michal.Log : Team Foundation Server

"Get latest on checkout" in a mixed environment

michalma — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:56:00 GMT

Today I had to test behavior of our less commonly used feature, get latest on checkout, in a mixed VSTS 2008 + TFS 2008 environment. Hopefully this blog post will save the time next person who wonders if this should work (It took me 3 hours to update my VS2005 hyperv image before I could actually try it).

First of all, a little about the feature. We resisted a long time before we gave up and implemented it in TFS 2008. We thought that it doesn't go well with TFS philosophy by we were convinced that we are wrong :) It causes client to download latest version of the file before pending edit in single web server call. It's both client side and server side setting.

Ok, now the actual finding. You need both VSTS2008 RTM and TFS 2008 RTM at the minimum to use gloc. If server is TFS 2008 and has this option turned on, but client is 2005, it will not take advantage of it.

Hope this helps!

Version Control API changes in TFS 2010 - part II

michalma — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:46:00 GMT

Yesterday I was talking about changes we did to itemId and pendingChangeId in TFS 2010. Today I want to list other changes, related to various part of VC api:

You should be careful when using DiffItemVersionedFile class, especially if you use constructor that requires itemId. Much safer thing to do is to call Difference. CreateTargetDiffItem. It will use QueryHistory under the covers to find correct item, but it has optimizations for most common cases that will avoid it.
VersionControlServer. GetBranchHistory returns objects that are result of both branching and renaming items. BranchRelative.BranchToChangeType contains information about the operation that created given branch, however this is not recommended to try mimicking Orcas behavior by pruning results of GetBranchHistory. In some cases, like cycles in renames, it’s not possible. Instead new method VersionControlServer. QueryMergeRelationships should be used, which returns all items that have merge relationship to the specified item (i.e. not only branch relationship, but also merge relationship).
Labels in TFS 2010 include deleted items, in oppose to labels in TFS 2005 and TFS 2008
VersionControlServer.GetItems and Workspace.GetExtendedItems do not returns items that were deleted as part of rename, unless GetItemsOptions. IncludeSourceRenames was specified

Enjoy!

Version Control API changes in TFS 2010 - part I

michalma — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:44:00 GMT

As Matt writes in his post, the way version control behaves in TFS 2010 has changed in a few significant ways. Our team was responsible for making the client code updates in response to those server changes and I tried to write down lessons we have learned.

First of all - itemId. Before, it was a unique identification of an item. It was the same across all renames, deletes and undeletes. Now, it's not:

it changes during rename
there can be two items with the same itemId, when you have rename A->B and add A in the same workspace

When we are dealing with PendingChange objects, the helpful fact is that PendingChangeId still remains unique, so it can be used for indexing instead of itemId, when we are dealing with just pending changes. Please keep in mind however that Chandru wants to get rid of PendingChangeId as well :) Other property we can use to identify pending changes is target server path (ServerPath) which is unique in the given point of time. SourceServerPath is not unique.

PendingChangeId has, however, also changed a little. It's no longer indexed on the server, so calling VersionControlServer.GetPendingChange[s] is very discouraged (and can throw exception). Instead client needs to use QueryPendingSets/QueryShelvedChanges or Workspace.GetPendingChanges.

If your tool needs to track item across renames, VersionControlServer.QueryHistory is your best friend. Please keep in mind that it can't be recursive (it will be always slot mode then). Remember that you can specify versionFrom, versionTo and max number of records to return. The call should be quick if you are requesting only single changeset, just before item was renamed - version does not need to be between versionFrom and versionTo (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb138961.aspx)

Those are the biggest changes, in the next blog post I will talk about other changes, less used but still interesting :)

Using tf.exe in PowerShell ISE or other custom environments

michalma — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:35:00 GMT

Recently a few folks from our and other team tried working with TFS inside PowerShell ISE (http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/scriptfanatic/archive/2008/12/30/windows-powershell-integrated-scripting-environment-ise.aspx).
What they discovered is that tf.exe thinks that its output is redirected and switches to noprompt mode. Which means that running
tf.exe checkin

will check in the code instead of bringing up UI. Ouch.
The problem is that ISE is really redirecting the output of tf.exe in order to display it. tf.exe is trying to be smart and suppress UI if it detects it. Fortunately there is easy workaround since TFS 2008.
If you set environment variable:
TFS_IGNORESTDOUTREDIRECT=1

We will stop detecting output redirection. You need to add /noprompt to force no ui mode.

Hope this helps :)

Msscci with RoboHelp

michalma — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:16:00 GMT

Yet another tool that should be working with TFS Msscci Provider is RoboHelp. The reported problem is "Server Busy" error message display over Msscci dialog.

The solution for this (until release of the new provider) is to create registry file (robofix.reg) with the following content:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Team Foundation Server MSSCCI Provider\Settings\RoboHelp]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Team Foundation Server MSSCCI Provider\Settings\RoboHelp\ROBOHTML.EXE]
"issues"=dword:000000D1

Then run it.
Of course this script is provided "as is". If it does not help, please remove this entry from your registry.

