RoboHelp 6 Source Control Bindings

Without going into best practices about source control
methodology (we don't branch), I have a question about RoboHelp 6
and source control bindings with Visual SourceSafe.
We have a help project that is bound to a project in VSS. We
need to create a copy of the VSS project and work on that
separately. After creating the project in VSS with a copy of the
RoboHelp files, there seems to be no way to update the RoboHelp
project to point to the new location in VSS. We searched all the
property and settings boxes we could find to no avail.
In searching, the xpj file seemed to contain the only source
control binding information. We went so far as to change this file
in a text editor to update the new project and even point at the
correct file it references in VSS for the new VSS project. This is
in the vc::cookie setting under misc properties in the file. When
opening this file RoboHelp updates it back to the original somehow
even when the correct one is in SourceSafe.
So, please tell us how to update the bindings for source
control.
An aside. Recently our help files were moved to a new VSS
database. The old one was taken offline. In this case when Robohelp
saw that the old database was no longer there, it prompted us with
a dialog to correct the binding. Now that we need to point Robohelp
at a new VSS project in the same VSS database, while the original
still exists, we can find no way to change the settings.
Thanks...

There are several things to do to remove a copy of a project
from VSS:
1. Make a backup, as always.
2. Copy the RH project to your new location.
3. Set all the files as writable.
4. As you've discovered, you need to remove the contents of
the miscproperties tag.
5. Delete the cpd and sss files, and maybe the pss file (I'm
not sure of this one, but I'm fairly sure it gets recreated when
you re-open the project).
6. Open the project in RH and add to VSS from within RH. (I
recommend using RH to add into VSS, as this will re-populate the
miscproperties section of the xpj file. If you don't, you have to
manually "open from source control" each time you open the
project.)
You should now have a new project in VSS. And you have
backups, right? (not that I'm paranoid or anything...)
HTH
Amber

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Visual Source Safe or RoboHelp Source Control

I have never used VSS, but I have used RH Source Control. I can't find any clear cut answer to my current question. Do all the features like securing help based on security roles defined by the company, Merge Help and Multiple Authors per project/topic work the same in VSS or is this just a feature of RH Source Control?
My current client has VSS and I'm not sure they would want to purchase RH Source Control unless I come up with a really good reason for this.

Hi there
Many are confused by the subtle differences. You are absolutely correct in your statement of:
VSS and RH Source Control are just version control, nothing more, correct?
But your initial post comingled things by asking:
Do all the features like securing help based on security roles defined by the company, Merge Help and Multiple Authors per project/topic work the same in VSS or is this just a feature of RH Source Control?
The features you asked about apply to RoboHelp Server. RoboHelp Server is a product that is totally different from RoboSource Control or VSS.
I'm guessing here that maybe you unintentionally stated RoboSource Control and meant instead to say RoboHelp Server?
RoboSource Control = Source Control and is included with RoboHelp at no additional fee.
RoboHelp Server = Separately purchased Adobe software that must be installed on a computer that is also functioning as a Web Server.
RoboHelp Server provides merging. You just publish any number of outputs and the server handles merging things to present to the end user as a single, unified system. But keep in mind that basic RoboHelp is capable of creating a Merged output that will function in the same way.
RoboHelp Server 8 provides an ability to "secure" or restrict viewing of certain folders of content by restricting access to specific users. Keep in mind that the same thing is possible on any web server and has been for years. RoboHelp Server 8 probably provides some easy interface in the application that allows you to do it without getting a web developer involved. I'm not 100% sure on that. Hopefully my buddy John Daigle (the RoboHelp Server GuRu) will chime in here to clarify.
RoboHelp Server 8 also provides a search function that allows indexing and looking inside Word and PDF files. Then again, basic WebHelp output also offers this capability.
Reporting and tracking. RoboHelp Server 8 provides nice pretty graphs and charts so that you can see that topic A was opened 500 times and topic B was opened twice. Therefore topic B must not be useful so you can delete it. (just being silly here) Then again, you may also use Google Analytics to obtain the same information with a few lines of code.
The big question is to examine what RoboHelp Server brings to the game. If you need the features and are willing to pony up the additional cost involved and you are also willing to deal with the ensuing additional layer of complexity, by all means go for it. I'm not trying to sway you one way or the other. I'm only pointing out the possibilities here. Choosing is up to you.
Cheers... Rick
Helpful and Handy Links
RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form
Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7 or 8 within the day - $24.95!
Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training
SorcerStone Blog
RoboHelp eBooks

