Using source control

Source control is a system that helps manage source files that are shared by a team. By using source control, many people can work on the same set of files while minimizing the risk that one person might inadvertently delete the changes that someone else made to a file.

Source files are stored in a source control system repository (a Team Foundation server). Team members check files out to working folders on their computer, make changes to the files, and check them back in. When a file is checked back in to the repository, the source control system makes a record of the change between the new version and the previous version. When checking in a file, the team member adds a notation to the file's record in the repository so that others can see what changes were made to the file. That way, if someone makes an unwanted change to a file, you can revert the file to an earlier state.

For more information, see Checking files in and out.

A file can be checked out by more than one person at a time. After the first person checks the file back in, subsequent check-ins will go through a merging process to resolve any conflicts. For more information, see Using Team Explorer and Working with Team Foundation Version Control on MSDN.

Team Foundation source control is integrated into Microsoft Expression Web so that you can perform tasks such as viewing files, checking files in, adding files, and viewing file history, all from the Folders List panel in Expression Web.

Tasks

Concepts