[UPDATE 11/5/12] I wanted to add that when using either the hierarchy view or the track changeset view, you can use Ctrl-C when the window has focus to get an image of it copied to the clipboard rather than having to use a screenshot tool.

One of the great features in TFS 2010 is the ability to track changesets across branches. A prime user scenario for this feature is determining whether a fix has made it to a particular branch. Here’s an example of how to do that.

How to track a changeset number:

1. Bring up Source Control Explorer in VS by double clicking the Source Control node in Team Explorer (or make sure SCE has focus)
2. Press Ctrl-G to bring up the Go to Changeset dialog (or Edit -> Go To… from the main menu)
3. Enter the changeset and click Track Changeset. For this example, I’ll use 1984519 on our internal server.
4. Specify the branches you want displayed and click Visualize. In this case I’m interested in Main. Because the change originates in MQTools, it is required and automatically selected. I also specified MQALM to show a branch where the fix has not been merged. The screenshot on the left shows the hierarchy view, and clicking the Timeline Tracking toolbar button shows the timeline view.

How to track a work item:

If you have a work item that has a changeset link, it’s even simpler. Bring up the work item form, right click on the form, and choose Track Work Item.

Enjoy!

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