Orcas Beta1 available

michalma — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 22:17:00 GMT

As Brian posted a few days ago (together with multiple other people :) Orcas Beta1 is available here. From the Version Control perspective it contains 90% of functionality which we want provide in Orcas (some more goodies will come in the Beta2). There are 4 new features - get latest on checkout, destroy (only command line), folderdiff (improved tfpt treediff) and annotate (improved powertool annotate). We also improved scalalbility and performance of the VC operations. Enjoy testing !!!

Msscci with eMbedded C++ 4

michalma — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:22:00 GMT

We recently discovered new IDE that works with TFS Msscci provider (well, almost ;) - eMbedded C++ 4. The only problem is that it displays often "Server Busy" message while doing SCC operations. The solution for this (until release of the new provider) is to create registry file (evc4fix.reg) with the following content:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Team Foundation Server MSSCCI Provider\Settings\Microsoft eMbedded Visual C++]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Team Foundation Server MSSCCI Provider\Settings\Microsoft eMbedded Visual C++\EVC.EXE]
"issues"=dword:00000011

Then run it. After the registry was updated, start eMbedded C++ 4 and enjoy source control with TFS :)

Missing Msscci in VB6

michalma — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 00:21:00 GMT

This is a very old issue, which appeared for the first time (and was resolved) in this thread. However, it comes every month or so on the forum so I want to describe here the problem and resolution in as easy way as possible.

Problem:

VB6 was installed without SourceSafe support. After installing TFS Msscci, VB6 does not have Team Foundation menu.

Solution:

Edit vbaddin.ini (start->run: vbaddin.ini (its in the windows dir)
Add the line VBSCC=3

Msscci 1.2 arrived

michalma — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 17:37:00 GMT

As Brian writes in his blog we released new version of TFS Msscci Provider. Nice improvements are fixes in the property (displaying local path) and checkin (saving the work items query list between the calls) dialog. We have also changed the provider in order to support Toad.

However the biggest change is supporting branched solutions in VS2003. Basically it means that now, after the solution was branched on the server, VS2003 should perform "Open from SCC" with no problems (in the previous versions it would still reference the original branch and mess with your workspace mappings). There are a few gotchas when playing with the branched solutions:

As Brian writes, you need to do "Open from SCC" in order to get solution into your local workspace, you cannot download the files manually (using tf.exe or SCE) and open it directly from the disk. However this is the same behavior as SourceSafe and other msscci providers, so I hope it will not be confusing for the users.
As we write in the readme (which I'm sure everybody reads before using the provider :) solutions which were bound to source control using old TFS Msscci Provider will need to be rebound.
Opening from source control multi-rooted solutions can be challenging. Web projects are always referencing the original branch and unfortunately we don't see a way to change this. To fix it, you need to perform the following steps:

Check out the branched sln file (using Team Explorer or command line) before you do Open from SCC in VS2003
Manually fix SccPorjectName field which references the main branch
Check in the file

Opening multi-rooted a solution which has normal projects (not web projects) outside of the solution root will change the workspace mapping because VS2003 will create common root and the structure on the disk will not be the same as structure on the server. You can fix the workspace mappings manually after the "Open from SCC".

I hope that these scenarios are rare enough that it will not bother you often :).

Update 03/28/2008

One more scenario when project can still reference the original branch, is when somebody (or something) adds to source control the "mssccprj.scc" files. Those files are created during "Open from Scc" and they contain binding information. They should be local only, so every time user creates new project, downloading in from different branch, the mssccprj.scc will contain correct server path. If you already checked in those files, please delete them from SCC in all branches (by pending delete and then checking in the change), sync the workspaces, and perform "Open from Scc" operation again to recreate mssccprj.scc files on the disk.

Nicer TFS Msscci in VS2003

michalma — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 01:08:00 GMT

Recently I started testing new TFS Msscci Provider. Doing that, I discovered a few Visual Studio settings that I should turn on long time ago.

What is a little irritating while working in VS2003+TFS Msscci is that when doing checkout I’m prompted to provide comment. TFS does not have comments for checkouts so it’s ignored anyway. The other option which I can change there is lock type (in Advanced options) but I hardly ever do this. So “Tools->Options->Source Control->Display silent check out command in menus” was made for me. Please keep in mind that File->Source Control will still include non-silent checkout and that you can set global lock level in File->Options->Source Control->Scc Provider->Advanced. Unfortunately “Checkout on Edit” will still display checkout dialog.

The other handy option is “Display silent check in command in menus”. TFS allows you to provide much more information during the check-in, than just the comment (work items, checkin notes, override policy comments), so we display the TFS Check-in dialog anyway. The only time when you would like VS2003 check-in dialog to be displayed is when you want to select “Keep checked-out” option.

