Interface Technologies maintains this online Visual SourceVizor FAQ in addition to
the FAQ in the SourceVizor help file that is installed with the product. This online
FAQ contains the most current information.
- What are the system requirements to use SourceVizor?
SourceVizor requires the following products and/or components:
-
Microsoft Windows 95, 98, Me, 2000, NT 4.0, XP
-
Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, version 5.0, 6.0 or 8.0(2005)
-
Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) version 2.1 or later
-
Microsoft Collaboration Data Objects (CDO) 1.2 or later
(if using MAPI email protocol) available as an optional component during the
installation of Exchange 5.5, Outlook 98, Outlook 2000, Exchange 2000 Server
When installing on a computer running Windows NT/2000, the user must either be a
member of the local computer's Administrators group or at least have write
permissions on the local machine section of the windows registry.
Windows 2000/XP users may receive Windows File Protection (WFP) notifications
during installation of Visual SourceVizor. Choose to retain your current
protected files if prompted.
- Do I need to install the SourceVizor client software on every developer's computer?
In most cases the answer is "no." Visual SourceVizor is designed to minimize
the necessity of installing software on your client computers. Please refer
to the following chart to determine if any client-side components must be
installed.
| SourceVizor Component |
Server Install |
Client Install |
| FileWatch |
Yes |
No |
| SourceReports |
Yes |
Optional |
| ClientShutdown |
Yes |
Yes |
| WorkingFolders |
Yes |
Optional |
Notes:
-
The only SourceVizor feature that requires both a server and client
computer installation is the ClientShutdown feature. ClientShutdown
relies on a SourceSafe add-in to enable termination of SourceSafe
clients by the SourceSafe administrator. The client software for
Visual SourceVizor can be installed from the Client NetSetup scripts
that exist in the SourceVizor created during installation.
-
WorkingFolders and SourceReports support installation of client-side
components. If a given user wants to generate reports from their
workstation or manage their working folder overrides they can choose
to install the client components.
- Does "number of users" (licenses) mean the number of people running reports or the number of users specified in the SourceSafe database?
SourceVizor's license limits apply to how many SourceSafe users' activity
will be monitored, not how many people can generate reports or receive
FileWatch notifications. For instance, if there are 10 people using
SourceSafe and you have a 5-person license, then only the first 5 people
who generate SourceSafe activity in the journal file will be monitored
(the other 5 will just be ignored). If needed, you can assign licenses to
specific SourceSafe users to avoid the "first come first served" default
licensing scheme.
- Can we trust SourceVizor to access our SourceSafe database?
We recognize that your source code and the integrity of your SourceSafe
database are of the highest importance. Visual SourceVizor is designed to
monitor your SourceSafe activity, not interfere with it. All SourceVizor
access to SourceSafe is read-only and makes no attempt to modify any
source code that you have stored in your SourceSafe database. Nor does it
inhibit any action you attempt to perform in the Visual SourceSafe
Explorer. If you feel SourceVizor is impacting your use of SourceSafe,
the SourceVizor AddIn Manager lets you disable SourceVizor's integration
with Visual SourceSafe with one button click.
Independent of your use of SourceVizor, you should have a consistent and
tested backup strategy to allow you to recover from corruption or other
failures of your SourceSafe database. This strategy should include
off-site storage of backup media.
- How do I know that SourceVizor is saving my SourceSafe and DBMS usernames and passwords in a secure manner?
Visual SourceVizor does store SourceSafe and DBMS usernames and passwords.
This is done by two different SourceVizor components and for two different
reasons.
On the Visual SourceVizor server, passwords are encrypted and then stored
in the DBMS that supports the server components. As a highly automated
system, SourceVizor needs to be able to access your SourceSafe database
and DBMSs without asking for permission, otherwise the code that allows
for real-time event processing couldn't do its job.
On the client machines, passwords are stored in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER
section of the registry for use by SourceReports. SourceReports needs to
be able to log into your various DBMSs and SourceSafe databases to present
you with meaningful reporting options. Since HKEY_CURRENT_USER is
accessible only to the user who is logged in your passwords are secure
provided you prevent unauthorized persons from accessing your logged in
account (i.e. use a password protected screen saver).
