Quickly see a summary of pending changes in each file in TFS 2012

Question

Can I view the summary screen showing the changes made to each file in the pending changes window in TFS 2012? I know that I can right-click each file and compare it with the workspace or the last one, but it can be painful if I have a large registration for commit and I want to quickly look through it to see which files really have changes and which were simply checked but not edited (for example). Git has a nice feature in the Git extensions and the VS Source Control plugin that show the delta for each file when it is selected. Is there something similar hidden in TFS? Perhaps in a power tool or through another plugin?

Answer 1

You can always compare the hierarchy by right-clicking on any file in the Source Control Explorer and selecting the comparison. You can see each file with real changes and double click to get detailed information. In addition, if you need a better way to find pending changes, a filter of pending changes will be installed in the Visual Studio 2012 browser. This is better than using the Team Explorer window for this purpose, in my opinion.

Folder Comparison

showing-files-with-pending-changes-or-files-that-are-open-in-visual-studio-2012-solution-explorer

Answer 2

Nothing is currently available for this (unless there is a little-known plugin that I haven't heard about). Team Explorer is supposed to be easy to expand, so maybe someone will develop it. But this is not in VS2012 or Team Foundation Power Toys.

Answer 3

I had the same question, and my colleague found that the VS2015 TFS web portal is the way to go! It provides two great features:

• viewing pending changes, similar to GIT Extensions
• automatically fill in people names when searching for shelves

How to find the TFS online portal?

Web Portal Address Syntax for VS2015: http: // ServerName: 8080 / tfs / CollectionName / ProjectName

Additional information here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee523998.aspx

How do I get a GIT-Extensions-like view for pending TFS changes?

To view your local changes, you must first save them as a shelf. Or, if you're viewing someone else’s shelf, simply go to the TFS web portal address.

Go to the web portal address (you may need to log in to Office365), then click on the "CODE" link in the upper left, then click on the "Shelves" tab, as shown in this screenshot:

Here you can search for shelves and even automatically fill in the names of people for you! After you find the shelf that you want to view, click its hyperlinks and - although not as fast as GIT - a single click on the file name will display the difference in its changes. Hi presto!

Here is a screenshot showing online diff that can be accessed with one click on the file name in the list of changed files in the shelf (namespace for privacy is blocked):

You can also do something similar with the code already verified by viewing the "Changes" tab.