RoboHelp Article

Getting started with RoboSource Control 3

Adding a RoboHelp 7 project to version control

Adding a RoboHelp 7 project to version control stores all your RoboHelp project files in the RoboSource Control database and enables other authors to access the project from the database. Obviously you can only do this once you have created a database (the instructions for doing this were provided in the previous section).

When you add a RoboHelp 7 project to version control, you must create a database connection if you are connecting to the RoboSource Control 3 database for the first time from your PC. The database connection provides a way for RoboHelp to access the database.

To add a RoboHelp 7 project to version control:

1. Open the project in RoboHelp HTML.
2. Choose File > Version Control > Add to Version Control. The Select the Version Control Provider dialog appears.

3. Select your version control provider (either RoboSource Control 3 or a third-party version control package) and click OK. The Configure Source Control dialog appears.

The following steps apply only if you are using RoboSource Control 3. For other version control packages, refer to the documentation provided.

4. From the Connection drop-down list, select Create. The Open RoboSource Connection dialog appears.
5. If your RoboSource Control 3 Server software and database is located on your own PC, you can select the database connection from the list on the left side. If (as is more likely) the software is located on a separate server machine, then you must do the following:
1. Connection Name: This can be any name that you would like to use to identify the database from RoboSource Control 3 Client. You could choose to use the same name that you entered when you created the database itself, but you don’t have to.
2. Server: Enter either the IP address or the unique name of the server on your local network.
3. Database: Enter the name of the database exactly as you typed it into the first Name field on the Create Database dialog box (when you were Creating and configuring the RoboSource Control database).

6. Click the Create and Connect button. The RoboSource Login to Robo Version Control dialog appears.
7. Enter the password that you assigned to the Admin user in the Configure New Database dialog box. The Configure Source Control dialog box reappears with the Connection name showing. In this example, selected the database connection “Robo Version Control (local)” from the list:

Figure 8. Configuring your source control

8. Click the browse button  beside the Root Path field.
9. If prompted, again enter the password for the Admin user.
   The Browse RoboSource Node dialog box appears showing your empty database
10. Click the root node ($) to select it, and then click OK.
    A message appears asking if you want to create and select a new subfolder within the RoboSource Control database.
11. Click Yes to create a new folder for your RoboHelp project within the database.
12. Click OK to close the Configure Source Control dialog box.
13. You may find that the Login dialog box is hidden behind the RoboHelp window. If your screen appears to be frozen, use Alt+Tab to switch to the Login dialog box so that you can enter the password for the Admin user.

All of your RoboHelp project files are now copied to the server-based database, and the status of all the files is "checked out" to you. By default, RoboSource Control 3 doesn’t allow the same file to be checked out by more than one user simultaneously. This means that no one else can change any of the files until you check them in to the database. An additional File Status pod is displayed within RoboHelp’s right-hand pane. This pod lists all of the project files that are under version control and shows you the status (checked out or not) of each. When you close the project, RoboHelp 7 asks you whether you want to check in all the files back into the database. If you answer Yes, RoboHelp checks in all the files in for you automatically.

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