Team Foundation Server - TF Get with changeset number

Question

I'm trying to write a very lightweight "build" script which will basically just get a few files from TF (based on a Changeset number). Then I'll run those files in SQLCMD.

I'm using this:

tf.exe get c:\tfs\  /version:c2681  /force /recursive

However, this appears to get EVERYTHING, not just the files in changeset #2681. I'd like to be able to point it to the root of my tfs workspace, give it a changeset number, and have it just update those few specific files. Also, it appears to be getting older versions (perhaps what was current when changeset #2681 was checked in)?

Is there a way to get just those specific files, WITHOUT needing to call them out specifically in the tf get itemspec?

EDIT: I actually had to add the /force option in order for it to do anything at all. Without force, it doesn't appear to even retrieve from the server a file I deleted locally, that's definitely in the changeset.

thanks, Sylvia

Answer 1

Everything mentioned in Jason's and Richard's posts above is correct but I would like to add one thing that may help you. The TFS team ships a set of useful tools separate from VS known as the "Team Foundation Power Tools". One of the Power Tools is an additional command line utility known as tfpt.exe. tfpt.exe contains a "getcs" command which is equivalent to "get changeset" which seems to be exactly what you are looking for.

If you have VS 2010, then you can download the tools here. If you have an older version, a bing :) search should help you find the correct version of the tools. If you want to read more about the getcs command, check out Buck Hodges's post here.

Answer 2

The TFS server keeps track of what each workspace contains¹. Any changes made locally with non-TFS client commands (whether tf.exe, Team Explorer or another client) will lead to differences between the TFS Server's view and what actually exist.

The force options on the various clients just gets everything removing such inconsistencies (effectively resetting both what is on the client and what the server thinks is there).

When you perform a get against a specified version (whether date, changeset or label) you get everything up to and including that point in time, whether on not specifically changed at that point. So getting

tf get /version:D2012-03-30

will get changes made on or before that date.

To get only the items included in a changeset you'll have to do some work yourself, using a command to get a listing of the content of a changeset and parse that to perform the right actions (a changeset can include more than just updates and adds of files²).

It seems to me that if you want to perform a build at each changeset affecting a particular TFS folder you would be better off looking at using TFS Build which is all about doing exactly that – avoid reinventing the wheel – and focus on the build part (other continuous build solutions are available).

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¹ This will change with TFS11 local workspaces.

² Eg. handing the rename of a folder will take some non-trivial work.

Answer 3

The command will get all the sources for the given changeset. By default it will only get the files that it thinks are different between your workspace and the server. However, by using the /force option you are asking it to get everything regardless of the state it thinks your workspace is in (which is much slower but has the benefit of ensuring your workspace is fully in sync with the server).

So just removing /force will probably achieve what you want.

edit As I said above, tfs will get all files that it thinks are different from the server. If you manually delete a file from your local workspace, TFS won't know that it is missing from your local version, so it won't think it needs to update the file. There are three solutions to this:

• Use /force to make sure things are in sync, and put up with it being very slow.
• Don't modify files in your workspace with anything other than TFS tools (tf.exe, Visual Studio, TFS power tool for the explorer shell). You shouldn't just delete files on your local hard drive - if they really need to be deleted, then delete them in source control.
• Go offline in TFS before you make changes manually. Then when you go online, TFS will search for all the changes you have made and add them to your pending changes so that TFS is aware of them.