TFS Equivalent of SVN Export

Here is a little trick to download the latest version of a source control folder from TFS. The idea is to use the Web Access API to retrieve the data.
Basically, you will get a Zip containing the HEAD version of the specified source control folder.

Here is the URL you have to use :


http://tfs-server:port/tfs/Collection/TeamProject/Team/_api/_versioncontrol/itemContentZipped?repositoryId=&path=url-encoded-source-control-path

The yellow parameters are mandatory, the green ones can be omitted.
Replace the parameters as described:
  • tfs-server is the TFS server hostname
  • port is the TFS port (usually 8080)
  • Collection is the name of your team project collection
  • TeamProject is the name of your team project
  • Team is the name of the team
  • url-encoded-source-control-path is the URL encoded source control path (for example, $/Project1/Main/Sources/Folder/SubFolder becomes %24%2FProject1%2FMain%2FSources%2FFolder%2FSubFolder
The main benefit of this URL is that it allows you to retrieve a source control folder without having to create workspaces and mappings (and thus avoiding the manual deletion of the associated $tf folders).

 This URL is using Windows Authentication, so if you are using CURL (for example) on a non-Microsoft platform, you have to pass the --ntlm switch together with your windows credentials to retrieve the Zip package.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Create a draft release and start it using the TFS REST API

The code below uses the preview API to retrieve a release definition, create a new draft release from the latest build, update some variables, then activate the release and start the deployment on a specific environment. It serves as a reference regarding how to use the RM API. I used the following nuget packages: <packages>   <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.Client" targetframework="net452" version="5.2.3"/>   <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.Core" targetframework="net452" version="5.2.3"/>   <package id="Microsoft.IdentityModel.Clients.ActiveDirectory" targetframework="net452" version="3.14.1"/>   <package id="Microsoft.TeamFoundation.DistributedTask.Common.Contracts" targetframework="net452" version="15.118.0-preview"/>   <package id="Microsoft.TeamFoundationServer.Client" targetframework="net452"
Read more

Adding a delay before processing Textbox events

Typical scenario: You provide the user with a TextBox he can use to type a filter over a big chunk of data that takes a lot of time to process. Most of the time, you would handle the TextChanged event of the TextBox and issue a filter operation over the data source using the character(s) available in the TextBox. Typical problem: The user complains because he has to wait between the key strokes even if he already knows a filter that would allow the search to take place in a matter of a few seconds. Solution: Introduce a delay between the last key stroke and the processing using a timer. Walkthough: Create a new Winforms project with a Form. Add a TextBox (named textBox), a ListBox (named listBox). To mimic a very slow data source, we will create a dummy class: public class VerySlowDataAccess { private static string [] data = null ; static VerySlowDataAccess () { data = new [] { "AAAAAA1" , "AAAAAA2"
Read more

Change the deployment URL of a ClickOnce application

I use ClickOnce everyday for several internal applications. Recently, I had to move the publishing website to a new host. Here is how you can acheive a completely transparent move without annoying your users or forcing them to uninstall and reinstall the application. First, you need to publish the deployment files on the new server. The deployment configuration is as follows : Publishing folder : URL on the new server Installation Folder : URL on the new server Updates Folder : URL on the new server Revision : last revision + 2 (very important) Then you need to deploy a new version on the old server with an updates folder on the new server. This way, next time the application launches, it will get the new version from the new server, and voila. Here is the configuration for the last deployment on the old server : Publishing folder : URL on the old server Installation Folder : URL on the old server Updates Folder : URL on the new server Revision : last revision + 1 (very important) E
Read more