TFS

TFS 2008 does sometimes not recognize changes during check in

ftom — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:04:19 GMT

Yesterday I ran into an interesting problem with TFS 2008 and VS2008.

I had a web application which used a reference to webapp/bin/myLib.dll

To get the build scripts running I moved myLib.dll to ../SharedLibrary/myLib.dll.

Then I removed the reference to myLib.dll inside the webapp and added the reference to the new location.

Compiled and it worked fine.

Inside the Pending Change Window I saw the that the project files got checked out into edit mode. (as it supposed to)

So I checked them in. But TFS told me that there was no changes and did not check anything in.

Of course the build did not work because the server did not get my changes.

So I got latest again and of cause the project reloaded to the original settings.

I tried nearly everything:

- Deleted the references

- Restarted VS

- Checked it in.

- Restarted VS

- Added the reference

- Restarted VS

- Checked it in

No affect always the same problem.

At one point I did the following which finally worked:

- I went into the source control explorer and manually checked the project file out

- Unbound the Project from TFS

- Opened the project file and changed the the Reference Line manually to:

<Reference Include="myLib, Version=3.0.93.194, Culture=neutral, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
      <SpecificVersion>False</SpecificVersion>
      <HintPath>..\..\SharedBinaries\myLib.dll</HintPath>
    </Reference>

- Bound the project again

- Checked in

I don't know why but the standard way did not work, but finally the build server was able to build it successfully.

I have to admit, TFS is great but the 2008 IDE integration has more issues than the 2005 integration...

Hope this might also help you

Tom

TFS Error: The item does not exist at the specified version

ftom — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:15:00 GMT

After moving a branch from one TFS server to another I got the error:

"The item \$TFSProject\mylocation\myfile.cs does not exist at the specified version".

First I thought the Check in was buggy and went to another machine. And like a miracle it worked there.

Then I googled and found out that this usually relates a messed up workspace.

Especially the following link was very interesting:
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2367863&SiteID=1

But this was not my problem.
I had two Visual Studios (2008) open.
Inside one instance I used the Team Explorer to disconnect from one TFS server and connected to another TFS server without closing the second instance or restarting VS.
I guess the TFS integration in VS got confused and was choking.

So I restarted VS and everything went back to normal.

Sometimes a simple restart does the trick. But at least I learned about how to delete your workspace :-)

Tom

When to create a new TFS project or reuse an existing one

ftom — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:47:25 GMT

I am sorry this is not a C# blog today. I am still in TFS land :-)

Recently I was talking to different people about when to create a new TFS project or reuse an existing one.

Here is what I got out of the conversations:
- Too many projects slow down the server and are hard to maintain. (Depending on the project type, TFS 2008 has an upper limit of around 200 - 500 projects)

- Security on too many projects can be very hard to maintain (especially keeping track of current permissions, removing expired permissions, etc.)

- Using the built-in TFS Groups in TFS is usually enough. Add NT accounts/groups manually to certain permissions if you have to.

- If the intent of adding a project to TFS is simply to have Source Control, try to stick it into a group specific (generic) TFS project. Move it later if necessary.

- If you don't know exactly how much project management will be included or how big the project will be, stick it in a current TFS project and move it later.

- Moving Source control Items from one TFS project to another works great and is very easy. The history is still searchable.

- Moving Work items is super tricky and should be minimized. See http://blogs.msdn.com/granth/archive/2008/06/26/how-to-move-work-items-between-team-projects.aspx

- Separating Source Control and Project Management causes more work, because you have to modify the default queries.

- IF you need exclusive permissions for the same user => new TFS project

- IF you need different Template => new TFS projects

See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms242894.aspx for a more thorough analysis.

I hope this might help you.
Tom

P.S.: Special thanks to Scott, Robert, and Jeevan for all your input and being a great sounding board!

"TFS and how to modify existing Reports" OR "Admin permissions are not enough"

ftom — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:39:00 GMT

This is one I worked on for a while. The biggest impediment I had was getting the permissions straightened out. Thanks to the help of my team we eventually figured it out.

I won't go into details here about how to use Reporting Services or how to make a report pretty. Instead, I'll give a quick overview of how to pull existing projects from TFS (or, more specifically, its Reporting Service Engine).

As mentioned, TFS uses SQL Reporting Services for its reports. So all you need is to navigate your web browser to:
http://yourTFSserver/Reports_TFS
If you are lucky enough to have the Content Manager Site role for the whole server, you might see something.

If you only have permissions to a specific TFS project then you better go to your project:
http://yourTFSServer/Reports_TFS/Pages/Folder.aspx?ItemPath=%2f<YOURPROJECT>&ViewMode=List

Then you should see all the Reports available to you. Usually you have enough permission to run them. But if you click on Show Details (in the upper right corner) and then click on edit, or if you try to click on the property tab, you are usually out of luck as a user. You will get an error telling you "Insufficient Permission".... That was my life for a while.

