TFS Source Control Explorer Extension

This is TFSSCExplorerExtension version for Visual Studio 2017.

TFSSCExplorerExtension (Team Foundation Server Source Control Explorer Extension) is Visual Studio 2010/2012/2013/2015/2017/2019/2022 Extension Package that adds new features to the TFS Source Control Explorer window for TFS 2010/2012/2013/2015/2017/2019/2022. Most important new features are Drag & Drop support, Move and Branch functions even for multiple files selection and Merge from Sources feature and more.

December 2021 Update

• Version for VS 2022

April 2019 Update

• Version for VS 2019
• Undo unchanged function now using workspace from Team Explorer Pending Changes instead of SC Explorer Window.

March 2017 Update

• Version for VS 2017

April 2015 Update

• Version for VS 2015
• Confirm checkbox in Destroy and Destroy a work item function
• Checkbox for keephistory switch in Destroy function
• Added Undo Unchanged function to the Actions menu of the Pending Changes window
• Version Changeset selection in Branch to Folder function
• Advanced Merge function for force merge and merge discard options
• Some more fixes

April 2014 Update

• Fix for Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 RC.
• Added Destroy Work Item function on Team menu

November 2013 Update

• Changed Folder sourse and Folder target icons. Fixed icons displaying for VS dark theme.
• Multiple Cloak / Uncloak function
• Include extension context commands also into File \ Source Control menu
• Fixed bug "Microsoft Visual Studio has detected that an operation is blocking user input." in Folder Browser Dialog
• Fixed bug "An item with the same key has already been added."
• Fix detection of Source and Target item branches
• Displaying Visual Studio items icons in Merge from Sources dialog treeview.

October 2013 Update

• Version for Visual Studio 2013
• New method for determining source of the Branching and Merging functions, Baseless merge support in Merge from Sources.
• ErrorFailure messages support (some errors are displayed in VS Output window)
• Some more fixes from Error Reports

December 24th 2012 Update

• Filter Folders by folder mapping fearure now works with cloaked folders too. This behaviour can be turn on/off in Options page.
• Branch to Folder, Merge from Sources functions are moved to Branching and Merging submenu.
• Package instalation support changed to Visual Studio 2012 Shell (Integrated).
• Show/Hide Deleted function icon changed to same as this function has now on VS Update 1.
• Some more fixes.

June 2012 Update

• New Filter Folders by folder mapping Feature that enable filtering of folders in Source Control Explorer treeview to only mapped folders in the currently selected workspace.
• Udates and fixes for Visual Studio 2012 RC.
• Error reporting improvements.
• Show / hide deleted items and Destroy functions moved to Advanced submenu.
• Fixed some bugs.

February 2012 Update

• New "Get Check In file date from comments in Source Safe converted projects" option allows to turn back retrieving Check In file date from comments for Source Safe converted projects. This behaviour is now off by default.
• Fixed System.NullReferenceException BUG in VersionControlServer_OperationFinished.
• Message for handling TFS SQL Server Error: 18054.
• Fixed error handling for some TFS errors.

January 2012 Update

• Fixed BUG in Icon change function.
• Fixed BUG NullReferenceException with null Workspace in ExtensionCommand QueryStatus.
• Fixed BUG TF10125: The path '$' must start with $/ and Error "Full path can only be retrieved when a TreeNode has been added to a TreeView" and ArgumentOutOfRangeException "startIndex cannot be larger than length of string".
• Error reporting feature for sending error messages.
• Icons in SC Tree and List is now filled asynchronously in Icon change function.
• Fixed merge list in Merge from Sources function.

December 2011 Update

• Fixed BUG in Undo changes to unchanged files function, if some files areunsaved. This state is now detected and error Message is displayed.
• Fixed BUG in Icon change function with some Branched folders it cause freeze Source Control window.
• Icon change and Merge from Sources functions are not supported if TFSSCExplorerExtension is running against TFS 2008/2005 in the back-end.
  This TFS error "The Team Foundation server to which your team project is connected does not support querying merge relationships." was showed repeatedly.
  These functions are still not supported but now if TFSSCExplorerExtension is running agains TFS 2008/2005 these functions are disabled and no error is displayed.

