Where I'm working now we use TFS2008, and people are generally unhappy with the auto-merging capabilities.
I was wondering, is it possible to change the merge engine? I know you can change the merge tool used by VS, but I'm not clear if this gets used when you do a local automatic merge, or what the deal is for merging branches.
(Before you say anything, I realise doing it manually is safer!)
Yes, upgrade to 2010 and you'll be MUCH happier. Significantly.
(I know it's not quite the answer you were looking for, but it's easy and it's true)
I never used it myself, but in a quest to be able to merge binary files, I encountered posts like http://www.neovolve.com/post/2007/06/19/using-winmerge-with-tfs.aspx
Visual Studio will use the configured tool to perform merging. Here's an useful post.
In visual studio 2008 you can do the following:
1) Tools->Options
2) Source Control->Visual Studio Team Foundation Server
3) Click the "Configure User Tools..." button
4) in pop-up click "Add"
5) in pop-up select the extensions you want to use your other merge engine with and select "Merge" in the Operation drop-down
You will need to know what your engine is expecting as passed in parameters but I would think the default of file 1 file 2 would fit most of them.
Related
There are certain files that I'd like to always appear below other files in the search results. E.g. generated files and tests. I don't want to exclude them from the search results. Usually, I'd be searching for files that aren't generated or tests. There's a setting called "Search: Sort Order", but none of them work because the files I want to de-rank are interspersed with other files.
Is there a setting or extension that could work?
I'm not sure this is possible with the current LTS version of Visual Studio Code.
However, if you want the feature to be available, and many people also want it, you can make a new GitHub Issue with the tag feature-request. Microsoft might review it (if there are many people who want it too), and add the feature.
Edit: This link at Visual Studio Code might help. Click here for the documentation.
I am using Visual studio code for angular2 application. The requirement is to merge files, so, I want to differentiate changes in two files as it happens in Netbeans IDE. Is there, any extensions available to achieve the task in visual studio code.
For e.g - Merging Two files by differentiating changes like below:-
Please suggest some solution.
abc.component.ts (located in project1)
abc <-- text for understanding purpose
def
abc.component.ts ( located in project2)
abc
I want to differentiate two component files and push changes in another like it happens in Netbeans IDE? Is there, any solution available for Visual studio code?
First using vscode natively with the git toolset
(Make sure to look on the second title as it's a better native way!)
This way may be available on older version of vscode too! Still a good thing to know! (even we should always run on the latest version! And vscode is always keeping getting better and better).
A native powerful and cool way is to use the git toolset within vscode! It still not the most fluid way! But if you are in a setup where you don't have anything else or time or resources to use anything else! Also as a requirement you need to have a git repo initiated! Here we go:
First we will use the change and diffing capability of the git tool set. And the steps go as bellow:
Commit all the current changes
once done: copy past the other file to diff on the place of the current one. And save.
Cool now in the git pallet you can see the file in changes list! Click on it and the diffing editor will show!
Bingo this is it! You can compare and make direct changment! The diffing will keep happening in real time. Note the current state is in the right. And you make changement there.
Here an illustration of direct modification for instance the part in the left is missing from the current file
And here another illustration (current have in plus)
Well to sum up! Git tool and diffing in vscode is so powerful! And all that one need! The only problem is the extra step of committing and cleaning after if desired!
Here some tips! If you want to have the commit history cleaner! Or not have a merge separate! You can remove the last commits from history as much as you need: Without hard reset and commit again a cleaner one!
git reset --soft HEAD~1
You can check
How to cancel a local git commit
Otherwise it can be ok with atomic commit and merge mention!
Also if what you need is to be able to keep a lot from the current file! You can copy the current elsewhere! past the other file to compare! commit ! and then past again the old one! You'll have the old in the right and as current (Not as described on the above) In such a scenario this work well! (Hacky a bit but you may need it).
Native way (direct open of the compare editor)
(May require the newer version of vscode)
open a file that you gonna compare
open the command pallet
CTRL + SHIFT + P
type file: compare
You can see the different possible ways! For a file we can choose compare active file with.
Then you choose the file! The file need to be within the project directory.
And then you choose a file and the compare editor will open
The above was tested on my brother computer on a new vscode installation. I wasn't sure at first if it was part of the core! And i just confirmed that it is. That too remove the need to the method above involving git! And it's the best native way to go with.
Vscode extensions
Here two extensions i suggest the first:
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=jinsihou.diff-tool
Easy and simple! It add two elements to the right click menu:
In current file right click -> Select as first file for diff, select one again to view the diff results
select to compare and compare with select no more simple then that !
Another extension to check:
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=fabiospampinato.vscode-diff
I prefer the first! As this one compare a lot to the native way. And having the control in the contextual menu is just great.
Out of vscode! Using other tools
A quick google search and you'll find a lot of tools!
https://meldmerge.org/
meld merge is cross platform and open source and nice!
in linux and debian:
sudo apt install meld
Otherwise you can check the long list here:
https://www.jotform.com/blog/25-useful-document-and-file-comparison-tools/
https://stackify.com/code-merge-tools/
There is too winMerge to mention (an open source project for windows)
https://winmerge.org/
I add solution in team fundation service in the worng place.
Can I remove the soution from the source control and add it to the right place?
Thanks
You can Move... the solution in Visual Studio Source Control Explorer (if you are using TFVC). Just open Visual Studio, leaving you solution closed, use Source Control Explorer to "Move" the folder to the new path, then check in the Pending Changes.
If you are using Git, then there are ways to do that too, but I'd probably need a little more information about your repositories to answer.
Conventional wisdom says to delete code once you don't need it -- as opposed to leaving it in the codebase as a comment -- because you can always find it later in the repository.
