I have a solution with an API and an injectable service in 2 separate projects.
Solution
----> solution files
|--> project.api
----> project.api files
|--> project.Lib
----> project.Lib files
When I go to add the solution to my TFS Source repo, it adds the "project.api" project and a solution file that configures an extension but ignores the .lib project and all sub items/folders.
If I go an add any of the sub-items it gives me a message that this file(s) has been ignored, do I want to add it anyway.
I am assuming the project is being ignored due to the *.LIB extension????
Is this a reserved extension of some sort and if so, is there a way to change this?
This is an expected behavior. When you add a solution to TFS through the Visual Studio 201x "Add solution to source control" menu option certain (build output) files and folders are automatically ignored.
You could find already pre-defined list what files will be excluded by TFS if there is no custom .tfignore specified/present on the system.
You could refer to the "LocalItemExclusions.config" file under the path "C:\Users\youraccount\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Team Foundation\x.0\Configuration\VersionControl folder " and open.
(There may be several folders named like 6.0, 7.0, you need to make sure open the folder that match your TFS version.)
You could see server folder and files types include .lib are ignored by default and they are defined in that file:
<Exclusion>bin</Exclusion>
<Exclusion>obj</Exclusion>
<Exclusion>*.exe</Exclusion>
......
<Exclusion>*.lib</Exclusion>
To change the casing of a file name under Git we can use git mv command as specified here.
How do we achieve the same result in TFS?
We have a large collection of team projects (more than 150 team projects) and each team project is broken down into 6 Visual Studio projects at least, that makes at least 900 Visual Studio projects. Now in some of them we have Web.config file and in some of them web.config file. The point is, we're creating some automated QA/QC tools that need a consistent casing across our projects.
We want to change the lowercase web.config to PascalCased Web.config in all files.
We change file names on Windows, but TFS doesn't recognize it as change. We use Source Control Explorer to rename files there, and still it doesn't recognize the change.
We used tf rename web.config Web.config and it complains that the file already exists. We're stuck at this point. Any ideas?
Make sure the files are really in source control which are not prevented tracking by your settings (.gitignore or .tfignore ).
Try to get latest first (In Source Control Explorer right click the project node --> Get Latest Version ). Then rename the files. I tested on my side and the rename from lowercase web.config to Uppercase Web.config works as expected.
If that still not work, you can try to remap the workspace or create a new workspace to check that again.
Besides, you can also try to rename the file from web portal.
I have several C++ projects in a few separate solutions in Visual Studio 2003.
I need to rename several of the directories and source-code files in these projects.
How do I rename directories and source files such that VS will recognise the new names?
If I change file names in the OS, VS ignores them. It still shows the old file names in the Solution Explorer, and double-clicking those produces an error message (something like "Could not complete the operation").
The Solution Explorer doesn't seem to provide any way to rename files.
I can select a file and see properties such as what file-system path it points to, but I can't change any of those properties.
I'm not using integrated source control.
I solved the problem in a few ways.
If I rename a directory containing a project used in a solution, I can either edit the SLN file directly, or open the solution in Visual Studio, then remove and re-add affected projects.
If I rename a source file used by a project, I can edit the VCPROJ file, as this contains the paths of all source files in that project.
I also had to check all projects for "Additional Include Directories" and "Additional Library Directories". Some of these referenced renamed directories.
I eventually fixed most of these using a separate text editor's "Find in Files" function to find directory references. This was faster than using the VS UI to check properties of each project.
We use Codesmith to generate some code, and when we open up the projects, the files are there, in the solution, but there is no way to check them in. The DLL compiles just fine. The only difference to the .csproj is the addition of any new files we generated.
But unlike VSS, TFS, does not detect these files. I validated this behavior by editing the .csproj manually. For some reason, the only way to add a file to TFS is through Visual Studio.
However, when I remove them from the project, and then include them, I get the usual yellow plus sign.
You can manually add files to Visual Studio, however changing your project file isn't the best way to do this. If your project is already under source control and the files you want to add are visible in the Solution Explorer window, you can simply right-click a file and select Include in project. The next time you check your code in, the items will be added.
Since you're using TFS 2010, check out the Team Foundation Server Power Tools extensions. This includes the Windows Shell Extensions which give you integration into Windows Explorer which let's you right click on files or folders and add the to TFS outside of Visual Studio. Very nifty!
Looks like it is not possible and the workaround is to batch-add all the files through PowerTools. Though this article/forum-thread is dated it appears to be helpful:
Adding CodeSmith generated source file in Team Foundation System
We have multiple config files (app.DEV.config, app.TEST.config, etc) and a pre-build event that copies the correct config file to app.config. Obviously the configuration specific files are in source control --- but at the moment so is App.Config, and that shouldn't be.
How can I mark that one file as excluded from source control, but obviously not from the project.
I'm using VS 2005, and 2005 Team Explorer.
