Team Foundation Server switch between branches

Question

Can we switch between branches in TFS

what i want is i downloaded a working copy and now I want to switch to different branch without downloading everything, because for large projects it will take lot of time since developers spend lot of time downloading

Is it possible, if not any workaround ??

Answer 1

You can switch branches from the command-line client (only downloading the differences) by changing your workspace mappings and using the /remap flag to the get command:

tf workfold /map $/Branch1 C:\Work tf get C:\Work /version:T /recursive tf workfold /unmap $/Branch1 tf workfold /map $/Branch2 C:\Work tf get C:\Work /remap /version:T /recursive 

Answer 2

In TFS branches are "physically" present in the Source Control, they're like "special folders". So you can totally choose what branch you get locally by targeting the right folder for your get.

If you have for instance:

• Projects [folder]
  • ProjectA [folder]
    • Dev [Branch]
    • V1 [Branch]
  • ProjectB [folder]
    • Dev [Branch]
    • V1 [Branch]

and you want to get at the "Projects" level with only the content of "Dev", you can create mapping in your Workspace definition to cloack the V1 branches of ProjectA and B.