How to use a 3rd party source control tool with RoboHelp?

Hello,
I would like to set our RoboHelp users up with source control. They are using RoboHelp HTML 8.0.
Our software developers are using the AccuRev scm system; I'd like the doc team to use AccuRev, too.
Can someone direct me to RoboHelp documentation that explains how to set up and use a 3rd party scm system with RoboHelp?
Thank you,
Marilyn

It appears that RoboHelp 7 only sees the first SCC provider listed in the Windows Registry and ignores the rest. I was able to get RoboHelp to display the File | Version Control menu for SourceGear Vault by setting the following two Registry keys and removing keys for other SCC providers (SourceSafe, Surround SCM, and others I am evaluating).
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SourceCodeControlProvider
     ProviderRegKey = \Software\SourceGear\Vault Client
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SourceCodeControlProvider\InstalledSCCProviders
     SourceGear Vault VS2003 Compatible Client = SOFTWARE\SourceGear\Vault Client
If I create a new RoboHelp project, save it, then select File | Version Control | Add to Version Control, RoboHelp does the following:
     - pops up the Select Version Control Provider dialog and displays SourceGear Vault Classic Client.
     - I select that, check "Make this my default selection" checkbox, and click OK.
     - RoboHelp crashes.
I'm using SourceGear Vault 5.02 under Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit. A search of the SourceGear Vault knowledge base reveals that they do not support RoboHelp because of its incorrect behavior and instability. It's so sad that RoboHelp can't work properly with industry standard SCC providers. Vault is by far the best SourceSafe replacement out there, and very affordable.

Is there a proven method of source control that would allow multiple authors to work on the same RoboHelp v11 project? Any advice would be appreciated.

I was wondering which means of source control has proved the easiest to set up and live with for working concurrently on a RoboHelp project. Ideally, we would like to use Subversion, but would also consider Sharepoint, or other recommended solutions. Any experience you could share would be much appreciated.

You could do a lot worse than look through the discussions over in the Source Control forum. Personally I use SVN although not integrated through the RoboHelp UI. There are others that do though. You'll find there are a selections of users using all sorts of source control apps with RH. Others not mentioned so far include Perforce, Team Foundation Server. It should just be a case of making your choice and then testing it to ensure it meets your needs.

RoboHelp Server 8 - compatible with "source control system" ?

Greetings,
Using RoboHelp Server 8, is it possible to add in a "source control system," such as Subversion or Bazaar, to track updates and versions? Is there another "source control system" alternative?
Also, is there a hosted RoboHelp Server 8 option, where Adobe provides, sets up and maintains the server hosting the RH?

Hi again
Well, sort of. Note that basic WebHelp and FlashHelp are capable of being merged. This allows a search to occur across the merged set. As I said earlier, merging can be automatically enabled or disabled in the RoboHelp Server. So theoretically, you could turn off merging at the server. Then you could publish ten projects. Perhaps you want two of those projects to be isolated islands where search only occurs in them individually. But for the other eight, you want a search to be performed across the eight projects. You could create a standard merge in this case and publish to the RoboHelp Server and have a search work across the eight merged files. You could also open each of the eight individually and search only that file set.
At least that's my understanding of how it works. Perhaps fellow Adobe Community Professional and fellow Adobe Certified Instructor John Daigle will pop in and offer some clarification if I've muddied the waters.
Cheers... Rick
Helpful and Handy Links
RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form
Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7 or 8 within the day - $24.95!
Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training
SorcerStone Blog
RoboHelp eBooks