One last note: No code that ships with SourceVizor performs any actions
that could make changes to your source code in SourceSafe using the
passwords SourceVizor retains.
- Will SourceVizor work across the Internet? Will it work across my firewall?
There are several answers to this question since it really covers quite
a bit of ground.
If you are a SourceOffsite (SOS) user and want to know if Visual
SourceVizor will be able to detect your activity in SourceSafe, the answer
is yes. Provided Visual SourceVizor is properly configured, SOS users'
activity shows up just the same as "normal" users.
If your question regards ClientShutdown's ability to terminate SOS users'
connections to the SourceSafe database, the answer is no. ClientShutdown
generally cannot control SOS connections directly. However, you can use
your control over the SOS server to terminate all SOS connections.
If your question is in regards to viewing or running reports over the
Internet, the answer is a mix of yes and no. Visual SourceVizor's
SourceReports is not designed for use over the Internet. You may be able
to access your DBMS via the Internet and thereby enable remote
SourceReports reporting but the security ramifications are non-trivial.
Since SourceReports uses Crystal Reports you can use CR's web reporting
components to publish your reports on the web. Once again, you must take
measures to ensure that only the intended audience can view your reports.
- I have heard there is a SourceVizor User's Guide. How can I get a copy?
You can open the VSVUG.pdf file via a shortcut in the Visual SourceVizor
program group. You will need to have Acrobat Reader installed in order
to view the User's Guide.
- If our team members use different date formats, will we run into issues while using SourceVizor?
At this time there is an issue with the way Visual SourceVizor handles
ambiguous or unexpected date formatting. For example, if one or more
team members select a potentially ambiguous date format (e.g. while the
meaning of 22-02-2002 is clear, there is ambiguity in the date
06-02-2002 (June 6th or February 2nd?) or a date/time using unusual
separators (e.g. 11_22 02+06!!!2002), Visual SourceVizor may misinterpret
the date the client is attempting to represent. This can lead to problems
with premature trial expiration and/or incorrectly sorted reports.
Our developers are currently working on a feature that will address this
issue as well as the potential issues associated with SourceSafe's
handling of time zone differences.
- My company has a very large SourceSafe database but I am only concerned with my team's project. Can I import just my team's sub-tree?
During the import process you will be prompted for the Root Project from
which to begin the import. You may specify a single project and all
sub-projects and files that descend from that project will be imported.
Note that if you later try to import the same SourceSafe database to the
same DBMS but specify a root project that is a parent of the original
root project, the new root project will replace the previous as the root
of the import. For more information continue reading the next FAQ answer
below.
- My project consists of three primary project sub-trees. Two contain code I've written and the third contains third party code I've purchased. I only want to import the two projects that contain my code. Can I use the Root Project feature to achieve this?
Yes, the Root Project mechanism allows you to import multiple sibling,
non-overlapping project hierarchies. In order to support importing
multiple sections of your SourceSafe database you must run the import
tool once for every root project. Provided the root projects subsequent
to the first do not overlap with any previously specified root project,
the hierarchies are maintained together in the DBMS. If an overlap is
specified (e.g. you have already imported the root project
$/ProjectA/SubProjectB/ComponentC and you request an import of
$/ProjectA) then the more general project specification will replace the
more specific one.
Once you have run import for each and every root project you can enable
SourceVizor's real-time update feature so that you do not need to
re-execute any of the imports again. SourceVizor will keep all the files
and projects under all the various root projects synchronized with the
activity that occurs in your SourceSafe database.
- I have a very large SourceSafe database. When I do an import to SQL Server the import takes many hours. Why?
SourceVizor performs many tasks when it imports your SourceSafe database.
It first must do a SourceSafe Get on every version of every file in the
database. It then performs size computations on each version. (Files with
recognized C/C++, Java, Transact SQL, and Visual Basic extensions are
parsed for true lines of code [LOC]; text files are analyzed for the
count of total lines; and all files, including binary files, have their
byte count determined.) Finally, it updates the DBMS with the information
it has collected. For large SourceSafe databases this can represent a
considerable amount of work.
Ways to improve performance of imports include:
-
Do the import on the machine that holds the SourceSafe database.
This reduces the time it takes to do a get on each file version,
since network traffic is not a factor.
