The Importance of Source Control for Developers

If you’re a developer, then you know that source control is an integral part of your workflow. It enables you to keep track of your code versions, work collaboratively with team members, and seamlessly deploy code changes. Lucky for you, Visual Studio 2019 has got you covered. It comes with inbuilt support for popular source control systems like Git, Team Foundation Server (TFS), and Subversion (SVN). In this article, we will explore the process of adding source control to your Visual Studio 2019 project.

Step 1: Creating a Repository

The first step towards adding source control to your Visual Studio project is to create a repository. This is where all your code changes will be tracked and managed. Here is how you can create a new repository in Visual Studio:

1. Select “Clone or check out code” on the start page
2. Choose “Git” as your source control system
3. Enter the URL of the repository you want to clone or choose “Create a new repository” if you don’t have an existing one
4. Configure the options for the repository, including the location where it will be stored on your computer

Step 2: Configuring Source Control in Visual Studio

Now that the repository is created, you need to configure Visual Studio to work with it. Here is how you can do that:

1. Open your project in Visual Studio
2. Go to the “View” menu and select “Team Explorer”
3. In the Team Explorer window, click on the “Settings” button
4. Under “Git Global Settings”, configure your name and email address
5. Under “Visual Studio Team Services”, sign in or create a new account to connect to Azure DevOps

Step 3: Adding Code to the Repository

Now that your project is ready for source control, you can start adding your code to the repository. Here is how you can go about it:

1. In the Team Explorer window, click on the “Changes” tab
2. Click on the “Add” button to add your files to the repository
3. Enter a commit message and click on the “Commit All” button to commit your changes to the repository

Step 4: Collaborating with Team Members

Source control offers you the opportunity to collaborate with team members easily. Here is how you can go about it:

1. Invite team members to the repository by clicking on the “Manage Connections” button in the Team Explorer window
2. Click on the “Add” button to add team members to the repository
3. Once team members accept your invitation, they can clone the repository on their local computers, make changes, and commit their changes back to the repository

Step 5: Deploying Code Changes

When your code changes are ready to be deployed, source control can help you manage the deployment process effectively. Here is how:

1. In the Team Explorer window, click on the “Branches” tab
2. Select the branch that contains the code changes you want to deploy
3. Click on the “Publish” button to publish the changes to the repository
4. Use Azure DevOps or another deployment tool to deploy the changes to your production environment

Conclusion

Without a doubt, source control is an essential tool for any developer. By adding source control to your Visual Studio 2019 project, you can stay ahead of the game by tracking your code versions, collaborating effectively with team members, and streamlining the deployment process. By closely following the steps outlined in this article, you can integrate source control to your Visual Studio project in no time and enjoy the many benefits that it offers.