Team Development with Visual Studio Team Foundation Server

Guidelines: Source Control
Index
Accessing Version Control
• Consider using command-line tools.
• Use Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005 Team Foundation Power Tools (TFPT) to
unshelve a change.
• Use Team Foundation Power Tools to roll back a change.
• Use Team Foundation Power Tools to work offline.
• Use Team Foundation Power Tools to get a changeset.
• Use Team Foundation Power Tools to remove pending edits.
Administration
• Turn off inherited permissions on maintenance branches.
• Deny check-in permissions to developers you do not yet trust to make changes to your
source.
Branch / Label / Merge
• Use labels to mark builds you might need to return to.
• Use branches to isolate supported releases.
• Plan your branching structure along merge paths.
• Branch at a high level, including configuration and source files.
• Do not branch too deeply.
• Do not branch unless you need to.
• Avoid baseless merges where possible.
• Prefer full merges to “cherry-pick” merges.
• Merge frequently.
• Always create a top-level folder for a new team project to serve as a main branch.
• Consider using the candidate or preview switch to double-check before merging.
• When renames are part of the merge, pay close attention to the path that the tool
recommends.
• Be careful when resolving merge conflicts.
• Check in the results of one merge at a time.
• Build and run tests after the merge and prior to check-in.
Check-ins and Check-in Policies
• Only check in your code when you are ready to share it.
• Use shelvesets to back up or share pending changes.
• Resolve one work item per check-in.
• Use check-in policies to enforce coding standards.
• Use check-in policies to enforce a code quality gate.