Here are some basic steps and a brief explanation of how it works to get started. If I have any of this wrong someone let me know. I have only set it up once for my project a while ago.
You said you had the plugin installed if, if someone has not see Monte's docs for how to install.
https://github.com/montegoulding/lcVCS
You need to install both the lcVCS plugin and the mergJSON plugin.
Once you have those plugins installed you can set up your project to use lcVCS.
You need to note first where you have your project saved you will have lcVCS to point to that.
To do that in the lcVCS plugin click on the '+' button on the left side. Here you choose the path to your stack. That folder is then added as a project that lcVCS can track
Next you have add the stack files for that project to track.
To do this while you have your project selected on the left side click on the stack files tab in the lcVCS plugin.
Now click the '+' button under the stack files field to add stacks that you want tracked by lcVCS.
(the order you add the stacks in is important. see the docs for more info.)
Next you need to export the stack files to VCS by clicking the 'export to VCS' button.
So now you have your first version saved. When you make changes and save them then you use the 'export to VCS' button each time to export the updated stacks to lcVCS.
So now in your stack folder you will see other folders that mirror the stack files in you project. These contain a representation of your project in a series of folders and text files that can then be used by a version control system.
So the next step is to set up a repository with a version control system. I have a repository set up on
https://bitbucket.org and use the client software 'SourceTree'
http://www.sourcetreeapp.com. You can check the docs there to see how to set up a repository there and associate it with your local folder where your stack files are saved.
Once you have that setup you can use SourceTree to commit changes that are in the local file to the remote repository and track your changes. I understand you can do all of this by command line if you are so inclined--I am not at this point, I like the GUI that SourceTree has.
If you have another person working with you you add them to the same repository so they can then check out your project which downloads the lcVCS generated files to a folder on their computer. They can then rebuild the stacks from the lcVCS generated files by setting up that folder in the lcVCS plugin and then clicking 'import to stack files'.
So then you make changes, export to stack files, commit to the remote repository, The other person can then see that you have made changes and they checkout the changes you have made which downloads them to their local repository. They have to 'import to stack files' so the stacks are rebuilt then they can make changes, export to lcVCS commit, and so on. You can both be making changes at the same time but you have to do things like create a branch and then merge the branch back later. I am still getting the hang of this aspect of version control. One really powerful part is you can check out older versions of your stack and then rebuild your stack from stack files then work on it and create a branch from that point. The other thing that I find really helpful is that you can see all of the changes you made to scripts over time.
That is it in a nutshell and probably an oversimplification. Again someone correct me if any of this is wrong or is missing steps. Does any of this help?
There is some more work to do to ensure lcVCS works properly. See the docs for the rules for successful use of lcVCS and tips on how to reduce false positive conflicts.
I have been using lcVCS for a while and it has really made working on my project much easier and has given me confidence as I make changes to scripts because I can easily see the history of what I have changed and if need be go back to an earlier version.
I had never used version control before but after setting this up I would not go back. Monte's lcVCS is a great contribution to the LiveCode community.
Martin
