Use Different versions of Visual Studio In Team Foundation Server - tfs

We have to use Team Foundation Server on different machines.
Our problem is in the .csproj files where we want to check in the changes made. The Team Foundation Server warns about resolve some conflicts about different versions. Now the question is that can we use different versions of Visual Studio on different machines on the same Team Project and how it would affect our development?

Being that the verison of Visual Studio being used is encoded into the .csproj file, it is difficult to use different versions of Visual Studio for the same C# (or other .NET) project. Since you can install different versions of Visual Studio side-by-side on the same machine (e.g. Visual Studio 2005, 2008, and 2010), it would be best to have everyone use the lowest common denominator (i.e. the newest version of Visual Studio that everyone has) for the project.
Hope this helps.

Related

Keep vss and tfs together installed in the same machine

I have legacy projects bound to Visual SourceSafe and done with Visual Studio 2003. Now, I have recently installed Visual Studio 2017 and TFS in the same machine.
Now when I try to open a legacy project that is bound to Visual SourceSafe I get a sequence of errors. Below the screenshots (pixeled for confidenciality reasons).
It seems like when open a legacy project (bound to Visual SourceSafe) with legacy visual studio 2003, it tries to connect to the TFS server (obviously it cannot). It is happening since I have installed new Visual Studio 2017 and TFS in the same machine, it seems like they cannot live together in the same machine. So how can I keep both VSS and TFS installed in the same machine? Is it possible?
UPDATED:
It seems like VS2003 does not allow to switch SCC providers. The only way is to hack the registry to switch.
I have found some interesting things that explains how to do it and it seems to work, the problem is that some links are broken, they are too old and not available anymore.
Source safe with Team Foundation Server in VS.2003
Installed TFS Version Control Provider and Now my VS 2003 Projects lost connectivity to VSS 2005?
MSSCCI Provider installation error
In above links it is provided a solution that consists on hacking the registry but the link they provide is broken:
Switch SCC providers
UPDATE 2:
As Edward Thomson has suggested in his answer, I have created a new key 'HKCU\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\7.1\CurrentSourceControlProvider\ ' and set it with a string value: ProviderRegKey="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SourceSafe". Below screenshot, but it is not working:
MSSCCI is the Microsoft Source Code Control Integration API, it was the original API provided by Visual Source Safe for IDE tools like Visual Studio. Early Visual Studio versions (like 2003) only spoke MSSCCI, and expected a version control provider to provide MSSCCI. As a result, you can only have one version control provider speaking that protocol.
The Team Foundation Server client APIs provide MSSCCI (for Team Foundation Version Control only, not Git). As a result, if you want to use Visual Source Safe, you will need to configure Visual Studio to speak to that set of libraries instead of the TFS set of APIs.
In slightly more recent versions of Visual Studio (like Visual Studio 2008), you can choose your MSSCCI provider on the fly, in Options > Source Control > Plug-In Selection. All the MSSCCI providers will be enumerated and you can select between Visual Source Safe and Team Foundation Version Control.
If you're using an earlier version of Visual Studio that did not have this option, then you can change your MSSCCI provider by updating the registry directly.
Find the registry key:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\7.1\CurrentSourceControlProvider\
And set:
ProviderRegKey="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SourceSafe"
Update 7.1 in the key with the version of Visual Studio that you have installed (Visual Studio 2003 corresponds to version 7.1.)
Once you have made this change, you will not be able to use Team Foundation Verson Control from Visual Studio 2003 without changing that back.

How to use Visual Studio Online source control with VFP 9 SP1

How can I use this Visual Studio Online source control with a visual foxpro (vfp) 9 sp1 project so that the VFP does automatic check in and check out as I change files and lets me undo or check in source code and view history like I can do in the Visual Studio 2010 IDE with dot net projects?
I see there's a free team explorer everywhere which i guess i can use outside of the vfp IDE - not sure how it will handle the SCX, FRX, LBX, PRJ files which are not textual.
May be you can't use VSO with Visual FoxPro 9, but surely you can use other SCM tools with Visual FoxPro, like SVN, Mercurial, PlasticSCM (which I use), etc.
For Diff and Merge you can use a new tool found on VFPx project, called FoxBin2Prg, that allow bidirectional conversion of VFP 9 binaries to text and vice-versa, so you even can modify the generated text version and rebuild the binary.
More info at FoxBin2Prg - Binary/Text Conversor for Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.
Best regards!
I ran into this question while researching. Looks like Microsoft updated the MSSCCI to be used with Visual Foxpro
Install the Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2013&2015 MSSCCI Provider 32 bit : https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/06c8e056-7f77-4a5c-9b8b-49318c143df8
It supports Visual FoxPro 9 SP2 connection to Visual Studio Online
Combined with the Team Explorer for Microsoft Visual Studio 2013, you can branch, forward integrate, reverse integrate. I'm still exploring it
You can't, and the main reason is that while PRG and other textual files are fine method code and other stuff is stored in DBF-format files, which your chosen source control software will treat as binary.

