Moving files in TFS 2008 Source Control

neildeadman
Today one of my colleagues needed to move some files into a sub-folder in the project’s workspace in TFS 2008 Source Control.

It seems with Team Explorer, you can move individual files by right-clicking the file and choosing Move. However, you can’t do this with multiple files selected! You can move a whole folder, but that moves the entire folder and not just the files in it, so it doesn’t work to a sub-folder within that folder.

I suggested checking out the files, moving them in the workspace on his local machine and then checking them back in. I was thinking that TFS would be aware that these files have now moved and would handle this accordingly. WRONG!

We could move them and then add them as new files in the “new” location, but this would mean they lose all the history for the files.

It turns out, you can’t move files around in Source Control using Team Explorer, but you can by using the tf.exe command-line utility provided (usually found in: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE). You’ll need to add the correct path for your computer using the DOS Set command like this:

[sourcecode language="html"]SET PATH=%PATH%;"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE"

To do this you use the rename function of the utility and provide the new location for the files, like this:

  1. Get the latest copy of the files that you want to move, using Team Explorer.

  2. Open a Command Prompt and change to the drive and path where the files you want to move currently exist.

  3. Move the files to the new location using the rename function of the tf.exe command-line utility like this:


[sourcecode language="html"] tf rename <files> <new_location> /lock:checkin

The following example will move all files into a sub-folder of the current folder called Video Thumbs:

[sourcecode language="html"] tf rename *.* "Video Thumbs" /lock:checkin

If you now look at the Source Control new & old folders in the workspace and you should see your files have been moved. All you have to do now is check in the changes and the files are moved!

WARNING: Using a wildcard like *.* will also move folders!

14 Comments

  1. Oliver30 March 2009 at 15:51

    Is it necessary to add the /lock command?

    I mean when you use the "move" option in Visual Studio it only says "rename" next the file you moved and not "lock, rename".

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  2. Neil Deadman30 March 2009 at 16:07

    @Oliver:

    The /lock parameter is optional.

    If this option is not specified on the command-line then the current lock status is maintained for the items.

    The possible options available are: None, Checkin, Checkout

    I use the Checkin so that I can confirm the changes and then check-in the move. Others can check-out the file(s) but they can't check in revisions until I release the lock.

    If a file is locked by others then the lock operation will fail. Using none will remove any locks that exist.

    I'd advise having a play within a temporary project (we have one I use for such 'testing') or within a folder nobody is using to discover the behaviour that suits you best.

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  3. Oliver31 March 2009 at 10:53

    The /lock:none was what I was looking for.

    Does adding the /lock:none command amount to the same things as completely omitting the /lock command?

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  4. Neil Deadman31 March 2009 at 10:59

    @Oliver:

    No.

    Using /lock:none will remove any locks that exist on the items you wish to move.

    If you do not put the /lock option at all then the existing lock of the items you wish to move is not changed.

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  5. Oliver31 March 2009 at 12:35

    Ah ok.

    Thank you very much for your answers :)

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  6. Jon6 January 2010 at 22:31

    Much oblige for this post. It addressed my exact problem and works like a charm!

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  7. Adrian Borer8 January 2010 at 08:00

    Thats grat, works fine!
    Thanks

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  8. Abel17 February 2010 at 18:56

    Thanks a lot! It's exactly what I was looking for.

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  9. Alex26 May 2010 at 15:23

    the path on a 64 bit win with 32 bit VS can be:
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE

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  10. BlueRaja13 October 2010 at 18:08

    Of course, no reason to change the path if you open up the Visual Studio Command Prompt (under start->Microsoft Visual Studio->Visual Studio Tools->Visual Studio Command Prompt)

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  11. Cobryon24 February 2011 at 20:37

    I wrote a simple C# program that adds the UI facility around TFS "move" command and it works asynchronously...
    http://tfsmover.sourceforge.net/
    Enjoy!

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  12. Neil Deadman25 February 2011 at 11:18

    Thanks for sharing! I will give it a try sometime... :D

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  13. Kp14 April 2011 at 02:13

    You are a star! cheers mate

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  14. Kp14 April 2011 at 02:14

    The instructions are just perfect for moving files in TFS
    You are a legend! cheers mate!

    ReplyDelete