Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC) – Ranorex

Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC) is a centralized version control system by Microsoft, available in Team Foundation Server (TFS) / Azure DevOps Server.

Prerequisites

To work with TFVC in Ranorex Studio, install the following software:

Team Explorer 2013 for Visual Studio (Requires a free Microsoft account and Visual Studio Dev Essentials subscription).
MSSCCI Provider for Visual Studio 2013 & 2015.

Note: Don’t worry about the 2013/2015 designations in the software names if you’re using later versions of Visual Studio or Azure DevOps Server/TFS. They are compatible, and the TFVC integration will work.

Important: The MSSCCI interface supports single-byte character sets (SBCS) only. Multi-byte character sets (MBCS) are not supported.

If you do not meet the prerequisites listed above, Ranorex Studio displays a dialog indicating that additional software is required:

Ranorex Studio exposes TFVC operations in two main places:

Projects view

In the Projects view, right-click the solution (or a project).
Select Source control to access common commands such as:
- Add Solution to Source Control
- Get Latest Version
- Check In
  (Exact options depend on your provider and the current state of the solution.)

Tools menu (used to check out)

Go to Tools > Source control > Checkout…

What to do after binding successfully

If you bound a solution successfully but aren’t sure how to continue, the typical next steps are:

Get Latest Version (to make sure your local workspace is up to date).
Make your changes (check out files when prompted, depending on your TFVC setup).
Check In to publish your changes to the server as a changeset.

Tip: If you don’t see your teammate’s changes, run Get Latest Version, then reopen the affected files/modules if needed.

Add a Ranorex solution to TFVC

In the Projects view, right-click the solution.
Select Source control > Add Solution to Source Control.
In the Source Control Wizard, select Microsoft Team Foundation Server as the source control provider and click Next.
Select your Team Foundation Server.
Choose the target folder in TFVC.
Select the files you want to put under source control (and deselect any files you don’t want).
Add a comment and perform the initial Check In.

After completing these steps, your solution is under source control, and your local copy is up to date.

Check out a Ranorex solution from TFVC

Make sure your Team Foundation Server / Azure DevOps Server infrastructure is set up and working.

Go to Tools > Source control > Checkout…
In the Source Control Wizard, select Microsoft Team Foundation Server as the source control provider and click Next.
Specify the local checkout directory.
Select your Team Foundation Server.
Choose the folder in TFVC you want to check out from the server.
Complete the wizard to check out the selected solution.

Tip: After checking out, run Get Latest Version from the Projects view to ensure you’ve pulled the newest versions into your workspace (especially when multiple team members check in changes frequently).

Day-to-day TFVC operations in Ranorex Studio

Get updates from other team members (Get Latest Version). Use Get Latest Version to download the most recent versions from the server into your local TFVC workspace.

In the Projects view, right-click the solution (or project).
Select Source control > Get Latest Version.

Expected behavior

Get Latest Version updates your local workspace with the latest (or selected) versions from the server.

Important: Manual updates (no automatic sync)
With the MSSCCI-based integration, you should expect to run Get Latest Version manually when you want updates from other people’s check-ins (for example, before you start work each day, before testing, or before resolving conflicts).
Check in your changes (publish your work)
In TFVC, your edits are tracked as pending changes in your workspace until you check in. When you check in, TFVC creates a changeset on the server.

Tip: If you can’t check in a file, make sure it is checked out (or that your TFVC settings allow editing without explicit checkout).

Expected behavior and MSSCCI limitations

No auto-sync: Changes checked in by other users are not pulled automatically. Use Get Latest Version to update your local workspace.
Character set limitation: MSSCCI supports SBCS only (no MBCS).
Some advanced TFVC features may be limited or handled outside Ranorex Studio (depending on the provider). In those cases, use your standard TFVC tooling (for example, Visual Studio / Team Explorer) for advanced operations.

Icon overlays in Projects View

When the solution is under source control, Ranorex Studio displays overlay icons in the Projects view to indicate file state.

Icon overlays
Normal	File under source control, not checked out for editing.
Conflicted	File under source control, checked out, not dirty.
Modified	File under source control, checked out, dirty.
Added	File added to project, not checked in.