{"id":3953,"date":"2006-04-06T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-04-06T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.msdn.microsoft.com\/buckh\/2006\/04\/06\/how-to-compare-diff-trees-at-different-versions-using-the-api\/"},"modified":"2006-04-06T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-04-06T10:00:00","slug":"how-to-compare-diff-trees-at-different-versions-using-the-api","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/buckh\/how-to-compare-diff-trees-at-different-versions-using-the-api\/","title":{"rendered":"How to compare (diff) trees at different versions using the API"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently the question of how to compare files and folders came up.  TFS version 1 doesn’t have the project difference type of functionality that was available in VSS.  So if you want to write your own, this code sample will help you with the calls to get the information you’ll want to display.<\/P>\n

The code shows two different approaches to getting the information.  The first approach is to use the GetExtendedItem()<\/FONT> method that Source Control Explorer uses to get much of its information (SCE also uses QueryPendingSets()<\/FONT> to be able show the other users with pending changes on an item, but I didn’t put that in here).  Using GetExtendedItem()<\/FONT>, you can determine what is different between what’s in your workspace and the latest in the repository.<\/P>\n

The second approach uses a pair of calls to GetItems()<\/FONT>.  While it won’t show you whether you or others have pending changes, it will show you the differences between two arbitrary versions of the tree.  If you want pending change information, you can use GetPendingChanges()<\/FONT> and connect the information with what GetItems()<\/FONT> returns.  You can connect the two sets of data using the item ID in the PendingChange<\/FONT> and Item<\/FONT> objects, as I have done in the code in order to tell which items are common between the two versions.<\/P>\n

This code also shows how to diff two items.  The code below uses the Item<\/FONT> object to construct a DiffItemVersionedFile<\/FONT>, but there are also DiffItemLocalFile<\/FONT>, DiffItemPendingChangeBase<\/FONT>, and DiffItemShelvedChange<\/FONT> classes.  While the code produces a text diff, the comments contain details on how to launch an external diff viewer, which is actually simpler than producing a text diff.<\/P>\n

If you are just getting started with the version control API, you’ll want to start with the basic example<\/A>.  You may also want to look at the example showing how to display sizes and dates of files in the server<\/A> and how to display the labels on a file<\/A>.<\/P>\n

I’ve also attached a zip file containing the VS solution for this example.  You may need to adjust the project references in order to build the solution.  If you haven’t already done so, you can add the TFS assemblies to the .NET tab in the VS Add Reference dialog<\/A>.<\/P>\n

You can find the current documentation of the TFS API in the Visual Studio SDK as mentioned here<\/A> (the current release is Visual Studio 2005 SDK \u2013 March 2006 CTP for v2).<\/P>\n

using<\/SPAN> System;
using<\/SPAN> System.Collections.Generic;
using<\/SPAN> System.Diagnostics;
using<\/SPAN> System.IO;
using<\/SPAN> System.Text;
using<\/SPAN> Microsoft.TeamFoundation;
using<\/SPAN> Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client;
using<\/SPAN> Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Client;
using<\/SPAN> Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Common;

namespace<\/SPAN> ProjectDiff
{
    class<\/SPAN> Program
    {
        static<\/SPAN> void<\/SPAN> Main(string<\/SPAN>[] args)
        {
            \/\/ Figure out the workspace information based on the local cache.<\/SPAN>
            WorkspaceInfo wsInfo = Workstation.Current.GetLocalWorkspaceInfo(Environment.CurrentDirectory);
            if<\/SPAN> (wsInfo == null<\/SPAN>)
            {
                Console.Error.WriteLine(“The current directory is not mapped.”<\/SPAN>);
                Environment.Exit(1<\/SPAN>);
            }

