Question

I assume that this:

tf.exe get $/project /recursive

…needs this weird workspace mapping, known TFS server and such.

Is there any way I could do this simplest thing: go connect to this TFS server using this set of credentials, get latest source code for this project and put it here? All from the command line.

Answer 1

Firstly, are you wanting a copy of the controlled files that are no longer under source-control (such as a SVN export) or are you still hoping to work with the files and TFS?

Option 1: No Binding at all

If you simply want a copy of the latest files and no ‘binding’ to TFS, you’re going to have to do a little work yourself. Leaving aside credentials ([/login:username,[password]] parameter to many command line methods).

1. Use the TF command to get a list of the files: tf dir "$/YourSolution" /Recursive > files.txt
2. Process files.txt with some clever batch file (or use a scripting language):
3. Read lines starting with $/ and this is the directory, create the directory in your destination (remove first three characters and the last character, a colon).
4. Read the next lines (until blank or end of file), each of these represents a file in the directory discovered in step 3. Assuming you have the file in a variable %file% and directory %dir%, then issue the following command (for each file in that directory):

tf view "$/%DIR%/%FILE%" "/output:Your-Target-Path/%DIR%/%FILE%"

or if you’re happy with the current directory as the target:

tf view "$/%DIR%/%FILE%" "/output:%DIR%/%FILE%"

Note, you need the %DIR%/%FILE% in the output part or all files will be dumped in to the same directory.

NOTE: this is likely to a be VERY high bandwidth and slow operation!

Option 2: Temporary Mapping

1. Create a temporary workspace: tf workspace /new /collection:<URL_TO_SERVER> /permission:Private (note, this will prompt, there is a no-prompt option but determining a name for the workspace is left as an exercise)
2. Make a directory for files, e.g. LOCALDIR
3. Create a mapping for your folders: tf workfold /map "$/SERVER_DIR" "LOCALDIR"
4. Go into LOCALDIR
5. Get the files tf get . /Recursive

At this point you should now have all of the files and if you wanted you also have a binding with TFS so you could commit changes. Alternatively, you can now copy the content elsewhere and break the mapping/workspace. Using the correct command line variants of tf workfold /unmap and tf workspace /delete will unmap your workfolder and delete the workspace.