Software Development Management- How?

[Dorian Grey]

Hi There,

Does anyone know of a good way to manage software development (in
Labview)?

I've been the only programmer in Labview at my company, so tracking
software changes wasn't too bad. We recently hired a couple of
engineers who also program Labview. Now we're at a point where there
are many versions of the same software springing up. No one here has
any knowledge of software management tools available (except a
spreadsheet program, and a magnetic marker board).

Any links or suggestions are welcomed.

Kind Regards,

-Dorian

dorianjps_at_hotmail.com (change _at_ to @ if e-mailing me)

[Photon_Dan]

Dorian,

Having worked in several multi-developer LabVIEW situations, I HIGHLY recommend Perforce.

Perforce is a revision control system application that costs $600 per user. You'll need some space on a central server to store all the depot VIs and other files. LabVIEW 6.1 PDS supports the interface to Perforce directly so you can check-in and check-out VIs as you edit them.

Check it out at www.perforce.com.

BTW - last I heard, NI uses Perforce for its own VIs and even for LabVIEW itself.

Cheers,

Daniel L. Press
PrimeTest Corp.
www.primetest.com

[Pvakh]

Have you tried to use Source Code Control tool included into Labview. It does exactly what would you like to do - controls source code, keeps history, automates version numbering, etc. It is alredy there in Labview and, depending on your Labview license, is free.
Good luck.

[Mark A. Hanning-Lee]

Dorian Grey wrote:
>
> Hi There,
>
> Does anyone know of a good way to manage software development (in
> Labview)?
>
> I've been the only programmer in Labview at my company, so tracking
> software changes wasn't too bad. We recently hired a couple of
> engineers who also program Labview. Now we're at a point where there
> are many versions of the same software springing up. No one here has
> any knowledge of software management tools available (except a
> spreadsheet program, and a magnetic marker board).

A critical part of any source code management is the human level:
deciding which developer will touch what VIs! Then you choose a tool.

We use MS Visual SourceSafe and it works OK for 2 developers.
I've used it on my own for 3 years.
Availabl
e standalone or as part of Visual Studio.

I also know people at a systems integrator (NI Alliance member) who use
it. They still use it for control of up to 20 developers' work.

See its home page http://msdn.microsoft.com/ssafe/ and the best
practices page
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnvss/html/vssbest.asp
..

Best, Mark