Working in teams quick start guide

This article describes the workflow for teams collaborating on a shared project. There are several ways to set up a shared project. The easiest and quickest is to utilize a shared folder on your local network. Everything you need is built-in to CaseComplete and no additional software needs to be installed or configured.

However CaseComplete also integrates with version control servers (both on-premise and cloud-based) such as Subversion and Microsoft Azure DevOps. See the complete list. Advantages of using a server include: tighter security, access via http, and superior performance on WANs and VPN.

The steps for working on a shared project are similar regardless of which version control system you choose. The steps below describe setting up a repository in a shared network folder.

Create a project (project administrator only)

Create a new shared project: File / New / Shared Project, or share an existing project: File / Sharing / Share this project. Select Subversion when prompted for which version control system to use. You'll then be asked for a Repository Location and a Working Folder Location.

  • Store the repository in a network folder that everyone has full control security permissions1 to.
  • File-syncing services such as DropBox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, etc. won't work for the repository location. It must be a folder accessible via your local network.
  • Keep in mind that each project must reside in its own folder, so you might want to set up a general folder that will eventually hold multiple repository folders.
  • Put the working folder in your own private workspace, e.g. your Documents folder on your local hard drive, or anywhere you have full control security permissions1, including a network drive (certain restrictions apply). Do not create the working folder within the working folder for another project.
  • This step can take a while, and while CaseComplete is uploading information into the repository, "Not Responding" may display in the title bar.

Access a shared project for the first time (additional users)

Retrieve the project files from the repository and save them into your own working folder by selecting File / Sharing / Join Shared Project. Choose Subversion when prompted for which version control system to use. You'll then be asked for a Repository Location and a Working Folder Location.

  • Enter the repository location set up by the project administrator in the step above.
  • Put the working folder in your own private workspace, e.g. your Documents folder on your local hard drive, or anywhere you have full control security permissions1, including a network drive (certain restrictions apply). Do not create the working folder within the working folder for another project. If the folder doesn't exist yet, CaseComplete will create it for you.
  • Perform this step just once
  • This step can take a while, and while CaseComplete is downloading information from the repository, "Not Responding" may display in the title bar.

Open a shared project (everyone)

From now on, to work on the project, open it from the recent files list or use File / Open and browse to your working folder that you specified in the steps above.

There is no need to ever browse to the repository on the server, nor should you ever make any modifications directly to the repository. If you do happen to look at the repository location, you won't see your CaseComplete project files. Rather, the files are stored in a database, and you will see miscellaneous files and folders such as conf, db, hooks, and locks.

Make changes

Check out the file(s) you want to work on: right click on a package or diagram in the project browser and select Check Out, or just start editing and you will be asked if it's OK to check out the file. A green check mark is added to the project browser icon indicating you have it checked out:

CheckedOutMe

Make your changes available to teammates

When ready, check in your changes by selecting the Check In button on the Home tab. A dialog will show the file(s) that have changed and allow you to add a comment describing your changes. The green check mark will change to a lock icon, indicating the file is checked in and locked from further changes:

CheckedIn

Get changes made by teammates

To retrieve the changes that have been checked in by teammates select the Get Latest button on the Home tab. This will bring over all changed files from the repository (if any) and save them in your own working folder.

Determine what files your teammates are working on

Icons shown in the project browser indicate the file status. When someone else has a file checked out you will see this icon:

CheckedOutOther

CaseComplete will prevent you from editing files that are checked out by someone else.

When a file is out of date you will see this icon:

OutOfDate

This means someone else has checked in changes to the file and you don't have the latest version yet. To get their changes, select Get Latest as described above.

Important: These icons don't update automatically, so when someone checks a file in or out, you won't immediately see the icon change. To see the current status for all project files, select the Refresh Status button on the Home tab.

Add new packages (folders)

As your project grows, you'll want to add packages to hold new items: right click on an existing package and select Add Package. In the resulting dialog, select Save package in its own file if you want to be able to check it out independently. Or, if it should always be checked out with its parent, unselect this option. If you change your mind in the future, right click on the package in the project browser to change the setting.


1Full control refers to the shared folder permissions, not to be confused with NTFS permissions.

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