Check Out and Edit Version-Controlled Files (Team Explorer Everywhere)

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Before you can edit items that are under version control, you must check them out. By default, when you modify a file, it will be automatically checked out. You can configure version control settings to prompt you before check out. For more information, see Team Foundation Check-Out Settings (Team Explorer Everywhere). You can manually check out files from Project Explorer, Package Explorer, or Source Control Explorer. You can also check out items from a command prompt.

Using a checkout lock keeps other users from checking in or checking out any of the specified items until you release the lock. If any other users have locked any of the specified items, the lock operation fails.

Note

Before you can perform Team Foundation version control commands on your computer, you must create an Eclipse workspace that is associated with a team project. That workspace can be populated with files from the server. For more information, see Working with Team Foundation Server Workspaces (Team Explorer Everywhere).

Required Permissions

To perform these procedures, you must have the Check out permission set to Allow. If you want to add a lock, you must also have the Lock permission set to Allow. For more information, see the following topic on the Microsoft Web site: Team Foundation Server Permissions.

To check out an item for edit from Source Control Explorer, Project Explorer, or Package Explorer

  1. Perform one of the following tasks:

    • In Source Control Explorer, right-click the folder or file that you want to check out and click Check Out for Edit. For information about how to open Source Control Explorer, see Using Source Control Explorer (Team Explorer Everywhere).

    • In Project Explorer or Package Explorer, expand the Eclipse project for which you want to update files or folders. Right-click the file or folder that you want to check out, point to Team, and click Check Out for Edit.

    The Check Out dialog box appears.

  2. In the Check Out dialog box, verify that the check boxes are selected for items that you want to work on.

  3. In Select lock type, specify a locking option.

  4. Click OK.

To check out an item for edit from a command prompt

  1. Open a command prompt.

  2. Browse to the folder that contains the file or folder that you want to check out.

  3. At the command prompt, type tf checkout -lock:Checkout filename and then press ENTER.

    For the full syntax available for the checkout command, see the following topic on the Microsoft Web site: Checkout and Edit Commands (Team Foundation Version Control)

    The results of this command are not reflected in the server until you perform a check-in operation. For more information, see the following topic on the Microsoft Web site: Checkin Command (Team Foundation Version Control).

See Also

Other Resources

Getting a Local Copy of Files from the Version Control Server (Team Explorer Everywhere)

Using Source Control Explorer (Team Explorer Everywhere)