VS 2008 users: remember to download the SourceSafe CTP

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VS 2008 users: remember to download the SourceSafe CTP
Richard Berg
19 Nov 2007 4:23 PM

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　　You've probably all seen Soma's announcementthat the 2008suite of products officially shipped this morning. Good luck downloading -- our servers are pegged :)
　　If you plan to use VS 2008 with SourceSafe, make sure to pick up the Update CTPtoo.Without it, some features like "Open from Source Control" will not workat all. Pay close attention to the install instructions as well. As it says in the KB article:

　　Youmay receive error messages when you use Visual Studio 2008. This problem occurs because some compatibility fixes require the Tdnamespaceextension.dll file to be reregistered after you install Visual Studio 2008. To reregister the Tdnamespaceextension.dll file, type the following command at the [elevated - RB] command prompt:  
　　regsvr32 "%programfiles%\Microsoft Visual SourceSafe\tdnamespaceextension.dll"

　　Sorryabout the manual install step. It sucks, I know. The next Update won't have this requirement. (We wanted to ship it before Orcas but raninto some last-minute delays. Expect it before the end of the year.)
　　Whydoes SourceSafe need an update anyway? Aren't VS plugin interfacessupposed to be backwards compatible? Yes, they are. In fact, there are no changes to the MSSCCI API in 2008; none of the fixes are related to MSSCCI. (3rd party source control developers can now breathe a sigh of relief). The changes come from the way SourceSafe implements Open from Source Control, Add to Source Control, and Share inside Visual Studio.  
　　Starting in VSS 2005, these functions letyou browse the database inside VS's open/add dialogs instead of hangingoff the File -> Source Control menu like most other source control providers. It's a cool trick known as a namespace extension. In VS 2008, as you may have noticed, those open/add dialogs got a facelift: like VSS 2005,VS 2008 now uses the standard Windows dialogs. So Vista users in particular get a spiffy new one with integrated search & everything. Unfortunately, that change broke us pretty badly, leadingin one way or another toat least 10 of the bugs on my list. Bottom line, you don't want to be caught without the Update linked above.  
　　Hopefully these fixes demonstrate our commitment to keep SourceSafe 2005 a viable option with VS 2008, Vista, and beyond!