            \/\/ Now we can get to the workspace.<\/SPAN>
            TeamFoundationServer tfs = new<\/SPAN> TeamFoundationServer(wsInfo.ServerUri.AbsoluteUri);
            Workspace workspace = wsInfo.GetWorkspace(tfs);

            try<\/SPAN>
            {
                \/\/ Display the differences for the current directory and all of its descendants<\/SPAN>
                \/\/ (fully recursive).<\/SPAN>
                if<\/SPAN> (args.Length == 0<\/SPAN>)
                {
                    \/\/ Display the differences between what’s in the workspace compared to latest.<\/SPAN>
                    DisplayCurrentDiff(workspace);
                }
                else<\/SPAN>
                {
                    \/\/ Display the differences between the two specified versions.<\/SPAN>
                    if<\/SPAN> (args.Length != 2<\/SPAN>)
                    {
                        Console.Error.WriteLine(“Usage: projectdiff <versionspec> <versionspec>”<\/SPAN>);
                        Console.Error.WriteLine(“Example: projectdiff D04\/06\/06 T”<\/SPAN>);
                        Console.Error.WriteLine(”         compare midnight April 6, 2006 and latest”<\/SPAN>);
                        Console.Error.WriteLine(“Example: projectdiff W T”<\/SPAN>);
                        Console.Error.WriteLine(”         compare what’s in the workspace to latest”<\/SPAN>);
                        Environment.Exit(1<\/SPAN>);
                    }

                    \/\/ Parse the <\/SPAN>
                    VersionSpec version1 = ParseVersionSpec(args[0<\/SPAN>], workspace);
                    VersionSpec version2 = ParseVersionSpec(args[1<\/SPAN>], workspace);

                    DisplayVersionDiff(workspace, version1, version2);
                }
            }
            catch<\/SPAN> (TeamFoundationServerException e)
            {
                \/\/ If something goes wrong, such as not having access to the server, display<\/SPAN>
                \/\/ the appropriate error message.<\/SPAN>
                Console.Error.WriteLine(e.Message);
                Environment.Exit(1<\/SPAN>);
            }
        }

        \/\/ This approach uses the same call that Source Control Explorer uses.<\/SPAN>
        static<\/SPAN> void<\/SPAN> DisplayCurrentDiff(Workspace workspace)
        {
            \/\/ Let’s get a list of the files and folders from the server.  The ExtendedItem<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ contains information about which version is in the workspace and the latest version<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ on the server.<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ You would want to use this approach if you wanted to display the type of<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ information available in the Source Control Explorer.<\/SPAN>
            ItemSpec[] querySpec = new<\/SPAN> ItemSpec[] { new<\/SPAN> ItemSpec(Environment.CurrentDirectory,
                                                                 RecursionType.Full) };
            ExtendedItem[] items = workspace.GetExtendedItems(querySpec, DeletedState.NonDeleted,
                                                              ItemType.Any)[0<\/SPAN>];

            \/\/ Now let’s display what we know about each item.<\/SPAN>
            DisplayHeader(“Files and folders that are at the latest versions:”<\/SPAN>);
            foreach<\/SPAN> (ExtendedItem item in<\/SPAN> items)
            {
                if<\/SPAN> (item.IsLatest)
                {
                    DisplayExtendedItem(item, workspace);
                }
            }

            DisplayHeader(“Files and folders that are out of date:”<\/SPAN>);
            foreach<\/SPAN> (ExtendedItem item in<\/SPAN> items)
            {
                if<\/SPAN> (item.IsInWorkspace && !item.IsLatest)
                {
                    DisplayExtendedItem(item, workspace);
                }
            }

            DisplayHeader(“Files and folders not in the workspace:”<\/SPAN>);
            foreach<\/SPAN> (ExtendedItem item in<\/SPAN> items)
            {
                if<\/SPAN> (!item.IsInWorkspace)
                {
                    DisplayExtendedItem(item, workspace);
                }
            }
            Console.WriteLine();
        }

        \/\/ Displays change and path information from the ExtendedItem.<\/SPAN>
        static<\/SPAN> void<\/SPAN> DisplayExtendedItem(ExtendedItem item, Workspace workspace)
        {
            Console.Write(”  “<\/SPAN>);

