Is there an SVN:externals equivalent in TFS2005?

Question

Does anybody know if there is an SVN:externals property equivalent in TFS2005?

Definition of an SVN External property

Sometimes it is useful to construct a working copy that is made out of a number of different checkouts. For example, you may want different subdirectories to come from different locations in a repository, or perhaps from different repositories altogether. You could certainly setup such a scenario by hand to create the sort of nested working copy structure you are trying to achieve. But if this layout is important for everyone who uses your repository, every other user will need to perform the same checkout operations that you did.

Subversion provides support for externals definitions. An externals definition is a mapping of a local directory to the URL—and possibly a particular revision—of a versioned resource.

Answer 1

There is no equivalent functionality in TFS 2005.

Answer 2

As jeff says this is not possible in 2005 and this is also true for 2008 and for the current beta of 2010

Answer 3

Do the Workspace Templating features in the TFS2008 Power Tools provide the functionality that you are after?

From Brian Harry's Blog:

Create Workspace is there to solve the following problem. Someone new joins your team and wants to start working on the source code. They need to get it all on their machine but they are not sure what all source they need or how it needs to by laid out. As part of a team definition, you can define a workspace template for your team.

Hope that helps,

Martin.

Answer 4

No - there is no equivalent functionality inherent in TFS - which in my mind is its premier limitation. However, the feature that Martin mentioned, Workspace Templating, implemented in the Oct '08 release of TFS Power Tools does look like it would accomplish something similar - unfortunately it did not exist when we migrated to TFS, which caused us a lot of pain. Let us know if it works for you.