TFS in visual studio 2012 Forcing a check-in

Question

This question is NOT answered at the link above...

I had some problems with TFS where visual studio builds on the local machine no problem, but when I try to build on the server I get build errors. The errors are not relevant to this question.

The issue I have is that in order to fix the errors I had to manually edit some of the files on my local machine, and since they were manually edited, TFS doesn't detect the change so it wont let me upload my change set to the server which would have fixed the problems there.

My first, and main question is: How can I force TFS to copy all my local files to the server. Sort of like the reverse of the whole:

Goto View / Other Windows / Source Control Explorer / Right click on the relevant project / Advanced / Get specific version / Check "Overwrite all files..." / Press ok.

Which (arguably, cause it doesn't always get everything in my experience) gets a full file set from the server to the local machine.

I am so tired of TFS uploading partial file sets and then when the solution is removed locally, and then re downloaded from the server, I have to pull in the missing files and references from some backup. If it was uploaded fully, and correctly at the start, I would probably have less of these problems. So this is my main question. How do I force TFS to upload all my files regardless if they have changed or not according to it.

To explain further a problem I am having in particular with nuget package manager. I disabled the option "Allow NuGet to download missing packages during build". So locally I got actual build errors. Yes that's right, Build errors. like this...

Project XXX: Package restore is disabled by default. To give consent, open the Visual Studio Options dialog, click on Package Manager node and check 'Allow NuGet to download missing packages during build.' You can also give consent by setting the environment variable 'EnableNuGetPackageRestore' to 'true'.

Which now forces me to re-enable this option to get rid of the errors. I am annoyed at this because such errors should be presented as warnings so as not to prevent a build. This is seriously disappointing and as a result I have a very poor opinion of NuGet.

Anyways enough ranting, I re-enabled this, not like I had a choice. But the version where this was disabled went up to the server. Now I get this error on the server. I tried re-enabling it and doing a check in, but TFS wont let me. (Warning...No pending changes). Of course not, its just a silly check box. What could possibly have changed. But now I get an error on the server that I cannot fix all because someone at NuGet didn't put some taught into properly designing their warnings (as opposed to preventing a build by causing errors).

So, once again, how can I force TFS to take all my files, changed or unchanged, verbatim, to the server. This way, when I fix a problem locally, it "should" fix it also on the server. Or at least, when I next download it, I am assured to have the whole file set.

Apologies if this sounds like I am being negative, but I am at this for 5 solid days and it has completely stopped development costing me and the company a lot of money. Any help would be very much appreciated.

Answer 1

Yes i know before the flames start to arise, this is not conventional....but working in unity I encounter this problem quite often. Literally dealing with it now as i updated to unity 5.5 and it fubared a lot of stuff in my current project. After the resolutions from unity, my project is completely out of sync... and for whatever reason vis stu refuses to monitor these changes... It is rather annoying to be sure, but not to worry as I have resolved it successfully every time over the iterations by doing the following:

1. create a backup folder in a separate location and copy the entire thing over. It doesn't matter where you back up to as long as its in a unique separate folder. Be sure to copy FOLDERS not individual FILES as some files may be hidden.

2. do a full get of the latest version (according to TFS). This can take some time and is why you back it up in a separate location. Be sure to KEEP VS OPEN AT THIS POINT!!!

3. overwrite ALL the files you "got" with the backup that you made in step 1. The local work-space will monitor the changes to the files as you overwrite them with the backed up copy into your local space, and mark them as having pending changes accordingly if the new one has any difference.

4. update your pending changes to the TFS server in source control explorer. Any change detected during the overwrite will be added to the included changes section.

Voila you have forced your files, work, and will onto the TFS server!

Answer 2

I like to use the Source Control Explorer window, then right click on a folder and choose Compare. You can choose to see what is different in the target folder, or what is a new file. The files that are different appear in red. You can then right click on them and check out and check in files, or use control-click to select more than one file at time.

Answer 3

If you are using TFS 2012, then Local Workspaces would be a good solution for you.

Just to be clear - Local Workspaces does not mean that your developers are working locally. All code is still under Source Control in exactly the same way with Server Workspaces.

Local Workspaces are new to TFS 2012 and would resolve your issue. The main advantage for you is that files are no longer marked read-only. This allows you to be able to edit them from anywhere (notepad, any other IDE, Visual Studio) without first doing a checkout. Visual Studio will then automatically detect that the file has changed and list it in the Pending Changes window.

Good article comparing the different types of workspaces: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/willy-peter_schaub/archive/2011/11/30/team-foundation-server-trying-to-understand-server-versus-local-workspaces.aspx

Answer 4

There is no way to tell TFS to take everything in my file system. What you need to do is a multistep process. First Check Out the entire directory, this will not overwrite your manual changes but will allow you to check back in and have it detect those changes. Second, if any new files were created you need to add at the root directory and get all new adds. Lastly check in all of your changes. It really should be that simple.