            \/\/ Indicate whether someone else has a pending change on this file or folder.  The<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ ExtendedItem doesn’t contain the list of users with pending changes on this file.<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ For that information, we’d need to call QueryPendingSets() in addition to <\/SPAN>
            \/\/ GetExtendedItems() and join the two together via the item ID.<\/SPAN>
            if<\/SPAN> (item.HasOtherPendingChange)
            {
                Console.Write(“^ “<\/SPAN>);
            }

            \/\/ Show the lock information if someone has locked the file or folder.<\/SPAN>
            if<\/SPAN> (item.LockStatus != LockLevel.None)
            {
                Console.Write(“[{0},{1}] “<\/SPAN>, 
                                    PendingChange.GetLocalizedStringForLockLevel(item.LockStatus),
                                    item.LockOwner);
            }

            \/\/ If there is a change pending on the item in the current workspace, display it.<\/SPAN>
            if<\/SPAN> (item.ChangeType != ChangeType.None)
            {
                Console.Write(“({0}) “<\/SPAN>, PendingChange.GetLocalizedStringForChangeType(item.ChangeType));
            }

            \/\/ Display the local path.<\/SPAN>
            if<\/SPAN> (!item.IsInWorkspace)
            {
                \/\/ Get the mapping so that we can determine its local path or that it is cloaked.<\/SPAN>
                WorkingFolder wf = workspace.TryGetWorkingFolderForServerItem(item.TargetServerItem);

                \/\/ Let’s skip cloaked items, since the user doesn’t want them.<\/SPAN>
                if<\/SPAN> (!wf.IsCloaked)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(wf.LocalItem);
                }
            }
            else<\/SPAN>
            {
                Console.WriteLine(item.LocalItem);
            }
        }

        \/\/ This approach compares two different versions of the tree.  When version1 is W<\/SPAN>
        \/\/ (the workspace version spec) and version2 is T (tip\/latest), the results will be<\/SPAN>
        \/\/ be equivalent to the other approach (we get some different properties).<\/SPAN>
        static<\/SPAN> void<\/SPAN> DisplayVersionDiff(Workspace workspace, VersionSpec version1,
                                       VersionSpec version2)
        {
            \/\/ We need the list of items at the specified versions.  This call only gets<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ information about the versions that have been checked in and does not include<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ any pending changes.  As a result, it does not return pending adds, branches,<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ and undeletes.<\/SPAN>
            ItemSet itemSet1 = workspace.VersionControlServer.GetItems(Environment.CurrentDirectory,
                                                                       version1, RecursionType.Full);
            ItemSet itemSet2 = workspace.VersionControlServer.GetItems(Environment.CurrentDirectory,
                                                                       version2, RecursionType.Full);
            Item[] items1 = itemSet1.Items;
            Item[] items2 = itemSet2.Items;

            \/\/ Build hash tables of the items so that we can quickly determine which items<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ are common.  Every item in the repository is assigned a unique item ID.<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ The item ID never changes, even though the item’s path (item.ServerItem) may<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ change due to being renamed or moved.<\/SPAN>
            Dictionary<int<\/SPAN>, Item> itemHash1 = CreateHash(items1);
            Dictionary<int<\/SPAN>, Item> itemHash2 = CreateHash(items2);

            \/\/ Show items that are the same.<\/SPAN>
            DisplayHeader(“Same:”<\/SPAN>);
            foreach<\/SPAN> (Item item in<\/SPAN> itemHash1.Values)
            {
                Item item2;
                if<\/SPAN> (itemHash2.TryGetValue(item.ItemId, out<\/SPAN> item2) &&
                    item2.ChangesetId == item.ChangesetId)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(”  “<\/SPAN> + item2.ServerItem);
                }
            }

