Feedback on Team Foundation Server MSSCCI Provider
The early feedback from the TFS MSSCCI provider has been very positive. Thank you for your responses. Please let us know about your experiences both good and bad on our forum or by mail. We are particularly interested on what environments you have successfully used the TFS MSSCCI provider that is not included on our tested list (see my previous post).
From time to time I will summarize some feedback, issues, or questions that customers have had with the TF MSSCCI provider. Today, I will address a question that one customer about changing the provider. When a MSSCCI provider setup is run it sets the one local machine wide setting for the MSSCCI provider. This is set in the following registry key: HKLM\Software\SourceCodeControlProvider
For many customers, up to now they have only had one provider on their machines, e.g. SourceSafe. However, after installing the TFS MSSCCI provider now they have multiple. So now the issue arises, how do I switch between providers because sometimes they are using TFS and sometimes they are using something else.
How to Switch MSSCCI Providers
You switch MSSCCI providers by setting the value of ProviderRegKey of the HKLM\Software\SourceCodeControlProvider registry key. You set this value to the path listed under the InstalledSCCProviders key.
For example, the following command line command will set the provider to SourceSafe.
reg add HKLM\Software\SourceCodeControlProvider /v ProviderRegKey /d Software\Microsoft\SourceSafe /f
Likewise, the following command will set the provider to TFS.
reg add HKLM\Software\SourceCodeControlProvider /v ProviderRegKey /d "Software\Microsoft\Team Foundation Server MSSCCI Provider" /f
Keep in mind you need to restart your development environment (e.g. VS.Net 2003) before the new settings take place.
