Microsoft KB Archive/236951

= PRB: Visual InterDev Projects Do Not Appear or Are Added to Wrong VSS Database =

Article ID: 236951

Article Last Modified on 6/18/2001

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Visual SourceSafe 6.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Visual InterDev 6.0 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q236951



SYMPTOMS
After adding a Visual InterDev project to Source Control you cannot see the project in the Visual SourceSafe explorer.



CAUSE
This can happen if the Visual InterDev project is added to a different Visual SourceSafe database than expected. This sometimes happens when Visual SourceSafe is installed during the Visual Studio setup, which provides two distinct setup opportunities. The option to install Visual SourceSafe occurs both in the Client and Server portions of the installation of Visual Studio 6.0. The two installations are slightly different, and install to different paths.

The Visual SourceSafe installation in the server portion of Visual Studio setup installs Visual SourceSafe Server into \Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VSS. This version contains tools for setting up Source Control on remote computers that utilize a centralized Visual SourceSafe database.

The Visual SourceSafe installation from the client portion of Visual Studio setup installs to \Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\Common\VSS. This version of Visual SourceSafe is intended for developers to use locally on their computers, and does not have the support to set up remote computers to utilize this Visual SourceSafe database, specifically Netsetup.exe support.

When Visual InterDev is used to put a Web project under Source Control, it makes requests to the FrontPage Server Extensions (FPSE) to check files in to and out of Source Control on the users' behalf. The FrontPage Server Extensions attempt to locate a Visual SourceSafe database they can use by searching the registry for the location of Ssapi.dll. Since both installations of Visual SourceSafe install and register this DLL, the setup program that was run last is the DLL that is found. The server extensions then move up one folder and read the contents of the Srcsafe.ini file for detailed information on implementing Visual SourceSafe. Note that this activity occurs on the Web server, and not the client where Visual InterDev is installed.



RESOLUTION
Look in the two paths cited above, or search the hard disk drive for multiple versions of the Ssapi.dll. Uninstall multiple copies of Visual SourceSafe, and reinstall the version that you want to use. The Server version of Visual SourceSafe can be uninstalled from the Add/Remove control panel. The Client version of Visual SourceSafe can be uninstalled by running the Visual Studio Setup program. Choose Workstation Tools and Components, and then cancel the Visual SourceSafe selection in the Add/Remove section.

If you require multiple Visual SourceSafe databases on the Web server and the FPSE do not find the database you want, you can either reinstall the version of Visual SourceSafe you want the FPSE to use, or you can manually register \VSS\Win32\SSAPI.dll for the appropriate installation of Visual SourceSafe for the FPSE to use.

To register the DLL manually, click Start, Run, and type:

regsvr32 \ssapi.dll

You should receive a success dialog box if the DLL is registered correctly.

Ensure that the Visual SourceSafe Administrator tool adds user accounts to the correct Visual SourceSafe database by clicking Users/Open SourceSafe Database and checking the path. Add user accounts to the appropriate Visual SourceSafe database for each developer's user name that will be working against the project in Visual InterDev. The password field is ignored and may be left blank.



STATUS
This behavior is by design.



MORE INFORMATION
When you use Change Connection in Visual InterDev, the FrontPage Server extensions use the currently registered Ssapi.dll file, and add the Visual InterDev project to the correct Visual SourceSafe database.

If the Visual SourceSafe project in the wrong database has file histories that you want to preserve, you can use the Archive and Restore utilities in Visual SourceSafe to copy the project from one database to another. You should do this before following the steps in the Resolution section above, and restore the project as the one that you are using in step 4.

