Source control is a way for you to ensure that only one person at a time edits a file — a necessity in a multi-authoring environment. Microsoft FrontPage provides a built-in source control feature that lets web authors perform basic source control tasks:

• A web author can check out a file. When a file is checked out, other authors can open the file, but cannot modify it. A file that has been checked out is indicated by (the file is checked out to you) or (the file is checked out to a different author).
• A web author can check in a file after editing and saving it. The file is then available to other authors for checking out. A file that is checked in and available is indicated by .
• A web author can undo a file checkout. The file is checked in without applying any of the changes that were made since the file was checked out.

FrontPage publishes the last-saved version of a file, rather than the version that was last checked in. For example, if a file is checked out, modified, and then saved, this version of the file is what will be published, rather than the version that was last checked in.

Note   To use the built-in source control, your Web server must have the FrontPage Server Extensions.

Integrating Microsoft Visual SourceSafe with FrontPage

If you want to use Microsoft Visual SourceSafe as a method of source control, you can integrate a new or existing Visual SourceSafe project with FrontPage. Then, the source control actions that are performed in FrontPage will also be performed in Visual SourceSafe as though the web author had used Visual SourceSafe directly. For example, if a web author checks out a file in FrontPage, the file is also checked out in the Visual SourceSafe project.

All files in the web will be tracked in the Visual SourceSafe project. However, other Visual SourceSafe features (for example, viewing a file history or rolling back to a previous file version) must be performed in Visual SourceSafe.

Because the Visual SourceSafe project is synchronized with FrontPage, file management actions you perform in FrontPage will be reflected in the Visual SourceSafe project:

• Add or create a file. FrontPage adds the file to the Visual SourceSafe project.
• Move or rename a file. The file is also moved or renamed in the Visual SourceSafe project. Then, FrontPage checks out all pages that have hyperlinks to the moved or renamed page, updates the hyperlinks, saves the pages, and then checks them in.
• Perform an action that affects other pages. Actions that affect other pages include applying a theme, modifying a shared border, or changing a file that is included in other pages. FrontPage checks out all pages that are affected by the change, updates the pages, saves them, and then checks them in.
• Delete a file. FrontPage deletes the page from the Visual SourceSafe project.

Note   These actions are best performed when all files in the web are checked in. If a file is affected by one of these actions but is checked out, FrontPage either does not let you perform the action, or you must update the files yourself when they are checked in again.

For information about how to integrate Visual SourceSafe with FrontPage, see "Overview of Server Extensions Source Control" in the Microsoft FrontPage Server Extensions Resource Kit.

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