Let's say I need a line of code from the past which I remember to contain a very memorable substring ("XYZ", for discussion's sake).
What are my options for finding the previously deleted code using the Visual Studio 2010 Rational Team Concert (3.x) client? Can I search only the revisions of a single file (I might not know what file it was in)? Can I search quickly/easily across many files (w/o pulling those files out of the repository)?
I am not sure there is an easy way to get back the exact file with that missing string.
You can select show the history on a component of a Stream, in order to "Show the History files" for a given change set.
From there, you can do some "compare with Local File".
However, the Visual Studio integration might be less complete than the eclipse one, as this thread shows (where the "Show History" shows only the history of Deliver's).
Even though the following article uses the Eclipse GUI, have also a look at "Practicing source control archaeology with Rational Team Concert", which has other ideas for you to try.
We are using Scott Hansleman's suggestion for multiple web.configs from his post here. The problem we have is that we have to check out the Web.Config. If we remove it from the project, when we publish, no web.config is pushed. So we need to remove the source control bindings just from the web.config, but leave it in the project, and have the rest of the project still held under source control.
The issue is that source control makes the file read only until you check it out. We need to be able ot overwrite it with the prebuild events, preferably without having to check it out. Is there a way to remove the bindings from that file only, and still leave it as part of the project?
Thanks.
By adding a new file to solution explorer, you will get the little plus sign indicating it is due to be added to source control. Then, right-click and choose "undo pending changes". This will cancel the add but leave the file in your project.
If that doesn't work I suggest one of the following methods:
Use the Attrib task from the MSBuild
Community Tasks project to remove
the read only flag.
Use the Exec
task in MSBuild to invoke
tf.exe and checkout the file.
You should leave the file in source control. Otherwise you'll run into several issues:
changes won't be versioned. 'nuf said.
it can't be branched or merged, even though web.config is one of the files that's most likely to vary between parallel dev/test/production environments
changes you make locally won't propagate to coworkers without manual workarounds
developers setting up an environment for the first time won't get the file at all
Team Builds won't contain the file, so neither will your deployments. (surely you're not deploying directly from the desktop?!)
Note that the state of individual files is stored entirely on the TFS server. ('tf properties' dumps this metadata if you're curious) Only projects & solutions have bindings actually written into the file. And even those are dummy entries that tell VS "don't worry about me, just ask TFSProvider, it'll know who I am and where I'm supposed to be." While there are many other quirks in the VS project system that give me endless headaches, in this case it's your friend. Don't circumvent it.
Best options:
Edit your build script to toggle the read-only attribute before/after modification. If you're using the "copyifnewer.bat" script from the linked blog post, it should literally be one extra line. Even if you want to keep things entirely declarative within the MSBuild makefile, it's barely any work with the help of 3rd party tasks.
Use the File -> Source Control -> Exclude feature. After applying this setting, the file remains under source control, but will no longer be subject to automatic checkouts/checkins by the active solution. In other words, you can edit the file locally to your heart's content without affecting anyone else, but if you want to commit (or shelve) your changes you'll need to do it from Source Control Explorer or the command line.
Option #1 has the advantage of being a very quick fix for your existing setup. The downside comes from maintaining several copies of web.config.* Same reason why copy/pasting code is bad: if you change one, you have to go change all the others -- or worse, forget and let them drift out of sync until strange bugs force you to revisit the issue. This could be improved by changing the process so that there's only 1 "master" web.config and the additional copies only contain differences (via a textual diff engine, XSLT transforms, programmatic manipulation in Powershell, etc). Of course, that's more work.
Option #2 avoids #1's problems with very little overhead. (the engineering process itself is unchanged; only difference is how the Visual Studio UI behaves) This advantage is critical if you make changes to web.config at all frequently. Downside is that there is no built-in way to track variations on the "master" file. If the only diffs are dirt simple, eg a connection string or two, you may find it easiest to stick with just one "master" and let people make ad hoc changes on their dev machines. There are even tools to do this for you, such as Web Deployment Projects (easy) and the IIS Deployment Tool (complex). In any case your actual deployment should be automated and source-controlled, of course! If heavier customizations are required than these tools are capable of, then you'll probably want the hybrid master + transform approach described earlier.
I recently ran into the issue and could not find a good solution. With a little trial and error I was able to figure this out myself.
This works on Visual Studio 2015. I tried to follow the answer above, but 2015 does not have an "Exclude From Source Control Option" I could find. It does have source control / project integration where if you delete the file from source control or the project, it will automatically be removed from both places. This integration is enforced when you have the solution containing the project open.
The problem is when using a web.template.config, web.config is really a build output and should not be in source control. However deleting the file entirely and removing it from the project causes problems because then the file is not part of the Build / Publish steps.
So the work around turns out to be simple:
Close the solution. File --> Close Solution.
In the Source Control Explorer Window, Delete the file.
Check in the Change.
Open your solution and you will see that the Config file remains in the project.
You may see the Triangle / Exclamation Mark Icon warning showing the the config file is not found.
Rebuild the project and click on the file.
The file should now show without the warning.
It should not have the padlock icon next to it. This indicates that it is not under version control.
I did some more checking and found the "Exclude From source Control" feature. The key is that you need to select the item in the Solution Explorer window before selecting the menu item:
Select the Web.config file in the "Solution Explorer".
In the menus select File -> source control -> advanced -> Exclude Web.config from Source Control.
You will now get a Red Circle / White Line icon.
This works if the file is NOT ALREADY in source control.
If the file IS ALREADY in source control you need to do the procedure above to remove it from source control without also deleting it from the project.