Visual Studio Hacks

Move Quickly Between Source Control Providers #58

Chapter 6, Speed Hacks

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HACK

HACK

#58

Move Quickly Between Source Control

Providers Hack #58

Using multiple version control systems is normally a tedious operation. Here’s

a free utility that makes it a snap.

Visual Studio provides a model for source control vendors to write source

control providers that plug into Visual Studio. A third-party source control,

or even Microsoft’s GotDotNet Workspaces source control, can work just

like using SourceSafe from Visual Studio. This is a great thing when you

switch between various source control providers, since the functionality and

UI are consistent across all tools when used through Visual Studio.

One problem though: it is not the easiest thing to switch between source

control providers. There is no quick switch in the IDE to choose what

source control provider you want to use, but thankfully Harry Pierson (bet-

ter known as DevHawk) has written an easy-to-use utility called SccSwitch

that will allow you to do just that.

To use this utility, you first need to download the tool from http://devhawk.

NET/art_sccswitch.aspx. The source and executable are both included in the

zip file. After extracting the executable and running it, you will see a screen

like the one shown in Figure 6-21.

To switch source control providers, simply check the box of the provider

you want to use and then click the Update button. This will switch what

provider you use, and the next time you start Visual Studio you should

notice the change.

If you would rather not download a utility, you can also make these changes

right in the registry. The key you will need to modify is

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\

SOFTWARE\SourceCodeControlProvider

. The value of this key is a string that

identifies what source control provider is the active provider. The possible

values for this key are stored in a subkey called

InstalledSCCProviders. Any

Figure 6-21. SccSwitch

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Chapter 6, Speed Hacks

#58 Move Quickly Between Source Control Providers

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of the data values from this key can be substituted for the current provider

in the

SourceCodeControlProvider key. Making these changes in the registry

is easy, but using the utility is even easier.

As a consultant, I find this tool especially valuable, since going from project

to project you never know what source control you will be using. (Plenty of

times I use multiple source code providers on the same day.) This tool is

especially helpful if you get involved with projects on GotDotNet.