October 2011 Update

• New feature Undo changes to unchanged files in Pending Changes window toolbar.
• Icon change function is now applied also on items in Branched folders.
• Added disabling Branch command if file is new or deleted.
• Added disabling Destroy command if file is new, move or branch pending.
• Fixed BUG in File move function.

August 2011 Update

• Enable Files icon change function now change icons also for Branched folders. Icon is changed in file list and in Folder Tree view of Source Control Explorer too.
• Fixed BUG with DoubleClick on the file list of Source Control Explorer.
• Fixed Exceptions and errors handling
• Show Deleted items and Destroy menu commands optionis now splited into two separated options:Enable Show deleted items menu command and Enable Destroy menu command
• Added license file
• Changed Drag Drop context menu to Visual Studio context menu

Note: If some TFS Source operation cannot be done (e.g. Branch file that is already branched), error message is normaly displayed in Visual Studio Output window. For this to work TFS SQL Server database must have error mesages in sys.messages table otherwise SQL exception is raised. If TFS doesn't have added sys.messages it can be fixed by running this command:
TFSConfig PrepSQL /SQLInstance:ServerName[\InstanceName]

July 2011 Update

• Fixed File icon change function
  Folder branches is now ignored in merge relationships so file icons in branched folders remain unchanged.
• Options Page
  Added Tools Options dialog Page with these options: Show Deleted items and Destroy menu commands, Enable Files icon change, Enable Change files date on Get.

Move to Folder

Standard Move function requires entering new filename for selected file so this function is not supported for multiple files selection. New function Move to Folder requires entering or choosing only target location (Source Control folder) and can be used for multiple files.

After dialog confirm, files are moved to new location; filenames are kept same as in original files.

Branch to Folder

Similar to Move to Folder function this function requires entering or choosing only file location and therefore can be used for multiple files selection (unlike standard Branch function). Branches are crated to new location; filenames are kept same as in original files.

Merge from Sources

After activating this function shows folder tree with files that are branched to the selected folder (or folders/files in case of multiple selection). Dialog shows all branched files not only modified files. Files in tree can be selected, after clicking OK button are on all selected files executed Merge operation in TFS (unmodified files are ignored).

Note: Merge and Branch functions are in TFS used as replacement of File Share function in Visual Source Safe. Branch function is used e.g. from some common share location to your project (this can be simplified with new Branch to Folder function). Further Merge function is used to applied changes back to common share location. If we need update all files in project that has multiple files branched from various locations we can use exactly this function Merge from Sources. (In VSS this was done right away by Get Latest Version function that automatically updates all shared files too.)

File icon change

In the file list on the left side of Source Control Explorer window are branched files displayed with changed icon.

Icon is displayed at files that are target of Branch operation or if file is branched only to one location. If file is branched to more than one location its icon is changed to icon .

Drag & Drop

TFSSCExplorerExtension adds drag & drop support between file list in the left side and folder tree in the right side of the Source Control Explorer window (standard functionality is only drag & drop support from Windows Explorer). Dragging with left mouse button executes Move action to the target folder. Dragging with right mouse button opens context menu with Move, Branch and Copy options.

Move and Branch options perform above described functions. Copy option creates file copy to local workspace location and add file from this location to the source control.

Destroy

This option permanently removes files or folders from Source Control. It can be called for multiple items selection, on existing files or files previously deleted (with Show deleted items option on).

Source Control changes and fixes

Except above described new functions added to Source Control Explorer UI, TFSSCExplorerExtension contains some more features that change or fix TFS Source Control itself.

Those are:

• Get (Get Latest Version or Get Specific Version) operation changes file date to file Check In date (similarly to Visual Source Safe Get operation).
• After adding new file to Source Control, file read-only attribute is removed so file can be directly edited in Visual Studio Editor.
• After renaming file, refresh of Pending Changes tool window is forced. With standard functionality is renamed file displayed in Pending Changes window as two changes (two rows) and Check In operation can't be performed.