Can I use Visual Studio Professional with Team Foundation Server 2008?

Can I use Visual Studio Professional with Team Foundation Server 2008?
Yes, provided you have a client access license (CAL) to use Team Foundation Server.
You will have to install the client tools (Visual Studio Team Explorer), which comes packaged with Team Foundation Server.
You didn't say the version of the Visual Studio. For general things like version control, work items, team builds you can definitely use VS 2005/2008 Pro with TFS 2008.
However if you are using VS 2010 beta 2 things are a bit different.
Check this link for a full compatibility matrix.
You will have to clarify what you mean by "use." Certainly some features no, others yes.

Basic Team Explorer usage questions

We are setting up a new TFS 2008 implementation as our first usage of TFS for source control. We have several projects in Visual Studio 2003, 2005 and 2008, as well as other script/non-Visual Studio based projects.
My question is, for the Visual Studio 2003 and 2005 projects do we have to install Team Explorer 2003/2005 and make use of them to add projects to source control and to check out/in files, or, can we just use Team Explorer 2008 to add projects and check in/out files? The thought being that the developer could use 2008 to check out any thing and then open the appropriate visual studio version to work on their local instance of the project before then checking it back in using team explorer 2008 within their local visual studio 2008 application.
The concern is that by using team explorer 2008, that visual studio 2008 might impose changes on the older systems solutions dll or control details.
Thanks for any guidance.
This is possible. I have colleagues who are using Team Explorer for non-code files (Word documents, help files, etc.) and use it like they would VSS or any other SCC.
As an added bonus, I'm pretty sure that TFS Server 2008 is backwards compatible to at least 2005 (haven't run against 2003 in awhile). IIRC, I've run VSTS 2005 For Developers against a 2008 TFS Server.
I would double-check for you, but I've recently recently re-imaged my dev machine and haven't re-installed 2005 (working on new stuff!).
As an aside, I've found TFS to be a huge timesaver as far as the whole dev process. The IDE integration is top notch, and the linked bug/task tracking and changesets, with alerts, notes, built-in queries and reports had me wondering how I ever got along w/o it.
HTH.
The Team Foundation Client for VS 2005 and VS 2008 can be installed side by side so there's no issue there (there isn't one for VS 2003, but you could probably use the MSSCCI provider).
You can however, if you want to, do all of your source control operations in VS 2008 (or the Windows Explorer extensions in the latest power tools) but work on the projects from VS 2003/2005 without any issues. You just need to make sure you don't accidentally open the project files from within VS 2008 because that will upgrade the project format.

migrate a asp.net mvc solution file from 2010 back to 2008

i did an upgrade and it caused lots of problems. unfortunately i didn't back it up. Is there anyway i can convert a 2010 solution file back into asp.net mvc 2008?
Make a backup of what's left of what you currently have before doing this ...
Create a new solution in Visual Studio 2008. Create new projects for the 2008 solution. Use the project menu or right-click the project and choose "Add Existing Items..." Choose all the code files .cs .vb, etc from your 2010 structure and include them in the 2008 structure.
Basically you're copying all the code back into a 2008 structure with the 2008 formatted project and solution files. The code shouldn't be substantially changed beyond repair. You might have to manually address some issues in the converted code but once you know what they are it will be a repetitive process more than anything.
If you are writing code of any importance you should be using a version control system like as SVN. I haven't tried Visual Studio 2010 yet, but can tell you from experience that the differences between 2005 and 2008 are laughably small. You can down convert a 2008 solution file by manually changing the first two lines from:
Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 10.00
Visual Studio 2008
to
Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 9.00
Visual Studio 2005
the project files are fairly trivial as well with the product tag changing from:
9.0.21022
to
8.0.50727
Please note the changes I have listed for project files may not be 100% accurate and I have not tested for differences between service pack releases. However, creating a new project in an earlier version of Visual studio, making a copy and then doing an upgrade should allow you to run a diff and provide a better answer than what is currently accepted.

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