Comparing with the Latest Version in the Pending Changes Window

Usually before checking in to TFS Version Control, I will navigate to the pending changes window and compare/diff with the latest version to see what changes I have made. It’s a good habit to go through just to make sure you aren’t checking anything in that you don’t intend to be committed.

I’ve just been doing it the long way every time by choosing the option from the context menu.

A client asked if there was a quicker way and I ended up finding out that there are two undocumented features to diff the files in the pending changes window:

• Shift + Double-Click on the Item
• Shift + Enter on the Item

Updated — (7/1/2010 11:45 AM)

You can use a registry key to even swap the view/diff behavior in the Pending Changes tool window. Setting this registry key will make double-click/enter run compare, and shift+double-click/enter view the file.

• Path: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\\TeamFoundation\SourceControl\Behavior
• = 10.0 for Visual Studio 2010 & Team Foundation Server 2010
• = 9.0 for Visual Studio 2008 & Team Foundation Server 2008
• = 8.0 for Visual Studio 2005 & Team Foundation Server 2005
• Value: DoubleClickOnChange (DWORD)
• 0 for view as the primary command (default)
• 1 for compare as primary command

How about that?

Ed Blankenship