Robohelp 8 integration via the Microsoft Source Control API (Perforce/Subversion)

Robohelp 8 claims to support the Micorsoft Source Control API, which allows third party source control systems to be used with it. Unfortunately, it seems to work great with Subversion (third party plug-in required) and Perforce until we rename a file. Then it fails. For Perforce, it fails with no error. The file just doesn't get renamed. For Subversion, we get an ugly error from the plug-in, but after consulting with the plug-in's developers (PushOK) and given the same problem in Perforce, I think this is an RH8 bug.
Has anyone else seen this, or does anyone else have experience with this?
Thanks in advance!
Jason

was routing problem

Do I need Robohelp Server or Source Control? and RH installation

So, I'm still comparing authoring products and trying to filter down requirements.
I've been reading more about RH and have come across RH Server and source Control and wondering exactly if they are needed.
I'm the single author in the company, most likely publishing web help, or html help outputs for use online via our web application.
Is there any need to implement Server or source control, as far as I can see Server gives me reporting abilities and statistic reports, neither of which I really need. Is there anything else about RH Server that would be beneficial?
Also, source control, this is more needed when there are multiple writers accessing the same content at the same time so that problems dont crop up? Correct?
Also, how difficult, or time consuming is the installation process of RH on a single machine. Is it a simple program installation, or will I need to install server-side databases or anything else that could require the IT team to get involved?
Thanks for your help.
Nick

Hi Nick.
You have got it pretty much spot on. RoboHelp Server is mainly only required if you want the additional reporting functionality. There are some other minor differences between RoboHelp and RoboHelp Server but that is the main one. RoboSource Control is a application to get source files safe and backed up and is designed for a multi-author environment. It adds a layer of complexity for a single author environment although you can still use it if you wish. Personally I'd just ensure you have your source on a local drive (a key requirement of RoboHelp) and backup to a network drive.
The installation of RoboHelp is painless. It is just like any other application with a wizard to guide you. It has various options that you can choose, one of which is whether to install the RoboSourceControl client.
Click here for further reading on the difference between RoboHelp Server and RoboSourceControl.
Read the RoboColum(n).

Which RoboHelp 9 files belong in source control?

I have a new RoboHelp 9 project. All source is in FrameMaker 10. Only layout I'm using is Printed Documentation.
I'd like to check the RoboHelp 9 project files into source control (cvs). I don't want to waste space by checking in generated files.
Which files besides the .xpj and the .dot file do I need to include?

if it is your RoboHelp source that you want added to source control see this thread for the answer:
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/200551
If you generate your output to the default location (e.g. <project>\!SSL!\Printed Documentation) you'll want to exclude that also.
However if you are linking your FrameMaker files, these are your real source so maybe these should be added to source control rather than your RH project.

Using VSS Source Control via RoboHelp

Is there a way to connect RoboHelp directly to a local VSS
database in order to use the same Source Control database as the
rest of the dev. team?

Hi Sevans,
Indeed there is. You can plug the source into a library (this
will need to be set up by the VSS administratory) BUT just to be
clear, Robohelp does not integrate with VSS directly like some
development tools, it has its on Source control program for that
Robohelp Souce Control. You will need to follow some basic
practices to ensure that you source remains robust. Are you talking
about using VSS just to pull in the source OR to allow multiple
authors to work on the same project?
Kind Regards
Craig

Multi-authoring with source control with RH10 and RH11

Situation:
Writer A is running RH10. Writer A opens Project A, from Visual Studio Source Control, which is connected to a Team Foundation Server.
A new employee, Writer B, has been given RH11.
Writer A can't install RH11 until after mid-June because of tight schedules (can't afford any upgrade problems).
Writer B is supposed to work on the same Help project. (We know that RoboHelp does not support checking out the same file at the same time.)
If Writer B configures her version of RH11 to work with TFS and Source Control, can she open Project A and work on it (from Source Control) without causing problems for Writer A?
Thanks.
Carol Levine

If Writer B is not using Source Control or it is competely separate from Writer A, possibly but I still would not be comfortable.
I think I would rather upgrade Writer A and I note your reservations. It's your call but it's like being between the devil and the deep blue sea. Neither is ideal.
So far it looks like Rh11 upgrades have been OK.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

What files should not be checked into Source Control?

