Remove Whitespace Before Committing Files to TFS - visual-studio

Question

Visual Studio gives us this great ability to completely customize our work environment, including how we wish to format whitespace. I am very particular about how and where I want tabs, spaces, braces, etc. to appear.
For instance, I prefer tabs to be inserted as tabs not spaces. I also prefer the indentation (Tab size/Indent size) to only be 2 spaces (frankly I don't need 4 spaces to see that the line has been indented).
This is all well and good until I work collaboratively. Everyone else I work with just seem to use the defaults for whitespace/formatting. This causes problems when using source control like TFS. If you compare files worked on by me and then a co-worker, the changes in whitespace also show up. I don't want to see these changes; they're not significant.
Please don't tell me the answer is that the entire team should use the same settings. This isn't the correct answer. That answer is a cop-out for bad design. Why have the ability to customize your environment if everyone is forced to use the same settings?
Why doesn't TFS (or any other source control) remove unnecessary whitespace before committing a file based upon the file type? This has several benefits. One, the storage required to hold the file is less. Two, the transmission of the file to the source control server should be more efficient since the file is smaller (these first two benefits are probably negligible since the files are probably compressed anyway). Three, and most importantly, TFS (or any source control) will no longer report changes in whitespace when doing a file diff.
When I view/edit the file in my environment, it will be reformatted how I've defined it. When someone else views/edits the file, it will be reformatted to their specification.
Is there a way to do this currently in TFS?

Answer 1

Although what you said about is very reasonable, I still want to say the best solution is to get the entire team to use the same standards for white space in code. After all, you are teams.
If you insist on it, below is a workaround that to this problem (only works on your local machine).
In Visual Studio, select Tools / Options / Source Control / Visual Studio Team Foundation System and click the Configure User Tools button.
In the dialog, Add an item with the following settings.
Extension : .*
Operation : Compare
Command : C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\diffmerge.exe
Arguments : %1 %2 %6 %7 %5 /ignorespace
Depending on your Visual Studio version and instalation path (x64/x86), the command option may be...
VS2010: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\diffmerge.exe
VS2012: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\diffmerge.exe
VS2013: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\vsDiffMerge.exe
VS2015: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\vsDiffMerge.exe
In the argument option leave it with the same number of arguments as the VS suggests and just add /ignorespace in the end. For example, in the VS2015 it will be:
%1 %2 /ignorespace
More details you can refer this blog: Configure Diff to Show Whitespace
You could also use another alternative. WinMerge is. It also has an option to ignore whitespace (menu Edit -> Options -> Compare -> Ignore all (under the groupbox "Whitespace" at the top)).
How to use WinMerge with TFS you can refer:
Using WinMerge with Team Foundation Server (TFS)
Using WinMerge as the default diff/merge tool in Visual Studio
2012/2013