Get Latest Source Code in TFS without Visual Studio - visual-studio

Uses: Visual Studio 2013; TFS Express 2012;
For an Audit and BCP Requirement, Another member of an IT staff needs to get a copy of the latest version of the Source code in TFS for back-up purpose.
This authorized member of the IT Staff needs not be a developer and should not be able to change or compile the code, but his sole privilege will be to download the latest version of the Source Code from TFS without any version of Visual Studio.
How can this be achieved?

In TFS 2012 and 2013 you can give them access to the web only and have them download a read only Zip...

You can choose the Team Foundation client to support your tasks:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms181304.aspx
In your case, you can use the "Team Web Access for TFS". Team Web Access provides you read-only access to Team Foundation Version Control. You can view files and even download the latest versions of them. You can also compare two files, view version history, as well as view annotation information about a file, showing who made what changes in the file. You also have the ability to find and view Shelveset information. You cannot, however, check information into or out of Team Foundation Version Control.
Info taken from here:
http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2011/04/25/wctfs_team-web-access.aspx

Related

Not Working: Add a Project to Team Foundation Server 2012 using Visual Studio 2015

I am trying to add new projects to the Team Foundation Server and every way I have tried to add them has failed. We are running TFS 2012 Version: 11.0.50727.1 (RTM) and I am running Visual Studio 2015. I am a member of the Administrators Group.
I have tried at least 3 ways that MS support says how to do it on the website and none of them have worked:
I have tried to add it through Visual Studio
I have tried to add it through the Team Foundation Server Administration Console on the Server.
I have tried to add it through the TFS Web Management Portal.
When I try to add it through Visual Studio, I get an error when trying to check it in. It shows on the Source Control Explorer with a pending change of 'Add'. Here is a screenshot of the team explorer and output:
Since the message tells me to add it to the server, I opened the TFS Server Admin Console and When I go into the Team Projects Tab under Team Project Collections, it lists the existing projects, however, there is no way to add a new project. Here is a screenshot of the Admin Console:
There is only a help icon with a link on How to add a Team Project, although like with most MS help articles, it is useless. It provides information about how to do it on the web. So I tried it. I accessed the web portal for our TFS server and there isn't any option to add a project there either. When I go in to the "View the collection administration page" It tells me "Not all Collection level administration is exposed in the web experience. For all administration operations at the collection level please use the Administration Console on your Team Foundation Server.". Here is a screenshot of the online portal:
Can someone please help me with this issue? How can I add the projects to the Team Foundation Server?
I figured out how to Add the projects to the Team Foundation Server using Visual Studio 2015. It is very simple and can be done right from the File Menu in Visual Studio.
First open Visual Studio 2015. (I am not sure if it works the same in other versions.)
Go to File -> New -> Team Project...
The New Team Project Wizard will popup where you can then enter the project name and project description.
Then you can choose the template type and whether you will be using TFS Version Control or Git Distributed Version Control.
Once you click Finish, the Project will be added to TFS.
You can then add the files to the workspace folder on your dev machine.
Then you can check the files into TFS using the Team Explorer. *Note: First, you may need to add the files to the project by going to the Solution Control Explorer and right clicking on the newly created project and selecting Add Items to Folder. From there you can add the files then check them in using the Team Explorer.
Please clarify you want to create a code project/solution and add it to a TeamProject, or you want to create a TeamProject. TeamProject and code project/solution are different.
If you want to create a new TeamProject, according to Client compatibility, TFS 2012 supports VS 2015 RTM or latest update. Check your VS 2015 edition and re-try to create a TeamProject.
If you want to add a code project/solution to a TeamProject, you'll have to connect a TeamProject first and create a workspace, then perform a check-in: https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/docs/tfvc/set-up-team-foundation-version-control-your-dev-machine
Last, try to clean the Cache folder on your dev computer. The folder path is: C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Team Foundation\4.0\Cache.
If none of above works, try on another dev machine to see whether you can reproduce this issue.

