How to get specific version of folder from tfs without creating a workspace? - command-line

Question

I would like to get the source code of a project at specific time (changeset). So I need do download whole folder. I would like to do it for different times and handling a different workspace is not very convenient.
I know about TFS Get Specific Version into separate folder (with workspace) and Need command to get a file from TFS without a workspace (one file).
Is there some solution for whole folder without creating a new workspace?
Edit
I have found the accepted answer too ambitious. I needed something more simple.
Assumptions:
I can access TFS from Visual Studio on my computer
I want to get the ChangeSetNumber Changeset from the folder
DesiredFolder in TFS project tProj
I run the following batch from a destination folder in Visual Studio Command Prompt
set workspace_name=TemporaryWorkspace%username%
set changeset= ChangeSetNumber
tf workspace -new %workspace_name% -noprompt
tf workfold -map $/tProj . -workspace:%workspace_name%
tf get $/tProj/DesiredFolder -version:C%changeset% -recursive -noprompt
tf workfold -unmap . -workspace:%workspace_name%
tf workspace -delete %workspace_name% -noprompt
It is necessary to confirm remove source control association when starting the downloaded solution.

Answer 1

I use this syntax for temporary workspaces:
tf workspace -new %JOB_NAME%;%user% -noprompt -server:http://%host%:8080/tfs/%project% -login:%user%,%password%
tf workfold -map $/Release/MilestoneX.X . -workspace:%JOB_NAME% -server:http://%host%:8080/tfs/%project% -login:%user%,%password%
tf get . -version:L%TFS_LABEL% -recursive -noprompt -login:%user%,%password%
tf workfold -unmap . -workspace:%JOB_NAME% -login:%user%,%password%
tf workspace -delete %JOB_NAME%;%user% -noprompt -server:http://%host%:8080/tfs/%project% -login:%user%,%password%

Answer 2

I've discovered that you can do this through the HTTP api that TFS exposes.
The "signature" for the URL is as follows:
http(s)://{server}:{port}/tfs/{collectionName}/{teamProjectName}/_api/_versioncontrol/itemContentZipped?version={versionSpec}&path={escapedPathToFolder}
So, if you have a project named "MyProject" in the DefaultCollection, and want to get the content of a folder called "MyFeature":
http://MyTfsServer:8080/tfs/DefaultCollection/MyProject/_api/_versioncontrol/itemContentZipped?version=C1001&path=%24%2FMyProject%2FMyFeature
I think "version" can be any version spec, which is documented in the TFS API documentation. My example is requesting the version as of change set 1001. I was using the .NET API to get a specific version, which is pretty straightforward, but slow because it can only get one file at a time. I'm trying to figure out if this same functionality is exposed through the .NET API because downloading the files this way is much much faster than getting a single file at a time.
I implemented this as an extension method on Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Client.Item. This returns a stream that contains a zip file. I had used this as part of a custom MSBuild task which then saves the contents of this stream to a file location.
public static class TfsExtensions
{
const String ItemContentZippedFormat = "/_api/_versioncontrol/itemContentZipped?version={0}&path={1}&__v=3";
public static Stream DownloadVersion(this Item folder, VersionSpec version)
{
if (folder.ItemType != ItemType.Folder)
throw new ArgumentException("Item must be a folder", "folder");
var vcs = folder.VersionControlServer;
var collectionName = vcs.TeamProjectCollection.CatalogNode.Resource.DisplayName;
var baseUri = folder.VersionControlServer.TeamFoundationServer.Uri;
if (!baseUri.LocalPath.EndsWith(collectionName, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
baseUri = new Uri(baseUri, baseUri.LocalPath + "/" + collectionName);
var apiPath = String.Format(ItemContentZippedFormat, version.DisplayString, WebUtility.UrlEncode(folder.ServerItem));
var downloadUri = new Uri(baseUri, baseUri.LocalPath + apiPath);
var req = WebRequest.Create(downloadUri);
req.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;
var response = req.GetResponse();
return response.GetResponseStream();
}
}

Answer 3

I think you should create a temporary Workspace to retrieve the content you want, then delete the Workspace and keep the local items.
A Workspace in TFS is a local view of what's on the server, for a given Workspace you choose which folder(s) you want to retrieve locally and where you'll store the folders/files.
It's not like SourceSafe you're not bound to only one workspace, you can have as many as you want on a given computer.
So I suggest you to create a dedicated Workspace for the operation you want to do and get rid of it when you judge it appropriate.
Use the TF.exe workspace command to create/delete a Workspace from the Shell. Then TF.exe get to retrieve the files.

Answer 4

You can use tf view to get a specific file without creating a workspace.
Retrieves a specific version of a file to a temporary folder on your computer and displays it.
tf vc view [/collection:TeamProjectCollectionUrl]
[/console] [/recursive] [/output:localfile]
[/shelveset:shelvesetname[;owner]] [/noprompt] itemspec
[/version:versionspec] [/login:username,[password]]
Versionspec:
Date/Time D"any .Net Framework-supported format"
or any of the date formats of the local machine
Changeset number Cnnnnnn
Label Llabelname
Latest version T
Workspace Wworkspacename;workspaceowner