-
If you can't run the import on the SourceSafe server then run it
on the machine that houses the DBMS. This will make database
updates faster.
-
Make sure that any network links between the machine that houses
the SourceSafe database and the machine that houses the DBMS and
the machine on which the import is being run are high speed. For
instance, running the import on a machine that is on a 100 Mb/sec
network branch is preferred to running it on a 10Mb/sec branch.
-
Limit the scope of your import. By using the start date and the
two file extension input controls displayed in the series of
import screens, you can control what files and which versions of
those files are processed. Also, by limiting the files that have
metrics computed you can reduce the import time considerably.
-
Specify a root project that minimizes the number of subprojects
and files that must be sampled without limiting the usefulness of
the data. For instance, if you store third-party source code and
your own source code in sibling projects, specifying your source
code project for import will avoid importing the third-party code.
- My company has a very active development team and we generate a lot of activity in the database. I noticed my SourceVizor.mdb DBMS file keeps getting bigger and bigger. Is there an upper limit on the size of the file?
Visual SourceVizor does not impose a limit on the number of records
the DBMS can hold. The only limit is available disk space (and
performance degradation). If you want to limit the growth yourself
you can import the database to flush out records for events that
SourceSafe doesn't track. If you are using the Microsoft Access
default DBMS then you can go one step further and use the ODBC
control panel to compact the MDB files following the import. If you
feel Access isn't up to the job, we support use of Microsoft SQL
Server as well.
- Is there a report I can use which summarizes added/deleted lines for any one person?
Currently we don't have a report that shows this information at the
summary level. However, the User Activity with Comments and User
Activity reports are grouped first by user, then by project, then by
file. Both reports show the lines added. Essentially these reports
are giving you the information you need, but with all the detail.
We have received several requests for a similar report. It is
currently at the top of our "new reports to add" list.
- What's the latest version of Crystal Reports that SourceVizor is compatible with?
Our latest build was with Crystal Reports version 8.0.
With the addition of its newly added support for .NET, Crystal
Reports has essentially released two incompatible product lines.
Crystal Reports 8.X (which is used by SourceVizor's SourceReports
component) and Crystal Reports .NET both register ActiveX
components used in generating reports. Since ActiveX does not
support registering both report engines, only one can be used on
a given computer. Consequently, if you have installed CR .NET and
must have it registered in order for your development work to
proceed, then you will not also be able to use SourceReports on
your computer. Here are some suggested work-arounds:
-
If you do not really need Crystal Reports .NET installed but
simply selected that as an option during .NET installation, you
can uninstall CR .NET and then install SourceReports to run on
your computer.
-
If you have a non-development computer that is easily
accessible to your team, you can install SourceReports on that
computer and have it act as the reporting computer for your team.
-
You could consider generating reports on a non-development
computer and then posting the reports to your intranet or
emailing them as HTML documents or some other exportable type
from SourceReports.
We are working on a long-term solution to resolve this issue and will
update our web site and email owners of SourceReports as a fix becomes
available.
- Are there other reports available in addition to what is downloaded with SourceVizor?
Visual SourceVizor comes with a set of reports that include some of
the most often requested reports on source code statistics. However,
Visual SourceVizor is not limited to this collection of reports.
As new reports become available they will be integrated into the
latest release of the product and/or be posted on the SourceVizor
web site for download (
http://www.sourcevizor.com).
SourceReports is designed to automatically recognize newly downloaded
reports on startup so you can be running the new reports in a matter
of minutes. If you still don't see the report you need please contact
our support staff-we may be able to get you a report that solves your
problem free of charge or for a minimal fee.
- I want to run reports every week but do not want to customize the report every time to set the start and end dates. What are my options?
Visual SourceVizor supports a rich date grammar that may solve your
problem. While the entire date grammar is documented in the User's
Guide, here is an example of solving this particular problem: Specify
a start date of "monday" and an end date of "Start_Date + 1 week".
Running the report will automatically compute the date of the
preceding (or current) Monday and run the report for a time span of 1
week.
- Is SourceVizor compatible with Visual SourceSafe 2005?
Visual SourceVizor has been successfully tested for compatibility with Visual SourceSafe 2005.
