What is "$(SourceDir)" in Microsoft Team Foundation Server?

Question

I'm working with Microsoft Team Foundation Server and MSDN has been fantastic so far with providing all the information I've needed and so much more--except in one spot.

I'm creating an automated build and under Workspace > Working Folders > Build Agent Folder, it has "$(SourceDir)" as default.

I can't seem to figure out what that is actually referencing. Is it pointing toward the folder that the solution is in, or something else?

Answer 1

This is well explained in this article: List of variables like $(SourceDir).

For the workspace mapping dialog you can only use two variables to help with expansion:

$(BuildDir) - Expands to BuildAgent.BuildDirectory

$(SourceDir) - Expands to $(BuildDir)\Sources by default

The directory "Sources" is not hard-coded and may be changed by modifying the TfsBuildService.exe.config file on the build agent. If you open that file there will be an application setting called "SourcesSubDirectory". If you need a shorter path you may change this key to something like "s" instead of "Sources". If you made this change then the $(SourceDir) variable would expand to $(BuildDir)\s.