What is a Source Control Binding?
If you've ever
used the Change Source Control feature in Visual Studio .NET 2003 when
disconnecting from the network or when branching a project or solution, you've
come face to face with a source control binding.
Today, I'll
expand on a post I made last Tuesday (Guidance on Creating Projects and
Solutions) in an attempt to better explain the concept of a
source control binding. In that post I wrote, "When you add the solution and initial project
to source control, the SCC provider does not differentiate between the
project and solution--and this is the important part--because the initial
project file (*.*proj) and the solution file (*.sln) occupy the same folder on
disk. Therefore, the source control provider creates a single binding for
both containers. Internally, we discuss solutions and projects in terms of
bindings, or connections between the working copy of a project or solution and
its master copy under source control. You may recognize these words, which
appear in Visual Studio's Change Source Control
dialog."
To be a little
more clear, a source control binding is like a data line
through which a connection between your working copy of a source-controlled
solution and its master copy in the database can be established.
You can think of
a well-formed (defined below), source-controlled, multi-project solution as a
house with multiple rooms. When you build the house, you install a single
highspeed data line from one room to the street. Inside the house, you install a
router behind a firewall to distribute the data feed to other rooms and you pay
an Internet service provider to connect your house to the Internet.
In Visual Studio
.NET, that single data line is a source control binding. When you open a
source-controlled solution, a connection is created across that binding which
establishes a handshake between your working copy of the solution on disk and
the master copy of the solution in the source control database.
Conversely, a
source-controlled, multi-project solution that is not well-formed is like a
house in which every room is connected to the Internet directly. Internet
charges are more expensive than in the single-connection house, maintenance
costs are higher, and switching to a different Internet service provider is much
more difficult and time consuming.
Just as
in the house with a single connection to the Interent, it's better to
have a solution and all of its projects share a single source control
binding. You can create well-formed, multi-project, single-binding solutions by
creating a blank solution as outlined in Guidance on Creating Projects and Solutions.
You can also do so by selecting the Create Directory
for Solution option in the New
Project dialog box when creating a solution-project
pair.
Single-binding
solutions are easier to:
·
Disconnect from source control in order to
work offline.
·
Connect to the database after reconnecting to
the network.
·
Branch in one step.
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