Enjoy J

Tracing in TFS Msscci provider

michalma — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 21:20:00 GMT

Tracing can be enabled in Msscci the same way as in tf.exe or devenv. In the setup directory (the one containing TfsMsscciSvr.exe) you need to create file named TfsMsscciSvr.exe.config. Here is what it should contain:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<configuration>

<runtime>

<gcConcurrent enabled="true" />

<assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">

<publisherPolicy apply="yes" />

<probing privatePath="PrivateAssemblies" />

</assemblyBinding>

</runtime>

<appSettings>

<add key="VersionControl.EnableSoapTracing" value="true" />

<add key="VersionControl.TraceDownloadContent" value="false" />

</appSettings>

<system.diagnostics>

<switches>

<add name="TeamFoundationSoapProxy" value="4" />

<add name="VersionControl" value="4" />

</switches>

<trace autoflush="true" indentsize="3">

<listeners>

<!--<add name="myListener"

type="Microsoft.TeamFoundation.TeamFoundationTextWriterTraceListener,Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Common, Version=8.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"

initializeData="c:\hatteras-dev.log" />-->

<!--<add name="perfListener" type="Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client.PerfTraceListener,Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client, Version=8.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"

/>-->

</listeners>

</trace>

</system.diagnostics>

</configuration>

Two listeners defined there are:

myListener is recording all web method calls, value of the parameters, time it took to execute etc. into file specified in attribute initializeData
perfListener will popup perf dialog during the application start that will list each web method name and time it took to execute

Two enable the listener just remove the comments around it.

Treediff command line survival guide

michalma — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 16:45:00 GMT

I wanted to do it a long time ago, but time has passed and I was forgetting about it over and over again. So finally here are some advices about using the tfpt treediff command line.

First of all treediff has noprompt switch, which is not included in the command description. The output is divided into 4 sections – items with the same content, different content, existing only in source and existing only in target location.
The registry settings affects the command line (even /noprompt) so keep this in mind writing scripts – to be completely sure that you are getting the correct content you need to verify content of the keys Brian described here
Comparing local to server folder might be tricky if local folder is not mapped (it doesn’t have to be mapped to selected server path)
If you want to compare local mapped folder to its server state, it’s enough to specify the local path, the server path will be calculated by folderdiff
When comparing two server paths, remember about /s:[server name] option
While comparing big trees keep in mind that we don’t handle errors very well in powertoy – it doesn’t matter if you don’t have permissions for server folder or file (because you just don’t see it then) but local file block for reading or without permissions will make folderdiff to fail

Most, if not all, of the mentioned issues will be corrected in the FolderDiff Orcas feature, described by Brian here.

TreeDiff has arrived :)

michalma — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 16:18:00 GMT

As Brian has written in his blog yestarday, we have released new TFS Power Toys (download site). Of course I’m very proud that TFS Msscci provider started to be supported by CSS, but Msscci is not topic of the post :) One of the new powertoys is TreeDiff, a tool integrated both with tfpt command line tool (tfpt treediff) and with Visual Studio (“Compare…” command in context menu on the folder in Source Control Explorer). It allows user to compare both local and server directories (with and without recursion). It also includes all handy commands that user may need to call when the content of the directory is different, e.g. pending add, edit and delete, get latest, undo, diff on the single file and a few more. "Reconcile All" command let user to perform these operations on all changed files.

Your feedback is really valuable to us, because the most popular PowerToys will become official TFS feature in the coming releases. Please tell us what you think about them either in the blog comments or on the forum.

The unfortunate fact is that command line treediff fails when “Get Latest” is executed on file that does not exist locally. Here is workaround for this bug:

Start a VS command prompt
cd %DevEnvDir%
Copy PrivateAssemblies\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Controls.dll "c:\Program Files\Microsoft Team Foundation Server Power Toys"
(of course "c:\Program Files\Microsoft Team Foundation Server Power Toys" is directory where tfpt.exe exists)
This is not an issue for VS integrated treediff

Update 09/19/2005

Another scenario when command line treediff is failing to load the assembly is comparing two local directories and calling diff tool on the selected files. To solve this issue please copy "Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Client.dll" in the way described above.

Msscci 1.1 is coming!!

michalma — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 20:39:00 GMT

In just a few days we will release new drop of TFS Msscci Provider (keep the fingers crossed). We added support for two new IDEs and a few cool features. Here are the details:

Support for Enterprise Architect 6.1 and PowerBuilder 10.5
Fixed order of parameters passed into external diff tool (it's the same as in Whidbey now)
Work items can be reviewed and edited from inside the Checkin Dialog
Setup is working in x64 architecture
Checkin locks are treated as exclusive
Enhanced "Open from SCC"/"Add to SCC" process - both local and server path are specified in the single dialog. Also if the local path is already mapped, the process is done automatically.

And last, but not least - "Get latest" on Checkout :) It's disabled by default, but you can turn it on in global options.

Check-in policies with Msscci provider

michalma — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 21:45:00 GMT

The question, which is asked quite frequently on DLs and forum is “Does TFS Msscci Provider supports check-in policies?”. The short answer is Yes J. But as usual there are some exceptions to this rule. The Provider will handle all policies in the same way they are handled by our console client. So if policy needs infrastructure provided solely by Visual Studio, you will get error both from console client and Msscci Provider. You can only override this policy then.

The examples of such policies are “Code Analysis” and “Testing Policy”, shipped with Team Foundation Server. The good new is, that they are specific to .net 2.0 (at least IMO), so you shouldn’t have them enabled if you are working with Msscci Provider.