            \/\/ Show items that differ.<\/SPAN>
            DisplayHeader(“Different:”<\/SPAN>);
            foreach<\/SPAN> (Item item in<\/SPAN> itemHash1.Values)
            {
                Item item2;
                if<\/SPAN> (itemHash2.TryGetValue(item.ItemId, out<\/SPAN> item2) &&
                    item2.ChangesetId != item.ChangesetId)
                {
                    \/\/ Figure out what changed.<\/SPAN>
                    bool<\/SPAN> showDiff = false<\/SPAN>;
                    if<\/SPAN> (item.ItemType == ItemType.File &&
                        !EqualFileContents(item, item2))
                    {
                        Console.Write(‘e’<\/SPAN>);
                        showDiff = true<\/SPAN>;
                    }
                    else<\/SPAN> if<\/SPAN> (item.Encoding != item2.Encoding)
                    {
                        Console.Write(‘n’<\/SPAN>);
                    }
                    else<\/SPAN> if<\/SPAN> (item.DeletionId != item2.DeletionId)
                    {
                        Console.Write(‘d’<\/SPAN>);
                    }
                    else<\/SPAN> if<\/SPAN> (item.ServerItem != item2.ServerItem)
                    {
                        \/\/ Note that we used a case-sensitive comparison in order to catch<\/SPAN>
                        \/\/ renames where only the case changed.<\/SPAN>
                        Console.Write(‘r’<\/SPAN>);
                    }

                    Console.WriteLine(” {0}”<\/SPAN>, item2.ServerItem);

                    if<\/SPAN> (showDiff)
                    {
                        DiffFiles(item, item2);
                    }
                }
            }

            \/\/ Show items only in the first version.<\/SPAN>
            DisplayHeader(“Only in “<\/SPAN> + version1.DisplayString + “:”<\/SPAN>);
            DisplayOnlyInFirst(itemHash1, itemHash2);

            \/\/ Show items only in the second version.<\/SPAN>
            DisplayHeader(“Only in “<\/SPAN> + version2.DisplayString + “:”<\/SPAN>);
            DisplayOnlyInFirst(itemHash2, itemHash1);
        }

        \/\/ Fill in the workspace name if it is null.<\/SPAN>
        static<\/SPAN> VersionSpec ParseVersionSpec(String spec, Workspace workspace)
        {
            String user = workspace.VersionControlServer.TeamFoundationServer.AuthenticatedUserName;

            VersionSpec version = VersionSpec.ParseSingleSpec(spec, user);

            \/\/ If the user happened to specify only W for the workspace spec, we’ll have to<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ fill in the workspace here (the parse method doesn’t know it).<\/SPAN>
            WorkspaceVersionSpec wvs = version as<\/SPAN> WorkspaceVersionSpec;
            if<\/SPAN> (wvs != null<\/SPAN> && wvs.Name == null<\/SPAN>)
            {
                wvs.Name = workspace.Name;
            }

            return<\/SPAN> version;
        }

        \/\/ Creates a hash table of the files and folders.<\/SPAN>
        static<\/SPAN> Dictionary<int<\/SPAN>, Item> CreateHash(Item[] items)
        {
            Dictionary<int<\/SPAN>, Item> itemHash = new<\/SPAN> Dictionary<int<\/SPAN>, Item>();
            foreach<\/SPAN> (Item item in<\/SPAN> items)
            {
                itemHash.Add(item.ItemId, item);
            }

            return<\/SPAN> itemHash;
        }

        \/\/ Displays files and folders that are only in the first hash table.<\/SPAN>
        static<\/SPAN> void<\/SPAN> DisplayOnlyInFirst(Dictionary<int<\/SPAN>, Item> itemHash1,
                                       Dictionary<int<\/SPAN>, Item> itemHash2)
        {
            foreach<\/SPAN> (Item item in<\/SPAN> itemHash1.Values)
            {
                if<\/SPAN> (!itemHash2.ContainsKey(item.ItemId))
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(”  “<\/SPAN> + item.ServerItem);
                }
            }
        }

        \/\/ Returns true if the contents of the two versions of the file are the same.<\/SPAN>
        static<\/SPAN> bool<\/SPAN> EqualFileContents(Item item1, Item item2)
        {
            if<\/SPAN> (item1.ContentLength != item2.ContentLength)
            {
                return<\/SPAN> false<\/SPAN>;
            }

