In the context of the TFS version control SDK (Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl), what exactly is deletionID?

Question

In the context of the TFS version control SDK (Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl), what exactly is deletionID?

It is a property of Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Client.Item. It is also a parameter to some of the query methods on Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Client. I'm trying to figure out exactly what it means, and how it might impact queries.

Answer 1

I feel your pain, the TFS API documentation is atrocious. That said, here's my best attempt at guessing what DeletionID is so far.

When TFS deletes an item it really just sets the DeletionID and keeps the item around. Items that aren't deleted have a DeletionID of 0.

Some methods accept a DeletionID to refer to the items that were previously deleted, in case you wanted to undelete them, for example.