How do I wrangle all these projects into Bazaar? - c#

Where I work at, we have about 2 dozen or more projects, using SVN as version control. My boss is pretty strict about the repositories, but misguided I think. For example, we always have one "Current" branch for development, which gets merged into Trunk before a release. For all other purposes, "Current" is the trunk and we don't ever make more branches. Likewise, he's picky about file contents, most pointedly, all the References in the project files must adhere to a "flat" directory structure between projects (ie, all project folders in one directory.)
Now, I figure that one way I can make my life easier would be to use Bazaar locally so I can work on features in their own branches, make frequent commits locally (for change tracking), possibly reorganize my projects, and generally make my life a little easier.
Except I can't quite get the repository structure for Bazaar figured out! The standard would seem to be something like
Project-Repo (Shared Repo)
/Project-Trunk (Bound to SVN)
/Project-Feature1 (Branch of Trunk)
/Project-Feature2 (Branch of Trunk)
Some projects have up to a half-dozen or more references to other projects. And most features will require changes to at least 2 projects at any given time. I have no idea how to handle that. If I break the feature branches out into other folders, I lose the shared repository benefits. And if I leave them in place, then I'll have to reconfigure all the references each time I need to branch projects for a new feature.
The best I can think to do is just deal with the lack of shared repos and do something like this:
Branches
/Feature1
/ProjectA-Branch
/ProjectB-Branch
/Feature2
/ProjectB-Branch
/ProjectC-Branch
With the trunks all being stored as individual repos elsewhere just for the purpose of merging and final commits back up to SVN.
Is that the best layout I'll be able to get with Bazaar or are there techniques that I'm unaware of? Repository layout is a very challenging exercise considering how common it should be.

I think, given the constraints about them all having flat local names, this is probably the best setup.
You could make some of those directories actually not be whole branches, but just checkouts of the common branch, if you don't intend to modify them.

Related

Git, Two Repositories in One Solution

We have two projects written with c# on Visiual Studio, let's name them A and B. Both of these can be used as seperate products. Bu B can be integrated to A or to other products as a module. We were using SVN but now we are switching to Git with VSTS(azure devops).
We mostly develop B project while we develop A project, in the same solution.
Is there any way to set these repos seperately and commit changes of both projects in same branch with out switching solutions?
What is the right strategy we should use to manage this situation?
We solve this using git submodules. A submodule is a separate git repository inside another git repository. You commit separately in both repositorys, and the parent repository "remembers" which commit of the submodule repository it currently points to.
You can find plenty of documentation about submodules, e.g. in the pro git book. There are some pitfalls, but if you once get the workflow, it's a good approach for your problem.
Git Subtrees might be an alternative.
As an alternative to the submodules approach, you might want to consider a monorepo approach; in other words, keeping both projects in the same git repository.
There is nothing in Git (or Visual Studio, for that matter) that requires you to use the repository's root folder as your working directory when working with the code in the repo, so your current developer workflow within each individual project could probably work just fine. You also get the benefit that working on B and A in the same solution will feel very natural.
Depending on your team structure, etc, there are of course drawbacks as well (for example, without good discipline it can be cumbersome to be very many people working in the same repository), so don't see this as a "silver bullet" - see it as one of many possible solutions to your problem; evaluate them and pick one based on what seems like it would work for you (and switch again if it didn't work out).

How to maintain base code in separate Git repository?

Firstly, I'm new to VSTS and Git, so apologies if my terminology gets muddled!
PROBLEM
My situation is that I have a VS/C# Project (called "PluginBase") that is, essentially, "starting template" code for a plugin. Historically, I've would just copy that PluginBase project code every time I wanted to create a new "tailored/derived" build for a particular customer.
What I would like to be able to do is, as and when bug fixes are resolved and features are added to the PluginBase project, I'd like the option to migrate these changes to one or more of the "tailored/derived" builds. Likewise, if the bug was first found while developing a "tailored/derived" build, I'd like to migrate that back to the PluginBase plugin.
IDEAS
From my research, I've come across a few "possible" ways of achieving my goal, but I'm not sure which (if any) of these approaches are suitable.
Branches
Seems the common approach, perhaps the "best", but...
Means all code must be in the same repository? (otherwise can't "cherry pick" across) - which I'd prefer to avoid as this may not always be possible
Git Submodules
Seems more intended when projects are sharing a common "library" (not deriving from same code-base)
Also not sure Visual Studio fully supports this feature
Cherry Pick
Doesn't seem possible to do this from one repository to another?
Git Patch
Doesn't seem Visual Studio supports this feature yet?
So, if anyone has any advice, guidance or new suggestions for approaches I could (or should) be using, I'd really appreciate your input.
Many thanks! :)
Git Branches are definitely the way to go. The code indeed has to be in the same repository, git stores change sets and in order for a change set to be applied git has to know what happened since the code-paths split or it can not replace the correct lines of code.
Make a branch for each time you roll out a version to a customer, you can then cherry-pick across the different branches.

