如何通过从另一个分支复制本地内容从 TFS 中的新分支中提取

Question

There are two branches in the TFS repo. Branch 1 and Branch 2. Branch 2 was created recently and I want to pull contents of branch 2. I have pulled branch 1 in my machine. As there is limited bandwidth, I was wondering is there any way to copy the contents from branch 1 folder into branch 2 folder in my local machine so that I won't have to utilize much of my mobile data. I tried it but source control explorer in visual studio is not detecting the files I copied to branch 2 folder from branch 1.

Is there any tricks to make it work?

Answer 1

Update:

Since you use TFVC, you need to make sure the folder you try to copy to has been mapped to Branch 2. And you should be able to see the copy files detected in Excluded Changes after you copy the files in the mapped folder.

When you connect to TFS again, you need to perform “Get Latest” for the Branch 2. If you modify files in the mapped folder, you would get conflicts when you perform "get latest", choose keep local version, and then the modified files will show in Included Changes, you just need to check them in.

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TFS provide two models of version control: Git and Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC).

Git is a distributed version control system. Each developer has a copy of the source repository on their dev machine. Developers can commit each set of changes on their dev machine and perform version control operations such as history and compare without a network connection. Branches are lightweight. When you need to switch contexts, you can create a private local branch.

Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC) is a centralized version control system. Typically, team members have only one version of each file on their dev machines. Historical data is maintained only on the server. Branches are path-based and created on the server.

If you use Git version control, you can create a private local branch and push the commits later. If you use TFVC version control, you would see the copy files detected in Excluded Changes after you copy the files in the local path of the branch. You can promote the changes as new files, which will cause conflicts when you check in.

For your scenario, Git version control will be more suitable for you. If you use TFVC, you can migrate them to Git repos:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/repos/git/import-from-tfvc?view=azure-devops