Is it possible to use TFS source control without Visual Studio? I have to put some files in some source control, those files are stored in a folder in some server, that is something developed in Oracle forms. I just need to add those files in some source control and I'd like to use TFS for that. Any tips or tools could we use for this?
TFS is likely to be overkill for a few files in a single folder, but if the TFS infrastructure is already in place then it will work.
You will need Team Explorer (or, on non-Windows) Team Explorer Everywhere installed to give you the client tools. But you can perform all source code operations with the tf.exe command line (or equivalent from Team Explorer Everywhere).
Team Foundation Server Power Tools has Windows Shell Extensions that provides integration
with Windows Explorer and the common file dialogs. With this integration, you can perform many source control operations without having to run Visual Studio or a Team Foundation command-line tool.
see this answer but you will need to make sure you have tfs server running as well to connect to. Would it not be simpler to use git/mercurial/svn...{any other free source control system}?
I am one of the lovers of TFS, but I think in your case if you don't need to use Team Explorer or Team Explorer Everywhere (which will need command line used) for none windows I suggest to use SVN sub version (VisualSVN Server) it's open source and it has integrated OS shell (TortoiseSVN ) right click menu which will be easy than using command line
Vlad: That is true, but this important: I have used the "Shell Extensions" for a while only to realize that it does create problems. First of all, the "Shell Extensions" does not report errors during a check-in; it only unexpectedly stops, and the window closes.
Also, the reason I am looking for an external "Source Control Explorer" is that if you delete any file from Window Explorer that was under Source Control by TFS, the Check-In procedure will fail saying that there is a file missing. The correct way to safely delete a file is to do it through "Source Control Explorer"; the check-in then works. Usually not a problem, unless, like me, you have a Java project and have no integration between NetBeans & TFS.
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Is it possible to add a new file (or new version of a file) to a TFS project via the web interface without using Visual Studio? There are some code artifacts, such as PS1 scripts, which we may want to keep under source control, but the owners of such files may not have Visual Studio even installed.
No, this functionality is not available in TFS 2013.
This does exist in TFS 2015 (and in Visual Studio Online), but if you are using TFS 2013, you have a few options:
Install the standalone Team Explorer. Despite the name, you do not need to have Visual Studio installed - if you don't, it will install a standalone version that can communicate with a TFS server.
Use the command-line interface. (Also available with the download above.)
Yes it is possible.
In our companies real world example we, have a CI build set up at work that does nothing but code sign powershell files. This was a huge carrot to get the systems engineers to leverage source control. The don't use Visual Studio though. They seem to like using powerGUI which has TFS integration support.
In the TFS 2015 web interface, yes, this is possible.
If you are asking how:
To add a new file, right-click on the folder (in the folder
hierarchy on the left) and there's a menu option to "Add file(s)...".
To edit a file (add a version), open the file contents in the right pane, and
there's an "Edit" button.
We're a small shop and have legacy VB6, Classic .ASP, .NET 1.2 - 3.51. We installed the product successfully, but since depending on the code which needs changing we fire up the respective IDE Visual Studio x. How do we go from no source control to TFS?
You will probably want to look at the TFS 2008 Power Tools. One of the features that is available in the Power Tools is Windows Explorer integration, so you can get/checkout/checkin by right clicking the file(s).
Your other choices are to use the VS2008 / TFS 2008 client to do your SCM operations (which means you need to switch between multiple IDEs), or you could use the TF.EXE command line to do your SCM operations.
If I misread your question and you're asking how do you get your legacy code into TFS, you'll need to go into the TFS 2008 client and do the following:
Map a workspace to a folder on your hard drive (or network).
Copy your source to the folder.
In TFS 2008, click on the "Add Files" button.
Select the folder you just copied everything into.
Add them.
Check in.
I don't know what I've done, but on my TFS source control explorer I have "No commands available" on the context menu! (Panic is setting in)
From the Team Explorer I can see that am a member of Team Foundation Administrators, and I'm a member of the team project administrators as well.
What would be causing TFS to give "no commands available" on the pop-up context menu?
Additional info:
I can get to the source control explorer and with additional commands from another machine, so perhaps it's something pooched on my setup (although it was working an hour ago!)
In Visual Studio, go to Tools > Options...
Click "Source Control" in the tree
Select "Visual Studio Team Foundation Server" as the current source control plug-in.
If this option is not available, ensure that you have Team Foundation Client installed.
You need to checkout (Mapping is not enough for Moving and Renaming - for that you MUST check-out) those files/folders to your local disk, before you get the context menu on right-click that you miss.
I had same problem and from the MSDN official page I was not too much wiser :)
Anyway, I wonder what is the good reason, for which you can not move files in TFS server repository without checking-out those items to my disk. In SVN this is no problem. (And there is even no path mapping in SVN - just CheckOut :)
Does TFS support an Edit/Merge/Checkin model? It looks like we have to explicitly check out files with the source code explorer to get the readonly bit switched off. I'm use to files being write enabled, and just having to do a merge before checkin. Is that model supported?
Yes. It does.
Right click on the TFS project and select Team Project Settings > Source Control ... From there you can enable multiple check out.
That said, you still have to use the source control explorer to check out the file; unless you are using Visual Studio to edit it at which point, VS will automatically check out the file.
If you need to use it outside of the source control explorer, you can download the TFS Power tools which adds context menus to the regular file explorer for check in / out / etc.
Yes it does, but it is not as confortable as with SVN, you still have to use the source control explorer to check out the file, that will change with TFS 11 and Local workspaces
When using TFS with a tool outside of Visual Studio (Specifially ORMS), modifications to the project file to include a new file will not cause the file to be added to source control.
Does anything exist that could potentially say "Warning: You are about to check in change to a project file which include a file which is not versioned"
In addition to Martin's answer, the latest release of TFS Power Toys includes:
"Windows Shell Extension (NEW!)
Allows core version control operations within Windows Explorer without using Team Explorer."
So you may just be able to commit those new files without having to fire up Team Explorer or use an MSSCCI compliant source control client.
Not quite, however you might want to download the TFS Power Tools and check out the command line utility tfpt.exe.
The "tfpt online" and "tfpt treeclean" might be most useful to you when working outside of an integrated TFS client. tfpt online will look for files in your local directory that are not under version control, treeclean will show you files in your local directory that are not under version control so that you can remove then if they are not required.
Good luck,
Martin.
One gotcha I've found using tfpt online is that it doesn't always pick up changes unless you use the /diff switch. That one caused us all kinds of headaches with our automated build until I realised what was happening!