Getting a Local Copy of Files from the Version Control Server (Team Explorer Everywhere)

Before you start work on an application that is under version control, you must retrieve those files. You can then check out the files that you need to change. You might need to retrieve a specific version of files if you are, for example, fixing a bug in a previous version of the application.

Common Tasks

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Supporting Content

View and get initial source code from the version control server: Before you can check out files, you must first get files from the server onto your local computer. If you are unsure which files you need, you can browse files in Source Control Explorer.

Update local files: As you perform iterative development tasks, you often need to retrieve a specific version of one or more files. You might want the latest version of a file or the version that another developer has in his or her work, or you might want to retrieve the version that was submitted in a particular changeset.

Check out files: To make changes to source files, you must first check them out from version control. You can configure your version control settings to automatically check out files when you edit a file that is not checked out.

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Supporting Content

Understand key version control concepts: When you work with files that are under version control, you work with Visual Studio Team Foundation Server workspaces and with changesets. You can use Team Foundation Server workspaces to manage development of multiple versions of an application at the same time. Changesets are the groups of files and related information that you check in to version control.

Place files under version control: When you start a project, before other members of your team can access and make changes to the source code, you must share that code.

Submit changes: When you have made and tested code changes to implement a feature or resolve a code defect, you must check those changes in to version control.

Resolving conflicts: When you retrieve or submit files, you might receive an error that indicates that another developer has made changes to those files and that those changes conflict with your changes. You must resolve the conflicts before you can complete the operation.

See Also

Other Resources

Using Version Control (Team Explorer Everywhere)