failOnError fail if there is an error creating the project (true by default) No
autoresponse What to respond with (sets the -I option). By default, -I- is used; values of Y or N will be appended to this. No
comment The comment to use for this label. Empty or '-' for no comment. No

Examples

<vsscreate vsspath="$/existingProject/newProject"/>

Creates the VSS-Project $/existingProject/newProject.