How to use TFS with Visual Studio without Team Explorer - visual-studio-2010

I'm looking at the MSDN subscription comparison (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/subscriptionschart.aspx) and am a bit confused. Regarding VS2010 Premium and Ultimate: what is the difference between the two? Both offer TFS but only Ultimate comes with Team Explorer. Can you use TFS without Team Explorer?

Ultimate comes with Team Explorer "Eaglestone" - an eclipse plugin. All of the versions offering TFS come with the visual studio Team Explorer.

The answer is a bit outdated now so here is an update and some context: Team Explorer is the rich client for Team Foundation Server. All Visual Studio 2010 (and later) editions come with Team Explorer built in. For previous versions of Visual Studio (2005 and 2008) it came as a seperate install. You can still download it for free from the Microsoft website and install it even if you don't have Visual Studio installed. Team Explorer "Eaglestone" is now branded as Team Explorer Everywhere; it is an equivalent rich client, but instead of running as a plug-in to Visual Studio, it is a plug-in for Eclipse. There used to be a seperate license fee for Team Explorer Everywhere, but it is now available for free.

Related

Creating a team project with Team Explorer using Team Foundation Server 2015

I'm looking for a way to do administrative tasks such creating new team projects having installed Team Foundation Server 2015 previously without having to install Visual Studio Community 2015. In older versions of TFS, I could use Team Explorer for creating team projects but now which version of Team Explorer can I use to do it on TFS 2015?
The Team Explorer is gone for 2015 "wave": "we are not going to ship a Team Explorer 2015 stand-alone GUI".
To create a new team project you have to use Visual Studio 2015:
"Only the latest version has "full" compatibility with the latest Team Foundation Server, because this will be the only client that contains components that can interface with new features for that release, and will also be the only client from which you can perform certain administrative tasks such as creating new team projects" link
You need at least Team Explorer installed. There's no way around it. The problem is that Microsoft isn't shipping Team Explorer 2015 as a stand-alone package. You can install Community and use that.
Once you have Team Explorer available, you can use the Team Foundation Power Tools to create a Team Project from the command line, though.
If you don't want to install Visual Studio 2015 (8GB across all drives) for Team Explorer only you can follow the workaround explained in that article : http://www.sqlshack.com/wheres-my-team-explorer-2015/ basically by using an older version of Team Explorer and the Excel add-in

Can you install a standalone TFS client that doesn't need Visual Studio?

Is it possible to get a standalone TFS client on a server that does NOT have Visual Studio installed? We'd like a way to "reach into" a TFS project from a server, without having to install Visual Studio?
Possible? I've seen Team Explorer, but will that work without Visual Studio?
Team Explorer 2008 will allow you to connect to TFS, but it will install a Visual Studio shell.
Team Explorer Everywhere has Web access. Martin Woodward wrote a great article about it.
Download the TFS power tools. The "Windows Shell Extension" component allows one to perform most operations with TFS via Windows Explorer. Note that the Power Tools installer states that Visual Studio 2010 (or Visual Studio Team Explorer 2010) is a prerequisite for the following features:
Command-line interface
Visual Studio Integration
Check-in Policy Pack
Process Editor
Windows Shell Extension
PowerShell Cmdlets
It's 2017 and Microsoft (re)introduced the standalone Team Explorer.
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/visualstudioalm/2017/04/05/reintroducing-the-team-explorer-standalone-installer/
If you remember back to 2013 (and before), we released standalone installers for Team Explorer. In VS 2015, we did not release a standalone Team Explorer since customers had free options with Express SKUs and Community, which included Team Explorer functionality.
Customers have continued to request a standalone installer for Team Explorer for non-developers, however. And so today, with the Visual Studio 2017 Update release, the standalone Team Explorer installer is back.
Download - https://www.visualstudio.com/thank-you-downloading-visual-studio/?sku=TeamExplorer&rel=15
Included with Team Foundation Server there is a free web front end called "TFS Web Access". In TFS 2008, the Web Access was a different installation and it came as a Power Tool to the TFS. In TFS 2010, the Web Access is installed automatically and is part of the TFS.
In order to get to the Web Access in TFS 2010 do the following:
In your preferred browser type:
http://[YourServerName]:8080/tfs/web/
YourServerName is the tfs name for example: http://tfs-srv:8080/tfs/web/
Also, if you need Agile planning and a Task Board with TFS Web Access, take a look at Urban Turtle - http://urbanturtle.com. According to Microsoft, this is the premier Scrum tooling for TFS.
Discloser: I work with the Urban Turtle team. So do not take my words. Instead, read what Microsoft blogs said about Urban Turtle.
http://blogs.msdn.com/search/SearchResults.aspx?q=urban%20turtle&sections=3652.
There now seems to be a more generic Team Explorer Everywhere for TFS - perhaps that will give us non-VS users desktop access to TFS :)
It includes an Eclipse plug-in and usefully, a command line client.
While it appears to be a dead project. If you like having version control outside an IDE (or independant of the IDE). There is SVN Bridge, which allows you to use TortoiseSVN to talk to your TFS server.
https://svnbridge.codeplex.com/
You can install Team Explorer (on the TFS install DVD, or you can download it from MSDN) without needing to have VS2010 installed - Team Explorer will install a 'shell' VS2010 with only the TFS features available - none of the IDE components.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=fe4f9904-0480-4c9d-a264-02fedd78ab38

Can Visual Studio 2010 Express connect to Team Foundation Server 2010?