It's easy in TFS2012, create a .tfignore file
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/tfs/ms245454%28v=vs.110%29.aspx#tfignore
######################################
# Ignore .cpp files in the ProjA sub-folder and all its subfolders
ProjA\*.cpp
#
# Ignore .txt files in this folder
\*.txt
#
# Ignore .xml files in this folder and all its sub-folders
*.xml
#
# Ignore all files in the Temp sub-folder
\Temp
#
# Do not ignore .dll files in this folder nor in any of its sub-folders
!*.dll
# EDIT https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms245454(v=vs.110).aspx#tfignore
# A filespec is recursive unless prefixed by the \ character.
Select the App.config file in Solution Explorer, and choose File -> Source Control -> Exclude App.config from Source Control.
There is a checkin policy (Forbidden Patterns Policy) in the MS Power Tools which lets you screen filenames against a regular expression. See: Microsoft Team Foundation Server Power Tools
While checkin policies are not completely foolproof, they are the closest thing TFS has to enforcing user-defined rules like what you're looking for.
(And as the others have said, you can also cloak a file or folder, which means it stays in Source Control and is visible to everyone else on the team, but it's not copied to your PC until you decide to uncloak it; or you can delete the file, which means it gets deleted from everybody's PCs when they get latest - but neither of these options will prevent such files being added to source control in the first place)
There is an option that is hard to find:
1. Select the file or multiple files in Solution Explorer
2. Go to File -> Source Control -> Advanced
and here it is
Keep in mind:
If you right click a file in Solution Explorer you only find "the most important options" not all :)
If all you want is to have a file in the project but not under source control with TFS, just go into SourceControl, delete the said file, and undo your checkout of the project file (it will attempt to remove the file from the project as well). Then check-in your delete of the file you are excluding. In the solution explorer you should see that there is no source control icon next to the file you're excluding. The project file should list a file there, but that file should now no longer be under source control.
Keep in mind, any other person will now see a missing file in the project when they get latest.
TFS allows you to cloak at the folder/file level. When something is cloaked, TFS won't attempt to sync it (much like a svn:ignore).
When setting up your workspace, cloak anything you want TFS to ignore. A more detailed how-to is here.
This worked for me:
One way is to add a new or existing item to a project (e.g. right click on project, Add Existing Item or drag and drop from Windows explorer into the solution explorer), let TFS process the file(s) or folder, then undo pending changes on the item(s). TFS will unmark them as having a pending add change, and the files will sit quietly in the project and stay out of TFS.
Source:
=">How can I exclude a specific files from TFS source control
Visual Studio 2013 (and 2012)
This feature is available by selecting the file(s) and going to:
File > Source Control > Advanced > Exclude ... from Source Control
This question was asked a while ago but it pertains to the same type of issue I was having.
The Problem:
We want to check in our code.
We then want build our project.
During our build we depend on Build Events to move files around so we have the proper files in place for the build process to complete.
When our Build Event tries to copy the files, we get Access Denied errors.
The Reason:
Team Foundation Server Visual Studio Plugin changes the Read Only attribute on our files to READONLY TRUE when we check in our files.
Build Event Example:
copy "$(TargetDir)SomeFile.ext" "$(ProjectDir)"
Above, we simply need to move a file from our Target Build Path (the bin\debug or bin\release folders) to our Project Folder. In my situation, this was so I could include project built files in my installer. My Installer wasn't grabbing them as part of the Project Output.
The Fix: (nearly kicked my self in the face when I figured this out)
New Build Event:
attrib -R "$(ProjectDir)SomeFile.ext"
copy "$(TargetDir)SomeFile.ext" "$(ProjectDir)"
attrib +R "$(ProjectDir)SomeFile.ext"
We're all having fun with Build Events right? Above I simply do 2 things, I remove the read only attribute, now the files not read only. Copy my file as I was originally wanting to. Then replace the Read Only Attribute (optional I guess) to keep Visual Studio and Team Foundations happy.
And yes... I'm still kicking myself in the face on this one.
I have a similar issue, my App.config contained sensible data (e.g. username) that this data should not by sync with TFS.
The article Best practices for deploying passwords and other sensitive data to ASP.NET and Azure App Service describes an good approach to prevent this issue:
Use the "file" attribute of the "appSettings" element to reference an config file that is not added to source-control
If you have an older version than TFS2012 and thus can't create a .tfignore file or use the File > Source Control > Advanced > Exclude … option, you can try this:
Make a copy of the target file in Windows Explorer.
Undo Pending Changes (if any) on the target file in Team Explorer/Visual Studio.
Delete the target file in Windows Explorer.
Move the copy of the target file to the location of the deleted target file, and rename it so it has the same name as the deleted target file.
TFS now seems to ignore the changes in the target file. If you need to edit the file again, don't use Visual Studio, as TFS will then put the file back in the list of files with Pending Changes.
You can just simply select the file from your Source Control Explorer and Right Click on it, and the select the "Rename" option from there, and you can add ".exclude" at the end of the file name.
And then do remember to check-in the file, and after that you can see that your file is excluded from Source Control.