TechNote (Archived)

Check In/Check Out: managing a Web site in a team environment

This TechNote is the first in a series explaining how best to use Dreamweaver's Check In/Check Out feature. Below you'll find introductory material as well as instructions for setting up Check In/Check Out. Links to the other TechNotes in this series are listed under Additional information.

Managing a Web site in a team environment
The Check In/Check Out system helps Web developers in a collaborative environment manage a Web site's files. The Check In/Check Out option allows only one person to work on a file at a time, to prevent team members from overwriting each other's changes.

Basic workflow
To use Check In/Check Out, all team members must define a site in Dreamweaver. Each team member defines a local root folder on his or her own hard drive, and a common remote server is used for sharing. Team members access files by checking them out from the server. While a file is checked out by one team member, other team members should not access the file. Icons in the Site window will indicate to all the team members whether or not a file from the server has been checked out. Once a team member has finished working on a file, it is checked back in and becomes once again available to other team members.

Setting up Check In/Check Out
You must first define a site and select certain options in the Site Definition dialog box to activate Check in/Check Out:

1	Setting up the local site Each team member defines a site, designating a folder on his or her computer system's hard drive as the Local Root Folder.
2	Setting up the remote site In the Site Definition dialog box's Remote Info category, team members specify a server folder (Host Directory for FTP access) or remote folder (for Local/Network Access).All team members use this same server folder to share files within the team. How to define a site in Dreamweaver (TechNote 14028) has more information about both defining a site locally and setting up the remote site.
3	Enabling Check In/Check Out In the Remote Info category, the Enable Check In/Check Out option is selected. Each team member, as well, indicates a Check Out Name and an e-mail address. After these options have been activated, the Check In and Check Out icons appear in the site window interface:

Checking out
To download a file, a user selects the file in the Site window and clicks Check Out. This will download the latest version of the file from the server. If other users try to check out the file while it is checked out, they will be warned that the file is already in use.

Checking in
After editing the file, a user can select the file in the Site window and click Check In. This uploads the edited version to the server. After it has been checked in, other users will be allowed to check out the file.

Note: Checking in a file to the server also sets the local copy of that file to read-only status. This reminds users to check a file out before working on it.

Additional information
For more introductory material about the Check In/Check Out feature, consult the other TechNotes in this series:

	Check In/Check Out: managing a Web site in a team environment (this TechNote)
	Interpreting the Site window with Check In/ Check Out activated (TechNote 15446).
	Understanding how Check In/Check Out works (TechNote 15447).
	Using the version control features in Check In/Check Out (TechNote 15445).

For more specific information about Check In/Check Out or site management, see:

	Sharing files among team members (Technote 15361)
	How to define a site in Dreamweaver (Technote 14028)
	Setting up Dreamweaver's FTP connection (Technote 14787)
	Design Notes incorrectly show Checked out status in Visual SourceSafe (Technote 15107)
	C++ Runtime Error in Dreamweaver 3 running on Windows 2000 (Technote 14715)