Cleanup the files in TFS - tfs

We have added few folders/files in TFS which was deleted later. But, this folders are shown as deleted folders and it seems this can be recovered by performing undelete operation. These files should not have been checked-in in first place. How can I make sure this folders not available in TFS.

You can permanently delete the required version-controlled folders/files from Team Foundation Source control using the tf destroy command.
Check this MSDN library for detailed info on tf destroy command: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb386005.aspx

You can't without directly editing the TFS database (which I really wouldn't recommend). TFS is a version control system; that includes control of deletions.
You could possibly set security on those specific items to deny anyone access to them, if it's important enough.

Related

TFS not tracking changes if items added manually and not included into vs2015 solution

I've added a folder with asp.net core project which isn't supported by Visual Studio 2015 (which is used for everything else) and thus not included to the general solution.
To have those files in source control I had to manually add them using "add items to folder" command in source explorer. So they are checked-in but tfs not tracking changes for them anymore although there are differences that are shown if compare to the latest folder on the server:
How do I make TFS track them and show pending changes for edited files?
According to your description, looks like these files are all out side of Visual Studio.
Not sure if you are using server workspace or local workspace.
When adding or editing the workspace you click Advanced >> . There is a setting of Location: Local/Server.
For local workspace, when your script or 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.
For server workspace, you could choose to use Reconcile command. See https://stackoverflow.com/a/22860674/932282 for a complete answer.
Besides, you could also take a look at other solutions in below similar question:
How to have TFS 2010 detect changes done to files outside of Visual Studio?
Force TFS to detect changes
I think you just added them to source explorer and not to the solution, as you said. In this case, there is no editor application (even your VS) that is responsible for doing the check-out operation because they are not aware of TFS. On the other side, TFS can detect that changes have happened to the files but can not track them.
If you do not activate the "Get the latest version before check-out" option in your team project, then you can go to the source control and check-out those files manually and then check-in them manually again when your work with them is done.
Please before doing this, take a backup of your source code for caution.

TFS: Is is possible to transfer all checked out files from one user to another?

I am developer and work with TFS for a while but never have the responsibility of TFS admin. We have a user that was let go and now his userId has been revoked so we cannot use his id anymore.
He has so many files checked out in TFS and a lot of stuff done, we don't want to lose these checked out files if possible. Is there a way to transfer all his checked out files to me or someone else? Or what is the best way to recover these files?
NOTE: we still have his laptop with all the files, we just cant login to it with his username.
Thank you for your help in advanced
Download TFS Sidekicks (get the right version for your TFS)
They have a Visual Studio Add-in if that is what you are using as your IDE
Backup his files that you want to keep
Use the Workspace Sidekick of TFS Sidekicks to delete his workspace(s)
(this won't delete his files).
This will release any exclusive locks that he has effectively undoing all his checkouts.
You can also use the Status Sidekick to see what files he has checked out.
Get latest source and copy his files over yours
If you are using TFS2012 or later, you can use a 'local' workspace and simply copy his files over. Team Explorer will create your pending changes for you. If you are using a 'server' workspace or a version of TFS prior to 2012, you will need to full check-out everything and THEN copy his files over.
It's not a great solution but it should work for you
The changes to the developer's files that are checked out will be stored locally on the developers machine (specifically in their workspace directories) - transferring "check out status" would seemingly not accomplish what you hope.
You would need to obtain access to the developer's workspace (perhaps via an admin account on the dev's machine), copy out all the contents to a new workspace you own to consolidate differences between "source" and "new workspace".
Once you've copied the developer's workspace to a new workspace you own, you can simply compare "source" to "workspace" to find all the changed files and which are needed vs. not needed. Note, this should be done sooner rather than later as the longer you wait the more differences there will be between the two, making it harder to identify what is actually needed.

tfs: how to unlock changes

I originally edited a file, which did a checkout. I received a new computer, and now I want to edit the file. I don't care about the original edit.
TFS reports that another user has an exclusive lock on the file. It's not actually another user, it's me, but the machine is different, so the workspace is different.
I tried unlocking with the tf commandline using the following command:
tf lock /lock:none /workspace:oldmachinename;domain\me /recursive $/projectname/directory /s:http:tfs:8080/tfs/project
I get no errors, but when I go into Visual studio 2010 (We're using tfs 2010 as well) The files remain locked.
What am I doing wrong?
Have you tried using TFS powertools?
Once you have that, you can right-click on your folder or file, and choose Find in Source Control -> Status. After you click Find, it should show you all the check-outs, or files that are checked-out
You should then be able to right-click on the checkout and choose "Undo..".
While this is generally issuing the same command line arguments, I've had good luck with it.
Deleting the old workspace is probably what you want to do. You can do this with the tf workspace command, but an easier method is to use the free TFS Sidekicks add-on which gives you a GUI to manage and delete workspaces.
If you aren't intending to use the old workspace again, it would be a good idea to (carefully) delete the entire workspace. This will clean up everything relating to it, and mean that it no longer "pollutes" listings of your active workspaces, etc.
You can also break the lock on a single file, but you will need to have appropriate permissions to be able to break locks. See here for a specific explanation of how to do it.
Try something like this:
The following example unlocks and makes all files in the src/ Team Foundation version control server folder available for check-out and check-in by other users.
c:\projects>tf lock /lock:none src/
More documentation here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/47b0c7w9.aspx

Can TFS Pending Changes show files that are truly changed like SourceGear Vault?

