Sourcecode Control Switcher

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Introduction

This tool offers an interface to choose all installed SCC providers instead of just using the default provider in SCC integration.

Problem

MS has defined an interface between SCC systems, for applications that want to interact with these systems. The interface is exposed through a DLL supplied by the SCC provider. More than one SCC can be installed at one site, but one of them should be specified as the default SCC provider. Most tools - e.g. VCx - support only this default provider. Others like Kawa or VS.NET let you choose the one to use. As you can see, some tools in environments where people frequently switch between SCC providers are uncomfortable to use. You have to switch the SCC systems in the registry by hand.

Solution

Take this little program! It has three purposes:

1. Give a visual clue to which SCC provider is currently active
2. Provide an interface to change between SCC providers
3. Start the UI of the current provider

Deployment

1. Copy the program to a location you like.
2. Start it, and it will add itself to the taskbar.
3. Click with the right mouse button to display the menu.
4. Choose the provider you like to use.

   Remember: the change will not be reflected in running apps. You must restart them to get the new setting.

5. Choose "Start SCC Interface" or double click with the left button to start the user interface of the "current" provider.
6. Click with the left button to display a menu with all SCC providers. Choose the one you'd like to start.
7. If you like, add it to the "autostart" group via menu option.

UI Enhancement

To provide an icon for each SCC provider, create a registry value in the Provider section pointed to by the value <Provider Name> in the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\ SourceCodeControlProvider\InstalledSCCProviders. The value must be text and named IconDll. It must contain the complete path to the Image - Exe or DLL - which contains the icon. As an option, an icon index, separated from the path by a ',' can be supplied. Otherwise 1 will be used as the default index. You can find the correct index by opening the image in a Resource Editor.

For example:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SourceSafe]
  "IconDll"="C:\Programme\Microsoft Visual Studio\Vss\win32\Ssexp.exe,12"

will do in my Visual SourceSafe installation.

Problems

• You should have write access to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\SourceCodeControlProvider. Otherwise the program will not start.
• When you have no write access to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run the Autostart option is disabled.
• In Terminal server and XP, with the Userswitching feature, you can start SCCSwitcher multiple times. It will show up in each started session. When you switch to another provider, the change is only reflected in the current session. To automatically switch the other session too, we have to monitor the relevant registry section. But who really needs such a feature?

The program was written and tested on NT 4.0 SP6, W2K an XP Professional.

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)