Using WinMerge with TFS

Posted on June 19, 2007

Someone at work was kind enough to figure out the correct command line switches to use in order to replace the standard TFS compare/merge tool with WinMerge. I originally blamed Pants for the info, but he then accused Eddie. Here are the goods:

In Visual Studio do the following:

Click on Tools menu
Click on Options menu item
Expand Source Control tree item
Select Visual Studio Team Foundation Server tree item
Click on Configure User Tools… button

Comparing

To use WinMerge as the Compare/Diff tool:

Click the Add… button
For Extension, type *****
For Operation, select Compare
For Command, browse for C:\Program Files\WinMerge\WinMerge.exe
For Arguments, type /x /e /ub /wl /dl %6 /dr %7 %1 %2
Click OK to accept

Merging

To use WinMerge as the Merge tool:

Click the Add… button
For Extension, type *****
For Operation, select Merge
For Command, browse for C:\Program Files\WinMerge\WinMerge.exe
For Arguments, type /x /e /ub /wl /dl %6 /dr %7 %1 %2 %4
Click OK to accept

Note: You need to click on the Save button on the tool bar within WinMerge merge to commit a merge before exiting the screen

Merge Error Workaround

If you encounter an error that says “The manual merge for <filename> has been canceled”, the fix is to use a batch file to redirect the call to WinMerge to ensure a 0 return code.

This problem and workaround was originally found here by a colleague. He tested WinMerge and found that it does correctly return 0. Regardless of this, this batch workaround seems to work well. I have modified the original version to include my switches.

Create a batch file with the following content:

@rem winmergeFromTFS.bat  
@rem 2007-08-01  
@rem File created by Paul Oliver to get Winmerge to play nicely with TFS  
@rem  
@rem To use, tell TFS to use this command as the merge command  
@rem And then set this as your arguments:  
@rem %6 %7 %1 %2 %4  
"C:\Program Files\WinMerge\WinMerge.exe" /x /e /ub /wl /dl %1 /dr %2 %3 %4 %5  
exit 0

The merge instructions above will then be changed to:

Click the Add… button
For Extension, type *****
For Operation, select Merge
For Command, browse for C:\Program Files\WinMerge\winmergeFromTFS.bat
For Arguments, type %6 %7 %1 %2 %4
Click OK to accept

Modified C# Filter

WinMerge uses filter files to filter the entries found when comparing folders. The latest version of WinMerge bundles a C# filter file. I have updated it to include additional entries. Copy the content below into C:\Program Files\WinMerge\Filters\CSharp_loose.flt.

## This is a directory/file filter for WinMerge  
## This filter suppresses various binaries found in Visual C# source trees  
name: Visual C# loose  
desc: Suppresses various binaries found in Visual C# source trees

## This is an inclusive (loose) filter  
## (it lets through everything not specified)def: include  
## Filters for filenames begin with f:  
## Filters for directories begin with d:  
## (Inline comments begin with " ##" and extend to the end of the line)  
f: \.aps$ ## VC Binary version of resource file, for quick loading  
f: \.bsc$ ## VC Browser database  
f: \.dll$ ## Windows DLL  
f: \.exe$ ## Windows executable  
f: \.obj$ ## VC object module file  
f: \.pdb$ ## VC program database file (debugging symbolic information)  
f: \.res$ ## VC compiled resources file (output of RC [resource compiler])  
f: \.suo$ ## VC options file (binary)  
f: \.cache$ ## jQuery1520454518222482875_1352953951247  
f: \.resource$ ## Compiled resource file.  
f: \.xfrm ## jQuery15208427655482664704_1386642834837  
f: \.bak$ ## backup  
f: \.vssscc$ ## Source control metadata  
f: \.vspscc$ ## Project source control metadata  
f: \.user$ ## User settings  
f: \.resharper$ ## Resharper data  

d: \\bin$ ## Build directory  
d: \\obj$ ## Object directory  
d: \\cvs$ ## CVS control directory  
d: \\.svn$ ## Subversion control directory

Updated:

After checking out James Manning’s blog post about compare/merge tools (thanks Grant), I have updated the command line arguments. For the most part, it is a merge of the switches in this original post and James’ switches. The /x /e switches give the tool the same behaviour as the TFS tool for using the ESC key and identifying identical files. James’ has include the use of the /ub /dl /dr switches to avoid MRU persistence and adds version labels to the left and right sides. I have also added /wl so that the left (server) side file is read-only.

If you want to know more about the WinMerge switches, you can get the online help from here.

Updated:

As suggested by Scott Munro, I have removed %3 from the merge switches, but I have still retained the /wl switch.

Updated:

Added TFS error workaround and my version of the C# filter.

Updated:

Added a reg file that contains the original settings outlined above (does not include workaround).

WinMerge for TFS.reg (1.12 kb)

Updated:

Added reg files for VS2010 x86 and x64

WinMerge_for_TFS_VS2010_x86.reg (1.12 kb)

WinMerge_for_TFS_VS2010_x64.reg (1.14 kb