Comparing FilesĀ 

You can use Team Foundation source control to compare two files or file versions, whether the files are under source control or not. Team Foundation provides a configurable environment that allows you to select your preferred comparison tool for a particular file type. For more information, see How to: Associate a File Type with a Difference Tool. Team Foundation includes two built-in comparison tools, one for text files, which can compare non-binary files of many different types and encodings, and one for xml files.

The File Comparison Process

Team Foundation source control lets you compare files from Source Control Explorer. For more information, see How to: Show Differences between Two Files or File Versions. Additionally, Team Foundation includes several context menus for comparing files. These context menus include the following abilities:

  • Compare with previous version    Compares the selected version of a file with the previous version.

  • Compare with workspace version   Compares the selected version of a file with the unmodified version that was retrieved into your workspace.

  • Compare with latest version   Compares the selected version of a file with the most recently checked in version on the source control server.

  • Compare modified to unmodified   Compares the edited version of a file to the unedited version. This shows the changes that have been made on your local copy in your workspace.

  • Compare modified to latest   Compares the edited version of a file with the most recently checked in version on the source control server.

  • Compare unmodified to latest   Compares the unedited version of a file with the most recently checked in version on the source control server.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Show Differences between Two Files or File Versions

Reference

Difference Command