>Thanks Paul - I think this is the approach we will adopt - it's similiar to what Peter suggested and seems most logical...
>Thanks for your advice - it will have no doubt saved me hours maybe even days!!!

Hi Chris,

one more point: VSS enables multiple checkouts by directory. And it's recursive by nature. That's the bad news. The good new is that in the srcsafe.ini file, you can specify, by directory, whether a directory should be multiple-checkout enabled. Here is an example, from my srcsafe.ini file:

*** excerpt from srcsafe.ini file showing how to limit multiple checkouts

Multiple_Checkouts = No

[$/ProSysPlus/Project Manager/PPM]
Multiple_Checkouts = Yes
[$/ProSysPlus/Project Manager/PPM/classes]
Multiple_Checkouts = No
[$/ProSysPlus/Project Manager/PPM/data]
Multiple_Checkouts = No
[$/ProSysPlus/Project Manager/PPM/forms]
Multiple_Checkouts = No
[$/ProSysPlus/Project Manager/PPM/menus]
Multiple_Checkouts = No
[$/ProSysPlus/Project Manager/PPM/prgs]
Multiple_Checkouts = No
[$/ProSysPlus/Project Manager/PPM/reports]
Multiple_Checkouts = No

***

IF the VFP implementation of the scapi did not check in the PJM file after a manual merge, you would be able to enable multiple checkouts only once for each developer joining a project, as a file once checked out in multiple checkout mode stays that way as long as it is not checked in. However, it does check it in after a manual merge, so the above bit of workaround is necessary.

Hank