How can I label exclusively by Changeset in TFS?

Question

We are planning to move from StarTeam to TFS for source control and are in the midst of refining our ALM procedures. Maybe I am misunderstanding something about how labels work in TFS, but it appears that you can apply a label to files by Changeset. I am trying to create a label on only the files/versions in the specific changeset.

I have attempted to do this like so: 1) Main Menu -> Source Control -> Apply Label 2) 'New Label' dialog appears 3) Leave path as is (Dev Branch) 4) Select 'Changeset' from 'Version' dropdown, enter my changeset # 5) Click Create.

... which results in the entire branch getting labeled. The changeset may be 1 - 100s of files, so individually labeling files is not practical.

We do this all the time in starteam: label changesets related to features, then move a build label up onto the labeled changeset. Am I missing something fundamental? (Thanks for any guidance)

Answer 1

Note the name... you are labeling by changeset not labeling a changeset.

Labeling in TFS is like marking a point in time. So when you label by changeset you are basically saying this is what my source control looked like at this point in time.

It sounds more like you area saying you want to be able to find a set of changes (changeset) not everything at the point in time that changeset was made.

You could pick a branching strategy that would allow you to branch by feature. The downside of this is that it will involve a lot of merging.

Another options would be to link the changesets for any specific feature to a work item and then you will have a list of changesets that you will want to merge up once you have completed that feature. In 2008 this can be a little troublesome because merging changesets that are not sequential can be more time consuming than necessary. (meaning there are changesets in between on that branch not that the changeset numbers are sequential)

Fortunately, you can try out different branching strategies and as long as you think it through it isn't to tough to switch if you don't like how you were doing it.