Setup a local TFS/TFVC repository in VS2015

I want to create a new project in VS2015 and set it up to use TFVC instead of Git.
I changed the source control plugin to Visual Studio Team Foundation Server from Tools->Options->Source Control->Plug-in Selection, and I created a new project with "Add to Source Control" checked, but the project is still created with a Git repo.
I also tried adding a server connection from Team Explorer->Manage Connections->Servers...->Add..., but there was no server at http://localhost:8080/tfs (I assume it's not install by default).
My question is how can I work on a TFS repository that is local to my computer (it's OK to use a server so long as it's on localhost).
You have to install Team Foundation Server on your local computer.
This is a separate download and not a part of Visual Studio.
According to the system requirements, TFS (starting with 2013) can only be installed on a 64-bit OS. You don't need to install SharePoint or any other part of TFS that you won't use (like for example Build Services).
You also need an instance of SQL Server running on your local computer. TFS will create a bunch of databases on this instance where it stores its internal data. If you don't have a license for SQL Server, you can use the Express Editions of TFS and SQL Server both for free. These Express Editions are recommended by Microsoft (see previous links) if you plan to use TFS only on you local computer, but of course you can use a paid edition as well if you need some special feature.
After installing TFS you have to create a Team Project Collection in the TFS Administration Console which can be found in the Start menu. Then add a new connection in the Team Explorer as shown in your screenshot and create a new Workspace (Source Control Explorer --> Workspace --> Add) with a Working Folder that matches the local directory containing your source files.
The URL of the TFS is the one that was set in the Application Tier of the TFS Administration Console. (http://localhost:8080/tfs is the default URL.)
As far as I know it's not possible to use a TFS/TFVC without installing and configuring a full Team Foundation Server reachable by a URL, but of course anything can be limited to be usable only on your local computer.

Don't have CheckOut option in Visual Studio 2012

I am starting my own project with my team. I created an account in team foundation server and I could connect to the server.
Everything looks ok(I created a project and checked in it and I can see it in my tfs page) but when I try to checkout some files I don't have the CheckOut option. I can choose between Unchanged and Check In.
I checked the Server option in Source Control Settings
Here's Microsoft's Official Documentation:
Check out and edit files
TL;DR: You don't have to manually check out, just start editing and Visual Studio will automatically check it out for you.

Project management with Visual Studio, without TFS?

Can I have some basic project management in Visual Studion without TFS or is TFS what I need?
Basically I like to get a list with my projects, last edited dates, and if possible project tags (customer for example), and when selecting one VS should load it. From the right repository (Mercurial/Git/Svn). I can move my project to some repo host if they have this solution (Addon).
At the moment I handle the projecs manually with Windows standard folders + SVN/Hg in folder context menu, and thats a headache.
Thank you
As far as I know Visual Studio doesn't support that functionality natively.
TFS isn't my forte but I know it comes with MSDN subscriptions and the retail version is around $500 if that is the path you are interested in. If you do go the TFS route you have an option to use TFS Basic during install which is a greatly simplified install of TFS that can even use SQL Express.
You can check out pricing and download the trial from here if you want more info:
http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010-editions/team-foundation-server

How to detect a file modifications with TFS?

It seems that when I use a tool (such as winmerge) to update my codebase... my Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) integration with Team Foundation Server (TFS) doesn't seem to pick it up.
How do I know which files to check out and check back in? Is there something I am missing? Is this a feature that isn't part of VSTS & TFS?
First, this is probably because the files have not yet been checked out. If you do that first before running your update, TFS will see those changes.
Second, you can use TFS Power Tools (available from MS) to review local repository for changes that are not recognized. If there are found differences, power toys resets the status of the file so Pending Changes window sees the change. this does not require you to check-out the files, it will do that for you if there are differences.
Pretty nifty.
Power Tools for 2008 is here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=15836
and you are looking for the "Online" command:
"Online Command - Use the online command to create pending edits on writable files that do not have pending edits."
I assume you are applying changes across an entire project, outside of VS.
You will have to check-out the complete project first, then apply the changes and check back in. Unmodified files will not be actually checked-in, AFAIK.
Your question sound like as if you have not installed the Team Foundation Server Client.
If you have installed the Visual Studio Team System edition you are able to connect with the Team Foundation Server. But to have the integration working you need to install the Team Foundation Server Client as well.
After having done this your Visual Studio should inform you in case of file changes and then automatically check out the files.

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