Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Limitations of using Git with Visual Studio Online

I recently started working on a project that was using Git with Visual Studio Online.  Of course, it was a .NET Development project, so we were naturally using Visual Studio for all of our development.

Unlike Team Foundation Server integration with Visual Studio which Microsoft has been developing for the last 10+ years, Git support with Visual Studio is a relatively new addition based on user demand for DVCS (Distributed Version Control System) support.

However, as I started working with Git in Visual Studio, I quickly learned the number of limitations that existed with using Git through Visual Studio:


  1. Unlike TFS which has a built-in Source Control Explorer, there is no Repository browser or Source Control Explorer integration for the Git repository.
  2. Unlike TFS, which supports configuring external user tools such as Beyond Compare, the Microsoft Git Provider has no such support and developers are left to using the built-in Microsoft compare and merge support within Visual Studio.
  3. Unlike TFS which has support for shelvesets, Git support in Visual Studio does not have the corresponding equivalent of stashes.
  4. Unlike TFS which allows you to easily go into any work item and link up the associated Changesets even after a commit has been performed, Git support in Visual Studio does not have this feature.  Instead, you can only associate the Work Item at the time of committing to Git.  There is no support for adding Work Item association after the commit has been performed!
I am sure there are many, many more limitations that I have not discovered yet, but these are just some of the limitations to be aware of when determining whether to choose Git with Visual Studio Online/Team Foundation Server!


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