            \/\/ If the two hash values have different lengths or both have a length of zero,<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ the files are not the same.  The only time this would happen would be for<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ files uploaded by clients that have FIPS enforcement enabled (rare).<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ Those clients can’t compute the MD5 hash, so it has a length of zero in that<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ case.  To do this right with FIPS, the code would need to compare file<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ contents (call item.DownloadFile()).<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ For information on FIPS enforcement and MD5, see the following link.<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ http:\/\/blogs.msdn.com\/shawnfa\/archive\/2005\/05\/16\/417975.aspx<\/SPAN>
            if<\/SPAN> (item1.HashValue.Length != item2.HashValue.Length ||
                item1.HashValue.Length == 0<\/SPAN>)
            {
                return<\/SPAN> false<\/SPAN>;
            }

            for<\/SPAN> (int<\/SPAN> i = 0<\/SPAN>; i < item1.HashValue.Length; i++)
            {
                if<\/SPAN> (item1.HashValue[i] != item2.HashValue[i])
                {
                    return<\/SPAN> false<\/SPAN>;
                }
            }

            return<\/SPAN> true<\/SPAN>;
        }

        \/\/ Display the differences between the two file versions.<\/SPAN>
        static<\/SPAN> void<\/SPAN> DiffFiles(Item item1, Item item2)
        {
            if<\/SPAN> (item1.ItemType != ItemType.File)
            {
                return<\/SPAN>;
            }

            Console.WriteLine();

            DiffItemVersionedFile diffItem1 = new<\/SPAN> DiffItemVersionedFile(item1, 
                                                       new<\/SPAN> ChangesetVersionSpec(item1.ChangesetId));
            DiffItemVersionedFile diffItem2 = new<\/SPAN> DiffItemVersionedFile(item2, 
                                                       new<\/SPAN> ChangesetVersionSpec(item2.ChangesetId));

            \/\/ Here we set up the options to show the diffs in the console with the unified diff<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ format.<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ If you simply want to launch the external diff viewer, rather than get a text diff,<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ you just need to set UseThirdPartyTool to true.  You don’t need to set any of the<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ other properties to use the external tool.<\/SPAN>
            DiffOptions options = new<\/SPAN> DiffOptions();
            options.UseThirdPartyTool = false<\/SPAN>;

            \/\/ These settings are just for the text diff (not needed for an external tool).<\/SPAN>
            options.Flags = DiffOptionFlags.EnablePreambleHandling | DiffOptionFlags.IgnoreWhiteSpace;
            options.OutputType = DiffOutputType.Unified;
            options.TargetEncoding = Console.OutputEncoding;
            options.SourceEncoding = Console.OutputEncoding;
            options.StreamWriter = new<\/SPAN> StreamWriter(Console.OpenStandardOutput(), 
                                                    Console.OutputEncoding);
            options.StreamWriter.AutoFlush = true<\/SPAN>;

            \/\/ The last parameter indicates whether the code should block until the external diff<\/SPAN>
            \/\/ viewer exits.  Set it to false if you are calling this from a GUI app.<\/SPAN>
            Difference.DiffFiles(item1.VersionControlServer, diffItem1, diffItem2,
                                 options, item1.ServerItem, true<\/SPAN>);
        }

        static<\/SPAN> void<\/SPAN> DisplayHeader(String header)
        {
            Console.WriteLine();
            Console.WriteLine(String.Empty.PadLeft(80<\/SPAN>, ‘=’<\/SPAN>));
            Console.WriteLine(header);
        }
    }
}
<\/DIV><\/p>\n

ProjectDiff.zip<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently the question of how to compare files and folders came up.  TFS version 1 doesn’t have the project difference type of functionality that was available in VSS.  So if you want to write your own, this code sample will help you with the calls to get the information you’ll want to display. The code shows two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":10268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6,8,15],"class_list":["post-3953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-source-control","tag-team-foundation","tag-tfs-api"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":"

Recently the question of how to compare files and folders came up.  TFS version 1 doesn’t have the project difference type of functionality that was available in VSS.  So if you want to write your own, this code sample will help you with the calls to get the information you’ll want to display. The code shows two […]<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/buckh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/buckh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/buckh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/buckh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/buckh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/buckh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/buckh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/buckh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/buckh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/buckh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}