Git repository structure for c#/.net projects for small teams

I am looking at moving our .net(c#) projects from TFS to git. The general consensus in the tema that we do not want to continue with tfs has been reached and we wish to trial git. We currentley do not have that many projects to migrate over but we expect these to grow as our old systems are replaced.
Currently we have a tfs project for all things that we think will be needed by multiple projects, database stuff, 3rd party dll's etc. What is the best way to have a similar structure in git?
The best way I could see is to have a similar thing to our current structure, with a seperate repository for all the common files.
I have read about using submodules but there seems to be a lot of complaints about these. Is it worth trying something like repo or another alternative? Or is there a better way to handle this?
This question is going to be pretty subjective, but IMO I would solve this by having a separate repository for your common stuff.
Another option is to migrate your common stuff to Nuget packages so you can move your common stuff forward without worrying about breaking all your existing projects.
In my experience common projects in an Enterprise environment tend to calcify your ability to respond to change quickly. Instead you spend lot's of time worrying about how changes in your "Core" or "Lib" modules will affect the 80+ projects you have that are using them. Worse, people just start shoving everything into those modules even if it is only pertinent to a few projects simply because it's easy.

.NET solution - many projects vs one project

We currently have a rapidly growing C# codebase. Currently we have about 10 projects, split up in the usual categories, common/util stuff, network layer, database, ui components/controls etc.
We run into the occasional circular dependency where project x depends on something in y and vice-versa. We are looking at maybe collapsing the projects down to one and just managing using structure folders/namespaces. We have a Java project which of course organises just using folders/packages so we're not sure what, if any, benefit having multiple projects brings. None of our projects require special project properties, except the main run project, which we may kept separate (and very thin).
Does anyone have any prior experience in why one project is better/worse than multiple projects and could suggest the best approach? And also any issues with circular dependencies would be useful in either approach would be useful.
Any input appreciated.
In my experience, separating code which creates a single executable in multiple projects can be useful if you want to
use different programming languages in different parts,
develop libraries that are also used by other applications, or
conceptually separate multiple layers (i.e., let Visual Studio ensure that there are no direct references from project Lib to project App).
Personally, I base most of my decisions on the second point. Do I think that part of the application can be a more general library that I am likely to need in other application? Put it in a separate project. Otherwise, as you point out, having a single project usually makes development easier.
About the circular dependencies: The recommended way to solve this is to put interfaces of the referenced stuff into a third project. For example, if you have two applications both sharing some objects through remoting, you put interfaces of the shared objects in a library project to ensure that they are available to both applications.
Without knowing the exact design of your application, it's difficult to give more concrete advise.
If you've got projects with circular dependencies, that indicates a problem with the design of the code, not with the solution/project model.
When making dependencies between projects, it helps to always think of one as "Lower" and the other as "Higher"
A higher level project (such as a web interface) should only depend on lower projects. A lower project (such as a utility) should never depend on something higher, such as a web interface. If this happens, it either means your higher level project has something that really should be in the lower project, or vice versa.
Generally speaking, having multiple VS projects (within a VS solution) does just make sense in these cases
You can potentially reuse the produced DLL in another project (a class library)
You want to separate things like in a layered architecture where you may drop the DAO dll and exchange it with another
There are just different front-end projects (i.e. ASP.net MVC apps) which need to be deployed in different physical locations but use the same BL, DAL.
If your saying you're having the problem of circular dependencies, then you're having a problem in your code design. Probably you may put that logic which is used by multiple projects inside a class library designed to be reused in many projects.
Generally I'd say you shouldn't add more projects if you don't really need it. Splitting up into projects means adding more complexity, so when you're doing so, you should gain a reasonable benefit from it.
We've noticed that Visual Studio's performance degrades significantly as the number of projects grows. Something as simple as switching from 'Debug' to 'Release' configurations can takes upwards of 15 seconds for solutions with around a dozen C# projects in them.
Also, as a counter point to Reed's comment about build times, I've seen build times grow because Visual Studio seems to be spending a lot of time on the project overhead. The actual compile times seem fast, but the total time from hitting build to being able to run is significant.
My advice would be keep the number of projects to the minimum you can get away with. If you need multiple projects for good reasons then use them as necessary, but prefer to keep things together. You can also refactor to split a project into two if necessary.
Multiple projects allows better reuse of specific types within multiple applications. It can also improve build time, since certain projects will not need to be rebuilt for all code changes.
A single project makes life easier, since you don't have to worry about dependencies. Just realize that the ease comes at a cost - it also makes it easier to let poor design decisions creep into the code base. Circular dependencies, whether in one project or multiple, are typically a design flaw, not a requirement.
There are several reasons for separating a solution into different projects (and thus assemblies), and it mainly comes down to re-usability and separation of responsibilities.
Now your goal should be to make an assembly (aka project) has the minimum amount of dependencies on other assemblies in your solution, otherwise you may as well have everything in fewer assemblies. If for example your UI components have a strong dependency on your data access code then there is probably something wrong.
Really, this comes down to programming against common interfaces.
Note However:
When I say "otherwise you may as well have everything in fewer assemblies", I wasn't necessarily suggesting this is the wrong thing to do. In order to achieve true separation of concerns your going to be writing a lot more code and having to think about your design a lot more. All this extra work may not be very beneficial to you, so think about it carefully.
You might find the following Martin article worthwhile: Design Principles and Design Patterns (PDF)(Java).
A revised version in C# specifically is available in Agile Principles, Patterns, and Practices in C# also by Martin.
Both express different guidelines that will help you decide what belongs where. As pointed out, however, cyclic dependencies indicate that there are either problems with design or that something is in a component that belongs in a different one.
Where I work, we opted for an approach where the aim is to have a single project per solution. All code library projects also have a test harness application and/or a unit test app.
As long as the code libraries pass testing, the release versions (with Xml Documentation file of course) get transferred into a “Live” folder.
Any projects that requires functionality from these other projects have to reference them from the “Live” folder.
The advantages are pretty clear. Any project always accesses known working code. There is never a chance of referencing a work in progress assembly. Code gets tested per assembly, making it far easier to understand where a bug originates. Smaller solutions are easier to manage.
Hope this helps!
Shad
Start with single project. The only benefit in splitting your codebase into more projects is simply to improve build time.
When I have some reusable functionality that I really want to isolate from main project, I'll just start brand new solution for it.