Good afternoon.
Running RoboHelp 11, integrated with Team Foundation Server and Visual Studio 2010.
When my two colleagues recently "got" the latest project files from Source Control, they also got items that had been removed or deleted. For example, I had removed all conditional build tags from my project, but their version still included the build tags. Eventually, thanks in part to an old post from Peter Grainge, we realized that the PSS in Source Control contained a lot of that old information. We deleted the PSS and stopped checking it into Source Control. Problem solved. No more conditional build tags or unwanted Single Source Layouts, etc. (I think the PSS got checked in by our Release Engineer when he was trying to solve some other problem. Two years ago it was not being checked in.)
I vaguely remember reading something somewhere once upon a time about not checking certain RoboHelp project management files into Source Control. So far I've not found any such information in the RoboHelp Help or online.
Does anyone know where I can find a list of RoboHelp HTML project management files, such as the PSS file, that should never be checked into Source Control?
Many thanks.
Carol Levine

Look in Snippets on my site.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

Anyone using source control AND cloud sharing?

Hi. I'm curious if anyone has any experience or tips to share about a RoboHelp environment that uses BOTH source control and cloud sharing.
My company uses perforce. I'm purchasing a couple copies of TCS5, one for me in California, one for writer colleague in Europe. I'd like to use Perforce for version control/backup, but use Dropbox for RH asset sharing and sync. Is this workabout? I'm guessing that the Dropbox/sync mechnism won't work if one or both of us has not checked out a file that needs to be (automatically via sync) updated. ("Not checked out" = file is in read only state.)
If RH automatically checks files in/out of perforce in order to complete a cloudshare sync, that would be most cool!
Thanks in advance for your ideas!
-Kurt

Hi Kurt
Have you tried the scenario with RH 11?
It should automatically check-out the file or should prompt for it based on the settings Tools -> Options -> Version Control
I tried with Robo Source Control and SharePoint. And it is working for me. Check-in has to be done mannually.
Please try and let us know the result.
Thanks

Third Party Source Control

Hi there, I'm in the process of versioning the files that
RoboHelp uses into our Source Control. We're using RoboHelp version
5.xx. Is there a document out there that outlines which files are
required to be versioned, and which files are created during
compile time and are not required?
Any information you could send my way would be appreciated.
Thanks.

See my last response in
this
thread.

Connections with third-party source control - will they be retained?

I have RoboHelp installed on my hard drive. Company is swapping out my hard drive and I will need to reinstall it.
All my RH projects are connected to a third-party source control mechanism (Visual SourceSafe).
When I reinstall RH, will the connections to Visual SourceSafe be retained for all my projects?

Hi,
Just getting the latest version should work. I had a similar problem after a crash. RoboHelp can't detect which projects are in the VSS database, but after getting them, it all worked fine.
You may however still want to backup your projects on a removable media to be sure. After the reinstall, just make sure the VSS client in installed, copy your project from the media and get back to work -- Could it be that simple? Well, it was for me.
Greet,
Willam

Source Control 3.1 : History and change reports

Robo Source Control 3.1 : History and change reports are allways empty. I only see titles on the file report.htm (using IE9 or Google Chrome).

What I was saying in your other post was not necessarily that it will work differently on a 64 bit machine, simply that there were known issues with a 64 bit machine that are referenced in
http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/2011/12/robohelp-9-0-2-is-now-available.html
It may be the fix referred to there is simply to make it work the same way as on a 32 bit machine and clearly that is giving you grief. Only way way to find out.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

RoboHelp 6 Source Control Bindings

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