Subversion Server

Since I want to do this project as a sample that will work for anyone reading it, not just the students in my class, I'm not going to set up a local Subversion repository for the code.

Instead, I'll use a site that offers free Subversion hosting. XP-Dev.com has both free and paid modes. One of the things I liked about their free mode is that there's no limit on the number of users. So if I decide later to take on collaborators, they can get access to the code.

Another free service that looked good was Unfuddle.com. They limited their free version to just a couple of users, though, and didn't provide as much storage space.

So I created an account over at XP-Dev.com. First step there is to create a Subversion repository. It'd be helpful at this point to know what my project was going to be about, to name the repository appropriately. Since I don't, I'll just pick a working code name for the repository.

Click on Subversion in the list on the right after you're logged on to XP-Dev.com, and then click on New Repository. Put in a name of some sort and click the Save button.

The next page that shows gives you the addresses you'll need to configure Subclipse. Copy the No SSL address and start Eclipse.

Create a new project in Eclipse (File->New->Web Application Project). Name the project, and give it a package name, too (that can be the same as the project name). Make sure that it's checked to use the latest versions of GWT and App Engine. Click the Finish button.

Open Window->Open Perspective->Other..., and choose SVN Repository Exploring. In the upper left pane, choose the little icon that has a + and SVN on it to add your new repository. Paste in the URL you copied from XP-Dev.com after you created your SVN repository, and click the Finish button.

Enter your XP-Dev.com user id and password when asked. You should then see your repository listed in the upper left pane.

Now let's hook that repository up to the project you created. Get back to the Java perspective (Window->Open Perspective->Java) and right click on the name of the project in the upper left pane. Choose Team->Share Project..., choose SVN and click the Next button. Use Existing Repository Location should already be selected, and you'll see your XP-Dev repository listed. Make sure it's selected, too, and click the Next button. On the next screen it asks for the folder name, I just left the default selected and clicked Next.

On the next screen click Finish, and it'll ask if it should open the Synchronize View perspective. Click Yes, and the Team Synchronizing perspective opens. This is where you can add files to the repository so that they're under version control. To do this we right click on a file and choose Add To Version Control.

We can do the same thing from the Java perspective, by right clicking on a file and choosing Team->Add To Version Control.

Let's go ahead and add everything using the Team Synchronizing perspective. Right click on the name of the project and choose Expand All. Select all the actual files (but not the directories) by holding down the control key as you click on each file.

Be sure to select all the .jar files from war/WEB-INF/lib. You haven't written those files, but including them makes it easier to recreate the project from SVN if you have a computer or disk crash.

Right click on one of the selected files and choose Add To Version Control. Then right click on one of the files and choose Commit. You'll now be able to enter a comment to be attached to this particular version of the files in the repository. I entered "Initial version" and clicked OK.

Subclipse will now upload those files to the repository. If you log in via the web to XP-Dev.com you can browse the repository and see the files there.

We'll need to remember to add new files we create to version control, and to Commit changes to version controlled files.

More on that as we go along, and other Subversion related topics.