I know VS 2010 Pro/Premium/Ultimate include TFS connectivity, does VS 2010 Express?
No it doesn't.
See this SO question (What is “missing” in the Visual Studio Express Editions?) - one of the bullet points is no Team Explorer support, meaning to TFS integration.
On this Microsoft page for VS 2010, you can see the the Pro edition with MSDN essentials subscription has none of the TFS features out of the box, suggesting that this is also the case for the express SKUs.
I'm not sure if you can install this http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=329
Though i don't know why you wouldn't be able to install TFS support for free, since microsoft provides a free plugin for Eclipse that you can use.
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=4240
If you log onto codeplex, it will give you a free key to use this.
Edit: The following link makes it seems like you can use it in VS
https://tfs.discountasp.net/KB/a843/visual-web-developer-20052008-and-visual-studio-2010-express.aspx
While Visual Web Developer 2005/2008 and Visual Studio 2010 Express will not directly integrate with Team Foundation Server, you can still use the Team Explorer application to connect to your server to check files out for editing.
Assuming that you have already
installed Visual Web Developer
2005/2008 or Visual Studio 2010
Express on your workstation, perform
the following step:
Download and install Microsoft Visual Studio Team Explorer 2010 - ISO.

Connect Visual Studio 2010 Professional to TFS

Is it possible to connect Visual Studio 2010 Professional edition to TFS (project hosted on Codeplex)?
This states, it is not included in Professional edition:
http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products
However, for VS 2008, there was separate download of Team Explorer and it was posible also for Professional version.
Is this changed for VS 2010?
Team Explorer is included in most editions of Visual Studio 2010. Try going to the View menu and if Team Explorer is listed then you have it installed.
If you do need to download Team Explorer then you can do so from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=fe4f9904-0480-4c9d-a264-02fedd78ab38
Note that TFS is licensed on a per-user basis on people connecting to the server needing to be covered by a Client Access License (CAL). If you have Visual Studio without an MSDN subscription then you also need to purchase a TFS CAL to be licensed to use TFS. (A new benefit of MSDN Subscriptions with the Visual Studio 2010 release is that all levels now include a TFS CAL as well as a full TFS license)
M.
The TFS client is included with most editions (Professional & above). No separate install. See http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonba/archive/2010/02/11/team-explorer-is-included-in-visual-studio-2010.aspx
I'm using the Ultimate Version and I have a Team Tab at the top that has a "Connect to Team Foundation Server" option as well as a Team Explorer Tab.
I just looked through my msdn account and I see a "Visual Studio Team Explorer 2010" as a separate download.

Visual Studio 2010 Team Explorer

I just installed VS2010 and I want to connect to TFS, But I don't have any team explorer options.
I searched for Team Explorer and I found this link that states that Team Explorer comes preinstalled in VS2010 Team Suit.
I downloaded VS2010 Pro and don't have team explorer and can't find it anywhere.
Any ideas? Tips?
Thanks
I think there's been a misunderstanding down MS naming conventions.
All versions of Visual Studio 2010 have the ability to conenct to TFS built in, there is no longer a separate install (what was previously called Team Explorer).
What the Ultimate edition gets with what is now called Team Explorer (codename Eaglestone) is a standalone rich client for accessing TFS.
If you downloaded VS2010 Pro...you didn't download a version that came with Team Explorer. You need to re-download VS2010 Team System. You can grab it from MSDN or download it from:
Visual Studio 2010 Team System Beta 1 Download
UPDATE
As of Beta 2, Microsoft renamed versions a little. TFS Connectivity is now included with 'Ultimate'.
It looks like Team Explorer is also available as a separate download. The VS 2010 Beta 2 version is here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=CA86215B-A824-44E7-B4C3-982C7ECEA46D&displaylang=en
The RTM version of Team Explorer is here: Microsoft Visual Studio Team Explorer 2010 - ISO
VS2010 Pro is a different release from VS2010 Team Suit and it doesn't contain anything that has to do with TFS. If you want to connect to TFS you need to get the VS2010 Team Suit release.
This has been the norm ever since VS2005.
You can download Visual Studio Team Explorer (or the command line tools) from the following:
Team Explorer 2013
Team Explorer 2012
Microsoft Visual Studio Team Explorer Everywhere 2010
Team Explorer 2008
Team Explorer 2005

Resources