Projects and files can be identified
with labels. These are usually more descriptive than version numbers and can be
affixed at the project or file level. Labels are a convenient way to document a
specific point in development time. Labels applied to files can be viewed by
clicking the Details button in the History dialog.
To label a project, highlight the project in the Project List. Select the Label command from the File menu or by right-clicking. From within the Label dialog, enter a label name and any comments. The label will be applied to all files within the project and any subproject files.
Labeling one or more files is similar to labeling projects. The label created is only applied to the files selected in the File List.
SourceOffSite allows files in a project to be retrieved based on a label. To get a project from a label, highlight the project in the Project List, and then either click the Show History button or choose the Show History command from the Tools menu. A Project History dialog containing various options for displaying the history will be presented. These options are: Include File Checkins and Recursive.
The user may also specify a beginning date for the history in the From text box and an ending date in the To text box of the Project History dialog. Customize the history and then click the OK button. The project’s history will be displayed in the History dialog. To get all of the project’s files from a label, highlight a label in the History dialog and then select the Get button. This will copy all of the files associated with the label from that level and down to the current working directory.
When you perform a Get by Label, you may notice that you are
getting more files than you expected. This is because special care is taken to
get each file appropriately, whether its project exists or not. Unfortunately,
the SourceSafe automation layer, which SourceOffSite utilizes, applies labels
across the board to files, even when they have already been deleted. This means
that a Get by Label will retrieve deleted files and projects, some of which may
have actually been deleted before the label in question was applied.
The SourceSafe Automation layer does not provide a reasonable method of
determining which happened first, the file deletion or the application of the
label. To avoid unwanted files and projects from being retrieved by
SourceOffSite when performing a Get by Label operation, purge (destroy) the
deleted files using SourceSafe. If you wish to keep a copy of the files, they
can be archived.
