Integrate Visual Source Safe with Visual Studio without using source control binding

Question

Is there a way to integrate Visual Studio with VSS without doing source control binding?

The problem I have is that my team is opposing to add source control binding to the solution and project files, since they claim it adds more problems (restrictions) for them.

On the other hand, I really like to perform most of the source control operations from Visual Studio.

Is there any way to have the solution file and all the project files the way they are (without added binding to VSS) and still have VSS and VS integration without forcing other team members to use that integration.

Answer 1

I don't see a way to do it per project.

You can however you do it for IDE (all projects loaded). It is under Tools\Options\Source Control

and then set Binding to None.

I see it in VS 2005 and 2008. I gave it a try in a project I wanted to convert from VS2005 to 2008 and appeared to work (I did not want to check in/out files for conversion).

Answer 2

The binding is stored in the .vssscc, .vspscc and MSSCCPRJ.SCC files. If you don't add these files to Visual Source Safe every developer can configure his bindings like he wants.

Since we use Perforce, I'm not 100% sure if this works with VSS.

Answer 3

The answer to your question is "no." Bindings and VS integration are one & the same with SourceSafe. I'm not even sure what it would mean for a solution to be integrated but not bound, or vice versa. What exactly are your teammates looking for?

You can adjust bindings per-project in the File -> Source Control -> Change Source Control dialog. You can also adjust them per-user (effectively; not a supported configuration) by excluding the *scc files from source control. However, you are likely to encounter problems down the road if you try to manage these files yourself instead of using the Add Solution To SCC wizard. More info:

• http://alinconstantin.dtdns.net/WebDocs/Scc/%5FBindings.htm
• http://alinconstantin.dtdns.net/WebDocs/Scc/%5FWebEnlist.htm