Note: To use Subversion with web projects you will need to enable the Subversion hack to use _svn directory names instead of the default .svn (which are incompatible with ASP.NET web projects).

1. Import the existing C# project(s) into Subversion.

svn import svn://svn.url/ProjectName/trunk -m "Initial import of ProjectName"

2. Once imported you must delete the existing code (or move to a backup location) and then checkout the source from Subversion.

svn checkout svn://svn.url/ProjectName/trunk .

This will create a working copy in the current folder.

The next step is to ignore certain files and directories that should not be stored under version control. These include user-specific files (*.suo) and the bin and obj directories (where the compiled output goes).

3. Change directory to the folder than contains the solution file and issue the following command (note the dot at the end):

svn propedit svn:ignore .

Subversion should pop up Notepad (by default) for you to edit the value of the property. If it doesn’t, set an environment variable called SVN_EDITOR to notepad.exe. In Notepad, type in the following:

*.suo
Ankh.*

4. You’ll also need to make sure some files and folders are ignored for each of the projects referenced by the solution. To do this, type in the following command, once for each of your project folders:

svn propedit svn:ignore <ProjectName>

In the Notepad window, type the following:

*.user
bin
obj
Bin

5. Finally all of these changes need to be commited via the following command:

svn commit -m "Set files and folders to be ignored"

References

Subversion on Windows

I’d recommend reading this to any .NET programmers, a good article on how learning Ruby (or any ‘other’ language) helps to make you a better programmer. A couple of his points mentioned, do not compile and dynamically enhance the behavior of a class – without a Decorator, highlight the benefits I have experienced with Ruby.

I am currently employed working on an ASP.NET 2 web project and coding a Ruby on Rails project (www.trawlr.com) in my spare time. I quite often find myself in the .NET world thinking “this would be so much easier, quicker and fewer lines of code with Ruby”. In fact the Ruby on Rails knowledge has helped to make me realise just how important it is to choose the right tool for a given job. I’ve also dabbled with PHP in the past (before discovering the joy of Ruby on Rails) and have always enjoyed the very quick code / run cycle. It makes changing and testing code much less tiresome than with .NET where you have to recompile after each change (and it always seems to takes an age).

This second release of my RubyCLR bridge contains a non-trivial Windows Forms 2.0 application written entirely in Ruby.

I haven’t yet had time to play with this, but the idea is pretty impressive. When I’m using C# at work I’m constantly thinking if I were doing this in Ruby it would be so much quicker (shorter, more elegant code).