TFS local cache: servers, workspaces and more!

Interesting part of TFS object model deals with locally cached information. Using that API you may iterate over local workspaces, determine whether specific path is mapped and even find out TFS server location URI. I have touched upon it in the previous post, but recently related question was raised in forums again; so it appears that the topic is ripe for some additional clarification.

The journey into cached information starts with Workstation class (that and other relevant classes are part of Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Client assembly). This singleton class exposes static Current property which returns Workstation object for the current computer. The class exposes several methods of interest, for example IsMapped method allows you to detemine if specific path is mapped in some workspace.

In my opinion, most valuable method is GetAllLocalWorkspaceInfo. As follows from its name, it returns set of WorkspaceInfo objects that comprise the local workspace cache.
Using WorkspaceInfo class you may perform several useful tasks:

• Obtain TFS server URL by using ServerUri property; that may come in handy if you do not have the server URI and do not want to force user to specify it


• Retrieve Workspace object using GetWorkspace(WorkspaceInfo workspace) method of VersionControlServer or GetWorkspace(TeamFoundationServer) method of WorkspaceInfo object itself; from that point on it will be possible to perform usual version control related operations


• Use WorkspaceInfo properties to view local workspace information without connecting to TFS server

While usually the location of TFS server is known and one may use QueryWorkspaces method to get list of workspaces, the approach described above will help you out in cases where one needs to find out TFS server locations or obtain information about local workspaces without setting up a connection to server.

And to conclude, another convenient way to retrieve list of server URIs would be to use GetServers method of RegisteredServers class. It will return the list of all server locations stored in registry (the list that appears in "Connect to TFS Server" window).