i have used TF.exe (Team Foundation Client) to checkout files from outside with the following command.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/noahc/archive/2007/01/22/real-tfs-command-line-help.aspx
tf checkout $project/filename
but, i need to checkout from outside when TFS server is also not reachable. In visual studio, it prompts us to work offline and then later on, it sync automatically with the changes into server when it goes online. How do i acheive the same from tf.exe or any other way to do it.
PS: i do have real requirement of editing some files which is not belongs solution files which gets modified from outside of visual studio. as of now,i am using tf checkout method to checkout the file from outside. but, this require connection TFS server all the time.
You can't do this with the command-line tools, because the offline mode is a feature of Visual Studio, not of TFS.
The tools always work directly with the TFS, so it must be online and reachable at that time.
Amendment regarding your P.S.: What Visual Studio does in Offline mode is just setting the local files to writable and "remembering" with which files it did that. Then, on going online again, it checks for any changes in the meantime. If there were any, it starts a merge process, if there weren't, it checks out the file without getting it.
There's no reason why you couldn't do this same process by hand, it's just more comfortable through VS.
BTW: Why not have a Solution for this "dangling files"? Just create an emtpy solution and add them as Solution Items. This way you can use the VS offline mode.
Related
I have a couple of ASP.NET Core based projects being developed using Visual Studio 2019.
I am having issues where my workspace and TFS server on Azure-DevOps are out of sync. My PC contains the most recent code and I want to push everything I have on the server. I don't really care about the status of the TFS server as it is wrong. I just want to force everything to get pushed to ensure my PC and TFS are syncing again.
How can I force the TFS on Azure-DevOps to take all my files? I don't even mind removing the project altogether from Azure-DevOps and push all files as if this is a new project.
According to your description, sounds like there is something wrong with your source control binding. Or maybe some files outside of Visual Studio do not detect by TFS server. Which cause your workspace and TFS server out of sync.
If you want TFS server detect changes done to files outside of Visual Studio, the simplest way is using local workspace.
Now anything else changes files outside Visual Studio, your workspace detects the changes automatically.
It also detects adds or deletes but you have to include them to your Pending Changes manually with the link under `Excluded Changes
If you are using server workspace, this is kind like when you are offline, you cannot work with your local files because they are read-only until you check them out. So highly recommend you switch to local workspace, you just need to make sure you open the files in VS from a path which the same as your TFS local worksapce. Then it will auto sync changes in Visual Studio and show in pending changes.
More detailed information on the pros and cons of local and server workspaces, please refer our official link.
Now in your situation, we suggest you fist back up all of your local codes/files first. Then delete your old workspace, create a new local workspace.
Get latest from your sever, then copy all your back up to your workspace folder. Then let windows file system auto detect the difference between them, replace files download from server with your back up local version.
Now your local workspace should contain the latest version of your code/file, Visual Studio will auto detect the changes and list them in pending changes, if something added in excluded list, manually promote them.
Finally you could just check in/push all pending changes to TFS server. Now everything back to the track again.
Hope this helps.
I have a VERY large project which just went through an upgrade process. The upgrade is a process external to Visual Studio. As a result, files that are deleted by the upgrade process do not get properly detected by TFS so TFS pukes on checkin saying that it can't find the file.
The problem is that there are several hundred files that need to be excluded to resolve the issue. I could do this for days before I'm done. I'm pretty sure my boss would prefer it not take several days.
Is there a quick way to find and automate the exclusion of these files so I can just be done with it?
You have two options...
Use a Local Workspace - if you go into the settings of your Workspace you can change it from Server to Local. This will allow the changes to be detected automatically. You may need to copy everything out and then back in if you have already made the changes...
Reconcile the difference - You can use the TFS 2013 Power Tools and the "tfpt online /adds /deletes /diff /noprompt /recursive directory-name" command...How to have TFS 2010 detect changes done to files outside of Visual Studio?
Recently I have intalled VisualSVN and TortoiseSVN extensions in my Visual Studio 2015. I have successfully configured Repository and now it is working fine.
I have also configured svn:needs-lock property to my pages. Now, I need to know who is modifying or using the particular file and which is supposed to be committed.
The problem is that there may be multiple developers might be modifying multiple files and Now, I need a list of files which is exclusively checked out by developers. Just like a Pending Changes Explorer in Visual Studio for whole repository. So, where can I get a list of files which are being used same as Visual Source Safe Control?
If you need any information just ask me in comment I will add it.
Thanks!!
I use a server workspace for my Visual Studio / TFS setup because our project far exceeds the 100,000 file recommended limit for local workspaces.
One of the drawbacks of a server workspace is that Visual Studio cannot automatically detect changes to files in the workspace if these changes have been made outside of Visual Studio.
If I believe there may be undetected changes lurking in my workspace, how can I tell Visual Studio to actively/explicitly check the integrity of the workspace. I.E. I need a "get" operation that assumes that zero pending changes may actually be incorrect.
There is a PowerTools command tfpt online which looks for files which have had their read-only attribute removed (if you were messing with them on the train home for example) but I guess you might have new files and need something like detected changes in local workspaces.
If you go into Source Control explorer you can right click your folder, select compare and then play around with what you need to compare the server to your local copy (file types, new files, different files etc)
TFPT Online:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/buckh/archive/2005/11/16/power-toy-tfpt-exe.aspx
If you are using TFS 2013+ and Visual Studio 2013+ then you can use the "tf reconcile" command to analyse the differences.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb385984.aspx
The power tools "tfpt online" command has been depricated for some time.
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.