Issues when connecting to TFS2012 from VS2010

I recently upgraded my TFS2010 installation to the new TFS2012, and it has certainly not been all that easy.

Creating a new Team Project

The first issue was trying to create new Team Project in VS2012 form VS2010. That turned out to be impossible, and I don’t mean impossible as in hard but as in “it’s not possible yet”.

The only solution to that issue at the moment is to have the Team Project created from a VS2012 installation. There is a recommendation to download Visual Studio 2010 SP1 Team Foundation Server 2012 Compatibility GDR to solve the issue, but that did not work for me (and apparently neither for a lot of other people out there).

Luckily for me I just finished my new Windows 8 machine that’s also running VS2012 for Windows 8 app development. So I could just use that to create a new Team Project in the TFS.

Can’t add new items to a project from VS2010 when working against TFS2012

When the new Team Project finally was created in TFS2012 I added my project and that wen’t smooth, but after going online with the version control, I could not add any items to my code.

I could check out and check in files, but not add new items, existing items or folders, that entire context menu was greyed out for me. After looking at the security settings in my TFS and concluding that everythign should work I started looking on the net, but could not find any information.

In a desperate attempt I installed the  Visual Studio 2010 SP1 Team Foundation Server 2012 Compatibility GDR again, after previously uninstalling in frustration. And that did the trick! After installing the GDR I could finally add new classes and items to my TFS2012 project.

Why use VS2010? (Or: The big Fluster Cluck…)

After building a new great dev machine, installed with Windows 8 and VS2012, why use VS2010 at all?

Because it turns out (and hey, maybe my bad not researching this before) that the development SDK for Windows phone 7.x can’t be installed on Windows 8!!

So, to continue developing my game for Windows Phone 7.x, I needed to keep my old computer running Windows 7 and VS2010 on it.

I don’t know if I should be pissed off here or not really, but one reason why I have stayed with MS tech during most of my career (and hobby projects) is the fact that most often stuff just works nicely together. Not a lot of config, modding or dabbling needed. That plus the fact that MS have produced the best dev tools out there in my opinion, I suspect I’ll get flogged on the internet for saying this, but Eclipse that so many swear by isn’t exactly something I look forward to opening.

I was so totally expecting the Windows Phone 7.x SDK to work on Windows 8 with VS2012 that I didn’t even bother researching it 🙁

The new Windows Phone SDK for Apollo (WP8) is of course in the making, but so far only a limited amount of app developers are being let in to the testing program. That being the devs with released apps that rank highly, and those belonging to companies that MS is paying to produce apps for the upcoming WP8. This is also something that’s been bothering me as of lately. The Microsoft I like didn’t do stuff like this before.

I miss Brandon Watson, maybe it was just me but it felt like he cared about the entire developer community around Windows Phone, and that meant every single one of us…

Edit: You CAN get the Windows Phone 7 SDK to work on Windows 8

What’s needed is to install the Windows Phone 7.1.1 SDK Update. And if you are doing any kind of XNA development, you’re going to need to install the Games for Windows Marketplace Client.

The recommended install order is:

1. Games for Windows Marketplace Client

2. Windows Phone 7.1 SDK

3. Windows Phone 7.1.1 SDK Update

Good luck with the Windows Phone projects 🙂