So I was granted the Content Manager role of the specific project but this still did not fix the problem. I was able to upload and run new reports, but not to edit any of them (even the one I created...). Then I was given the admin role for this project and then the site admin role...but still no success.

To make a long story short. You need Content Manager role permission for the whole site to be able to edit a report in a specific project. Content Manager permission for a specific project is not enough. Also Administrator permissions are not enough (which was surprising to me).

Once you know that, then you're dealing with straightforward SQL Report Services. There is good docu out there so I better stop here. Hey it is Friday and my little one is waiting for me at home :-)

I hope this will save you some time and headache.

Tom

P.S.: Thank you Pinal for your help on this one!

How to pull all Pending Changes (Checked Out Items) from TFS 2005 or 2008

ftom — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:28:10 GMT

How to pull all Pending Changes (Checked Out Items) from TFS 2005 or 2008

This question cost my a day of research, so I thought it is only fair to share my results and to have a look up for myself

There are at least four different options:
- going to SQL directly
- Using the tf.exe tool (great for manual lookup)
- Using the TFS Webservices (painful to use)
- Using the Microsoft.TeamFoundation Libraries, which wrapp the the TFS Webservices (integrated into .NET)

Going to SQL directly:

See Tad Beaty's Blog

Using the tf.exe

The command line tool does an excelent job, but you have to parse it. Which I don't want to do. But it works great

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE>tf status /s:<TfsServer> /recursive /user:* /format:detailed

Get more infos on MSDN:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc31bk2e(vs.80).aspx

The TFS Webservices

http://blog.phase2int.com/?p=141 has a list of all Availalbe Webserices exposed by TFS.

What I read is that MS disencourages you to use these directly. MS advises you to use the API (next chapter). But if you need remote access then this is your best shot.

If you don't need remote access you might want to consider the next option.

The Microsoft.TeamFoundation Libraries

I found multiple names for them: TFS SDK, TFS object access, etc.
But in the end they all refer to the MS dlls, which are used to access the TFS Webservices:
- Microsoft.TeamFoundation.dll
- Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Client

They can be found in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\PrivateAssemblies

Below is the code you can use to pull all the changes now:

using Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client;
using Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Client;

public static void GetPendingChanges(string tfsServer)
{
 //connection to TFS Version Control    
 TeamFoundationServer tfs = TeamFoundationServerFactory.GetServer("<YOUR tfsServer>");
 VersionControlServer vcs = (VersionControlServer)tfs.GetService(typeof(VersionControlServer));

 //pulling the pending changes    
 PendingSet[] pending = vcs.GetPendingSets(new string[] { "$/" }, RecursionType.Full);
 
 //start printing them on the screen:    
 foreach (var item in pending)
 {
    Console.WriteLine("\n--------------------------------");
    Console.WriteLine("User: " + item.OwnerName);
    if (item.PendingChanges != null)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Number of Checked Out Files: " + item.PendingChanges.Length.ToString());
        Console.WriteLine("Files:");
        foreach (var change in item.PendingChanges)
        {

           Console.WriteLine("-File: " + change.ServerItem);
           Console.WriteLine("-- ChangeType: " + change.ChangeTypeName);
           Console.WriteLine("-- Checked Out: " + change.CreationDate.ToString());
           Console.WriteLine("-- Local file" + change.LocalItem);
        }
    }
 }
}

Of course this is not even the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more in the Libraries. I recommend you check out MSDN for the TFS SDK.

There might be more on the blog in the future :-)

Tom

What are good Check in Policies for TFS?

ftom — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:48:26 GMT

Hi y'all

Today I was asking myself an interesting question. So please everyone who read this please give comments!!!!

Me as a developer, I do not like rules for Source Control.

But as soon as your local machine crashes or you get a solution out of TFS which does not compile or you become a Project Manager or …. You really feel like making a change to my own habits. Pain is sometimes the best motivator.

But what are the best rules for TFS (or SourceControl in general) without going overboard?

Here are some basic rules I came up with:

- Check in/ Shelfing every night is required. Every morning at around 4 am run a script to see what was not checked in and send an "informal" email of all "offenders" to the DEV Team.

- Every check in starts a continuous integration process and checks if the solution still builds. If not: Notification Email

- NO LOCAL CODE on any machine which is not checked in (even little helper tools for troubleshooting) . This is a tough one to enforce but worth making a value out of it. Maybe have independent project where everyone can have their own snippets or little test tools.

- Minimize Branching. But if you need it USE IT! Use Labeling as an alternative

Am I missing something? But I think this would solve most of the Source Control problems IT-Shops are facing

What are your thoughts?

Tom