Can I add a new folder to a TFS repository server-side without using a local working copy?

Question

I'm currently transfering some source code from a Subversion (SVN) repository to my client's Team Foundation Server. One of the things I stumbled upon is that there seems to be no way to edit the repository without first pulling all files in that repository to a local working folder in the local workspace. I'm using Visual Studio 2008 Team Explorer.

My repository resembles this structure:

$
$/branches
$/trunk
$/trunk/Solution1
$/trunk/Solution1/... etc.

Now what I want to do is add a new folder in the root of the trunk (i.e. $/trunk/Docs). Because the Solution1 folder tree ($/trunk/Solution1) contains a lot of data, I don't want to first get a local copy of that folder. I want to create the new "Docs" folder server-side. However, I noticed the "New Folder" button on the Source Control Explorer toolbar is grayed out when the selected repository folder isn't available as a working folder in the local workspace.

Using SVN this never was a problem, because using TortoiseSVN I can create a new folder server-side using the Repo-Browser. SVN doesn't require you to check out its parent folder first.

Does anybody know how to server-side edit a TFS repository? Did I miss some trivial thing?

Answer 1

You don't need to get a local copy, but you do need to map the server-side folder to a workspace on your local machine.

In source control explorer, use the "Workspaces..." drop down box to create such a mapping. I find that the simplest approach is to map the root node in TFVC ($) to a directory on your local machine such as c:\tfs, and allow the hierarchy to propogate downwards.

Answer 2

The funny (or maybe sad) thing about this is that the TFS server engine itself has no limitation (if you put the SVNBridge on top of it you can I add a new folder to a TFS repository server-side without using a local working copy. But sadly the native TFS client makes it impossible to do it...