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Project Sharing Support

The sharable project support adds several benefits:

Enabling the use of source control systems like PVCS or Microsoft SourceSafe.
Making it easier to work multiple persons on a project.
Making it possible to share resources between multiple projects.

This is accomplished by the following separate issues:

Possibility to place resources in external files. The resources stored in separate files can be used in different projects.
Optional support of a textmode .PRJ file that contains all information about the project and refers to the separate resource files. When Visual Prolog is using a .PRJ-file it is said to work in multiprogrammer mode.
Supporting read-only modes for all text and resource editors, and the .PRJ file.
Supporting automatic reloading of all file types if the files have been updated on the disk. Files are updated externally by the source control systems when modifications from other users are imported.

Enabling the Project Sharing Support

The multiprogrammer support can be set while creating a new project. The multiprogrammer support is enabled if the Multiprogrammer Mode check box of the Application Expert General tab is checked.

It is possible to change the setting of the project to multiprogrammer support at any stage.

When the multiprogrammer support is enabled:

all resources are saved in separate files
a .PRJ file is generated.

The default name of the .PRJ file is <ProjectName>.PRJ. The .PRJ file will be automatically saved immediately after resource is added or deleted if the Auto Save .PRJ-file immediately after Adding/Deleting a Resource check box in the Environment dialog is checked (Options | Global | Environment menu item). As default it is turned On.

Storing Resources in Separate Files

When a new resource (string group, menu, toolbar, window or dialogue) is created, the user has the possibility to select whether or not the resource should be placed in a separate file. These files should include all the information about the resources, including all the attributes, and the settings for the Code Experts. It is possible to use the same resource file in different projects.

The resource will be stored in the separate file if the Separate check box is checked. If the multiprogrammer mode is selected for the project, all resources will be in separate files. So the Separate check-box is grayed. When resources are stored in separate files, they will per default be placed in the \RES directory.

Directory Description

\RES Portable resources
\RES\WIN .ICO, .CUR and .BMP Windows specific files
\RES\OS2 .ICO, .PTR and .BMP OS/2 specific files

The default name of the resource file will be the same as the name of the resource (If the resource name is less than 8 characters), with the corresponding extension:

Resource Extension

Bitmaps .BMP
Icons .ICO
Cursors .CUR, .PTR
Dialogs .DLG
Windows .WIN
Toolbars .TB
Menus .MNU
Strings .STR (one file for each string group)

Read-Only Files Handling

The sharable project support assumes using of read-only modes for all text and resource editors, and the .PRJ file. If the user opens a read-only file or resource the editor window will say "Read-Only" in the heading, and it shouldn't be possible to write, modify, or delete in the editor window. If the .PRJ-file is read-only the user isn't allowed to add/delete resources or modules. The New and Delete buttons of the Project window will be grayed. The Code Experts don't allow the user to 'add clause' or 'update code' if the chosen module is read only.

Source Control Systems

Source control system is a program for maintaining version control for the source files of a developing project. It stores the changes made to a file instead of the changed file, thus allowing several versions of the same file to exist in the system.

Version control systems, such as Microsoft Visual Source Safe, MKS Source Control System or INTERSOLV PVCS Version Manager, allow members of your development team to retrieve, modify and return any revision of a file in a secure, systematic and compatible manner. With version control you minimize the risk of overwriting changes made by another developer. You don't have to worry about losing data, because all changes are easily accessible.