What is the best way to deal with shared dlls in C#?

In my team we have hundreds of shared dlls, which many also reference other dlls that themselves reference other dlls, and so on. We have started to use a 'Shared' directory for all the dlls that we feel are generic enough to use in other projects, such as a database comms dll.
The problem is that if one of the dlls all the way down the tree is changed, then everything that references it needs to be recompiled to avoid versioning issues (which occur at runtime).
To avoid this, there is now talk of adding all our 'shared' dlls into one big assembly, and anyone creating new apps simply reference that, and that alone.
This obviously will get bigger and bigger and i'm not sure if this is the best way or not. Any thoughts please?
What we do is treat the maintenance of the shared DLLs as a project in itself, with its own source-control and everything. Then about twice a year, we do a 'release' of the shared DLLs to the public, with its own version number and everything. As long as you always use the DLLs as a 'set' (meaning all the ones you reference are from the same release) you're guaranteed not to have any dependency issues.
It's most definitely not the best way to do it. I have a few "shared" DLLs at my job that are kind of like that. They get unwieldy and difficult (read: impossible) to make meaningful changes to because it becomes too difficult to ensure that changes don't break apps downstream, which seems like the exact opposite of what you're trying to do.
It sounds like what you really need to do is separate your concerns a little bit better. If all of these DLLs are referencing each other, they're probably too tightly coupled. A true "shared" DLL should be able to stand on its own, or as part of a packet of three or four that travel as a group. If your dependencies are actually preventing you from making changes, then your coupling strategy has gone horribly wrong.
Putting everything in one large DLL certainly isn't going to make anything better. In fact, probably the opposite. Once you've got everything in one DLL, the temptation will be there to couple everything within it even more tightly together, which will make it impossible to pull things apart later.
you can make one solution that include all connected projects.
and when you need to release, just build this solution
Update.
As you say, the solution is cant hold so much dlls.
In other hand you can make an external MSBuild script
or using CruiseControl.NET that have possibilities to make such complicated tasks.
To quote from the GoF book, "Program to an interface, not an implementation." This could apply here to some of your libraries. You are already aware of how brittle your develop becomes when you have tight coupling. Now what needs to be addressed is how to give you breathing room.
You can create an interface. This will provide a contract that any application can use to specify that a minimum set of functionality is available.
You can create a Service that implements an interface. This will allow you to provide what would be thought of as an addon or a plugin. This allows you to design towards a contract version with expectations that your tools will adhere to.
You can create a Service that only uses an interface. This will allow your application to send in any concrete implementation that adheres to a contract of design.
Products like development editors and web browsers use this approach to make some code reuse possible. Thank you. Good day.
Design Principles from Design Patterns
Plugin

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