Integrating RoboHelp projects with Team Foundation Server

Additional Requirements

1. Microsoft Visual Studio with Team Explorer
2. Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server
3. Team Foundation Server MSSCCI Provider

Team Foundation Server (TFS) is a Microsoft product offering source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking. It is intended for collaborative handling of any project.

RoboHelp 9 integrates seamlessly with TFS 2010, TFS 2008, and TFS 2005. For the steps described in this article, Team Foundation Server 2010 has been used.

To integrate Team Foundation Server with your RoboHelp project, you must install and configure the following components:

• Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server on the machine that you want to set up as the source control server.
• Microsoft Visual Studio with Team Explorer on the machines that you want to set up as your source control clients.
• Team Foundation Server MSSCCI Provider on the client machine to enable integrated use of Team Foundation version control. The version of MSSCCI Provider should be same as that of Team Explorer.

Configure the server

After Team Foundation Server is installed and running, start Team Foundation Administration Console as an administrator. Configure Team Foundation Server settings and create a team project collection. Client machines connect to the team project collection and add RoboHelp projects to the team projects in a selected collection.

To create team projects, launch Visual Studio on your server machine as an administrator and connect it to Team Foundation Server:

1. Select Team > Connect to Team Foundation Server and specify the name of the Team Foundation Server server.
2. Connect to the team project collection you created while configuring Team Foundation Server.
3. From the Team Explorer view, select the team project collection node and select New Team Project from the right-click menu.
4. Provide the team project name and description to create a team project.
5. Provide access permissions to users on the team project.

Configure the client

In this section, you will connect Visual Studio to Team Foundation Server.

Launch Visual Studio from the client machine and connect to Team Foundation Server by clicking Team > Connect to Team Foundation Server. Provide your Team Foundation Server name and select the team project collection name and the team project(s).

Install Team Foundation Server MSSCCI Provider on the client machine to enable integrated use of Team Foundation version control with RoboHelp.

Verify the installation

Verify that Microsoft Team Foundation Server MSSCCI Provider is listed as a source provider in the registry (HKLM > Software > SourceCodeControlProvider >InstalledSCCProviders).

Add a RoboHelp project to TeamFoundation Server

1. Launch RoboHelp and create a project.
2. After the project is created, click Add Project to Version Control from the Version Control toolbar or from the File menu.
3. Select the Team Foundation Server MSSCCI Provider option and click OK.

4. In the Connection dialog box, select the connection to Team Foundation Server.

5. Choose the team project folder.

In this example, the team project collection name is TeamCollection, the team project name is Demo, and the RoboHelp project name is DemoProject.

Folder location: Choose the team project.

Name for the solution folder: Provide the name for the folder that will store the RoboHelp project files. By default, the RoboHelp project name is used.

Local path: Local path is automatically set to the current project path.

Local workspace: You can choose an existing workspace or create a new workspace by clicking Add.

6. When you click OK in the Choose Folder in Team Foundation Server dialog box, you are prompted with the Check-in dialog box. Click OK to check in the files.

   Now the files and folders of the current project are added to the server and you can perform the version control operations, such as checkin and checkout, on your project.

Get a RoboHelp project from TeamFoundation Server

To get a project from Team Foundation Server, make sure that you have the server name, folder details, and the appropriate access rights.

1. Open RoboHelp and select File > Open.
2. Click the icon to open the project from the version control system.
3. Establish the connection using the connection steps described in the Add a RoboHelp project to Team Foundation Server section.

   Provide the server name and folder details.

   Choose a workspace from the Local workspace list, which will autofill the local path for the chosen workspace. You can browse to the local path if you're opening this project for the first time.

   You can now open the .xpj file of the project, and the version-controlled project will be opened in RoboHelp.

FAQs

Do we need RoboSource Control to be installed?

Absolutely not. Team Foundation Server is another version control system. RoboSource Control installation is required only when RoboHelp integrates with RoboSource Control version control system. RoboHelp is capable of integrating with any MSSCCI- compliant version control system.

What happens if you add the project to an incorrect location in Team Foundation Server?

Team Foundation Server maintains a mapping of the project directories of a machine to corresponding server paths (directories) through its workspaces. This mapping is created automatically when we add a RoboHelp project to Team Foundation Server. So, if you have added the RoboHelp project to the wrong server path, do the following to add it again to the correct location:

1. Using RoboHelp, remove the project from version control.
2. In Visual Studio, select workspace from File > Source Control > Workspaces or Source Control Team Explorer and delete the mapping for the project.
3. In RoboHelp, add the project again to the correct location. Specify the correct server path.

What if you opened a project from Team Foundation Server at the incorrect local path?

Do the following steps:

1. In Visual Studio, select workspace from File > Source Control > Workspaces or Source Control Team Explorer and delete the mapping for the project.
2. In RoboHelp, open the project from version control. Specify the correct local path.

Reference

If you face problems in integrating an earlier version of a Visual Studio client with an advanced version of Team Foundation Server, check the following articles:

• http://blogs.technet.com/b/chrad/archive/2010/01/08/visual-studio-2008-connecting-to-tfs-2010-server.aspx
• http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/tfsgeneral/thread/32063fa1-d42f-4e65-908e-e68498d1ec3d