Brian On Software

If you happen to be using Visual Studio with Team Foundation Server (TFS) as the source code repository, you might be wasting your precious time in trying to find the specific file in the Solution Explorer that you want to perform some action against it (check out the file, check in the file, view the file’s history, etc.).  This is especially true for a solution which comprises a multitude of projects and a sea of various files.  FYI, I don’t pin the Solution Explorer when I code because I like to have the widest view on my code rather than to share the screen space on the structure of the solution, so it’s a pain to always display the Solution Explorer or use the File –> Source Control menu to perform a TFS operation on a current file.

Here’s a little trick that’s available for which allows you to perform common TFS operations against the current open document in Visual Studio.

1. Right-click anywhere on the toolbar container and click on the Source Control – Team Foundation item (the list is in alphabetical order).  Peek on the huge screenshot on the right for guidance.
2. You should now see the TFS toolbar (take a look at Figure 1 below) which allows you to perform common TFS operations to the current document.

Starting from the left side, these different items allow you to:

• Change Source Control
• Get Latest Version (of the current document)
• Get Specific Version (of the current document)
• Check Out For Edit (of the current document)
• Check In (the current document)
• Undo Pending Changes
• View History (of the current document)
• Refresh Status (of the current document)

You shouldn’t need to use the Solution Explorer or use the File->Source Control menu to perform common TFS operations on the current document anymore.