Collaborative development?

[Ken Ray]

On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 17:59:40 -0700 (PDT), stevex64 wrote:

> 
> Hi List,
> 
> In VB it's relatively easy to develop collaboratively using modules and
> forms. Can you work in a similar manner in Revolution? Is there anything
> like modules in Rev development? And this question isn't just about mods,
> I'm asking for any ideas about collaborative development in Revolution.

Well, you can share stack files in a similar way as you can share forms 
in VB; and you can create code libraries that can be "attached" with 
the "start using" command that are similar to VB code modules. Altuit 
has a Rev-based check-in/check-out program called Magic Carpet, and 
several of us (myself included) have created much simpler version 
control systems to support collaboration. 

The only real "gotcha" (AFAIK) is if you decide to use substacks; in 
that situation it is much more difficult to collaborate as the 
substacks are in the same stack file as the main stack, so if you want 
to have one person work on Substack A while another works on Substack 
B, it takes a bit more to detach and reattach the substack(s) being 
worked on. 

My recommendation would be to:
   (a) move all generic code (the type you'd generally put in VB code 
modules) into libraries
   (b) try as best as possible to use individual stacks (the "forms" 
part of the app) and stay away from substacks if you can
   (c) use a "stub" or "splash app" approach to development (that is, 
turn a very simple stack with basic loading instructions into the 
standalone and leave everything else as stack files)
   (d) use a version control system like Subversion or Magic Carpet for 
check-in/check-out

Hope this helps,

Ken Ray
Sons of Thunder Software, Inc.
Email: kray at sonsothunder.com
Web Site: http://www.sonsothunder.com/