In TFS 2008 you could create Branches so what is the big change???
- In TFS 2008 you don’t know which of the folders are Branches: All folders looks the same, all have the folder icon.
- In TFS 2008 you don’t have the tools to manage the Branches: You don’t have visual means to know which of the branches are related and what is the relation type.
- In TFS 2008 you can’t track the changes path between the Branches: If you have made a merge in a Branch you can’t track from which Branch this Merge came from.
All these problems are addressed in TFS 2010!!!
Problem 1: In TFS 2008 you don’t know which of the folders are Branches
In TFS 2010 there is a new icon that shows which of the folder is a Branch, simple solution that fixes a very annoying problem.
In the example I have highlighted the branches, you can easily spot the Branches.
Problem 2: In TFS 2008 you don’t have the tools to manage the Branches
In TFS 2010 you have visual tools to see the Branches Hierarchy.
In order to see a Branch Hierarchy just Right Click the Branch and choose: Branching and Merging –> View Hierarchy
A new tab will be opened with the Branch’s Hierarchy.
Problem 3: In TFS 2008 you can’t track the changes path between the Branches
In TFS 2010 you have visual tools that shows the path of a change between the Branches, you can also see where the change was added on a timeline.
In order to track a change do the following:
Step 1: Right Click the Branch and choose “View History”
Step 2: Choose a changeset to track and click the “Track Changeset” button.
Step 3: Choose the branches that will be in the view and click “Visualize”.
What you will get is a view of the chosen branches where you can see in the example that Changesets 42 and 46 where merged from the “Production/1.0 DemoProject” Branch to the “DemoProject” Branch.
You can also see that the changeset was not merged to the “1.7 DemoProject” Branch yet.
You can also see the Merges on a Timeline by clicking on the “Timeline Tracking” button.
We have seen how TFS 2010 addressed each of the problems or lake in functionality we had in TFS 2008.
Have Fun!!!