I have been using SourceGear vault for some personal projects and Team Foundation Server for work projects. One thing TFS is missing is a simple feature that Vault has on its check in dialog window.
In the Vault client, you can see if the checked out file changed from the previous version checked in. Here is a screen shot. Notice the column "Details"? That tells you there is a difference. The way this is super helpful is if you have to check out a entire project because you are going to do code re-generation. I'll check out my class library project and then regenerate my CodeSmith templates. Doing this may result in just a few specific files from changing. When I view the pending check-in screen, I see the files that really changed and I can compare to see the impact.
SO... can TFS do this? Maybe there is a 3rd-party tool that will do it for me? Is there a TFS SDK or PowerTool that I have to get. Anyone want to build it?
Select all the files in "Pending changes" window and activate the context menu. Then click "Undo..." > "Undo Changes" > "No to All".
The files without changes will be rolled back.
Per this page, you can run this command from the Visual Studio Command Prompt.
tfpt uu /noget /r *
You'll need to have TFS Power Tools installed for this to work. Also, make sure you browse to the root of your mapped folder within the command prompt (ie - C:\TFS for example).
TFS Power Tools links (if you don't already have it)
TFS Power Tools for 2010
TFS Power Tools for 2012
There is no need to undo the unchanged files, as TFS will notice they're unchanged upon checkin and will only associate the truly changed files. Any files checked out but unchanged are reverted to their last known checked in version and will not be associated with your checkin. It is impossible in TFS (though not very clearly documented) to check in an unchanged file. It will always revert to the previous version if there are no changes.
You can quickly undo your unchanged files by calling 'tfpt.exe uu /r' from the command line (you need to have the Team Foundation Power tools for this) or by using the "Undo unchanged" button in the Pending changes window. This removed any items from the list that are unchanged immediately. So that you can see exactly what you're checking in.
Though it might be that this option is added by the Team Foundation Power Tools or the TFS Source Control Explorer Extensions (which are a must have for every TFS user anyways).
See also:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/2100981/736079
https://stackoverflow.com/a/6387656/736079
https://jessehouwing.net/vsts-tfs-why-i-like-them/
I don't like answering my own questions, but it looks like there might not be a real Microsoft solution out there. For me, this is how I handle the problem at the office using Visual Studio.
Before I re-generate the business objects, I make a copy of the entire folder structure
I check out the entire project or the root generated folder
I start the code generator. Sometimes, I know exactly what is changing, but other times, I might make a lot of changes and I don't want to miss anything. My code generator at work also generates all the SQL files needed to DROP / CREATE stored procedures.
Using SourceGear DiffMerge, I compare the folders of the just generated and the previously backed up folder.
This is pretty time consuming. I never thought of it as a problem until I saw Vault identifying that a file was different on disk from the repository.
Maybe you all can say how you do code generation / regeneration when working with a source control repository.
I work in a corporate development environment where many developers may be working on the same file, and we have TFS as our source control as well. In our document of Best Practices for TFS, we really discourage checking out files that the developers don't intend on changing, that way we naturally exclude files without differences when submitting a changeset.
To answer your question, I normally just look at the "Pending Changes" window and run a Compare on the "changed" files that I'm unsure of--the Compare tool should immediately tell you if your local copy is the same as the server copy. Unfortunately, there's no real workaround other than what I suggested, but I don't see the scenario where I absolutely must check out an entire project branch for editing.

How can I deliver code to TFS periodically?

I'm a consultant whose client runs a TFS 2005 repository. I manage my own source code in TFS and deliver my releases to their TFS. My source code is around 20,000 files that I maintain.
My normal process:
Detach my solution from my TFS
Connect to their TFS
Checkout the entire project
Overwrite my project files with
theirs
Check everything back in
Click the add button and add any new
files that have been added
Check everything in
Open the solution file and bind it
to TFS
Check everything back in
The main problem I'm seeing with this approach is if I delete a file on my end, I don't have a way to reflect that change.
I'm also not interested in synchronizing tools because I don't want to synch every checkin, just the current state.
Is there a way I can do this better?
What about maintaining parallel .sln and .proj files with the different bindings? Do they change often?
I think you can maintain change history by using the TFPT ONLINE command from the Team Foundation Power Tools.
Open SLN_A
Make changes (VS auto-checks out against TFS_A)
Before checkin on TFS_A, run TFPT ONLINE against TFS_B. This should pick up adds, edits, deletes.
Checkin SLN_A on TFS_A.
Checkin SLN_B on TFS_B.
Only problem with this might be that the SLN_A checkin could screw up the SLN_B pending changes b/c the files will be returned to read-only. Not sure.
Why do you need to maintain a parallel TFS? Seems like you ought to be working directly against their TFS, either on a branch, via the Proxy, or both.
Have you looked at TimelyMigration? (No affiliation and I've never had need to use it)
TFS to TFS migration

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