Source or App dev control.

[Ted Giles]

Nearly got bitten by lax Source Control here at the Fun Factory.
Read the posts in the Web Forum pages - none the wiser.
Where you have a collaboration dev., how is this best managed?
Short of locking down Table Changes and specific Forms, distributing and saving the returns in a separate Folder, I'm struggling for a workable solution.
Thought about "checking out" the database, but that would mean locking the whole shebang.
As always, someone on the Forum is likely to have an answer. Apologies for asking more questions than giving answers. Have guests staying!

[DaveM]

Re: Source or App dev control.

Hi Ted,

Are you developing something with 2 or more programmers on same project? and if so, were they not given specific tasks and collaberation guidelines?

Dave

[Ted Giles]

Re: Source or App dev control.

Hi Dave. Good an apposite questions.
Development.
Not at the moment but there is prospect.
Collaboration.
Tasks and Guidelines are fine but the devil is in the detail.
I was hoping for some suggestions as to how others have coped with this - if they have come across it.
As a backstop I could "manage" the database and farm out the bits I needed working on.
Trouble is, Alpha developers don't seem to work to an established programming and/or design "standard", but I'm prepared to be shot down regarding that statement.
Long term users like your good self with a track record, will have your own ways of doing things and each user is likely to take a slightly different approach.

As a matter of interest, do you have or use a self imposed written standard for Form layout, Code Commenting and Documentation?

Having written DQ standards for application design in ASP.net, Sharepoint and Infopath I know it's a) not easy and b) difficult to enforce.

Here is an example in an Infopath Forms app.
I specified that all Date Fields had to be presented as;
UK Format DD/MM/YYYY
Free Text fields to have only standard characters - specified in detail - and no |{[�^ or any other Alternate Characters, or leading spaces.

I got US format Dates MM/DD/YYYY, and no check on the other obtuse chars. The developer was being paid � 750/day, say $1100/day in your money. He was good at the coding and design but pants at the detail.
Don't get me started on Regression Testing and Pre Production "Golden Scripts".

Anyway, more comments/pointers like Daves would be welcome.

[DaveM]

Re: Source or App dev control.

Not knowing the scope and magnitude of your endeavor puts wonders in my thought.

Well, You are right about sloppiness and I have been as guilty as anyone about that. I did work where there were quite a few of us on a project in vb(we had some c and somje c++) and it was started(my idea) with a sit down every morning for about 15 - 30 minutes. That wasted(?) time saved us several man hours EACH day.

I always new the fields and variables needed were from me, how they were (going to be) used and what needed to go into them so my share blended with the other developers work. How I made it work was mostly my problem, as it was with the others. I always knew that when it was time, my stuff had to work. We were required to stop every 3 hours and note the code for 10-15 minutes in case we died and one of the guys actually did. Large project came through with flying colors and in good time.

Note: We worked on our own modules, never 2 or more on any module. If a module was too big, it was split up.

My main fun was working with Crystal Reports after the main project was completing. I found I could make 9 to 11 reports to anybody else's 1 on that project. It was like second nature for me.

Hope I helped.