Source Code Control, SecurityConfig.config, and Azure
Hello,
As we are evaluating Sitefinity v4.0, we are also evaluating how developer friendly it is. One minor annoyance is how well v4 RC integrates with our source code control. Since a single project may be shared across multiple developers, we need to include configuration files that are stored in the App_Data folder in source control - this way one developer's changes in any of the modules for example, would be updated in another developer's instance when they perform a "get all" from source code control.
That being said, when the administrative interface needs to make an update to one of the config files that are checked in, it will error, saying that a config file could not be written to. This is fine as the developer simply needs to check out the file, try saving again, and then check in once completed.
When the administrative interface adds a config file, VS isn't aware of the new file. The developer would have to constantly check to see if there are any new files added, then add them manually to VS. Minor annoyance, but I can see how something could accidentally be left out.
Finally, when the SecurityConfig.config is checked in (therefore marked as read-only), the entire SItefinity application fails, saying "Access to the path - - -\App_Data\Sitefinity\Configuration\SecurityConfig.config' is denied." When marking the file as writable, the site then works. So I'm not sure why Sitefinity won't work properly if this file is marked as read-only?
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Any word on getting v4 fully compatible with WIndows Azure? From what I understand in other posts, the problem lies with the App_Data folder not being writable in Azure. Will Telerik be addressing this issue?
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Again, these are just very minor annoyances. I feel that v4 is an awesome awesome product and very much look forward to upgrading our current site and promoting v4 to all of our clients. I congratulate Telerik, especially the Sitefinity team on a great product.
Best Regards,
Ed Sirijintakarn
Internetiks, Inc.
Hi Ed,
Thank you for the feedback.
Actually, the described from you scenario is not considered in Sitefinity - you cannot make the configuration files read-only. They are created and updated dynamically from any point of the application, not only from Administration -> Settings UI. Therefore this process cannot be controlled outside of the Sitefinity application. In other words, the configuration is also a database (not just separate files), which is very closely related to the content database.
Our concept is that the configuration is not a part of the development process, but in the content management. For example, it will be used for the personalization module.
Anyway, we will think of the best approach to handle the cases like yours and will provide some guidelines.
We do not support Azure officially and we cannot give you certain answers to your questions about it. We will start working on Azure support after the official release and when we will be able to give you some more details.
All the best,
Vlad
the Telerik team
Ed, if you use a tool like the AnkhSVN Visual Studio plugin (which is free) that may solve your problem with files being added ad not knowing about it.
It's been over 2 months...
Has anybody had time to think of a good process and provide guidelines yet??
We have multiple developers working remotely (using TFS).
I have tried to follow the solution in this post:
http://www.sitefinity.com/devnet/forums/sitefinity-4-x/general-discussions/team-foundation-server-help.aspx
However, the process doesn't exactly work as described.
I am going to post in the other thread the fallacies that I see and what I think needs to be done to get it to work as originally described.