TFS Project Structure - Scenario Guide

Question

I read several documents about the project structure in TFS 2012, and I believe that I have the right structure. I just wanted to check that for my scenario this is the perfect structure.

We currently have several different solutions that make up our software package. Each solution is a different application in the package, but many of them rely on each other. There is also one common code library referenced by other solutions. In addition, there is a set of third-party DLLs referenced in several solutions.

Example:

 Solution 1
     Project a
     Project d

 Solution 2
     Project b
     Project d

 Solution 3
     Project c
     Project a
     Project d 

 Solution 4 (common code library)
     Project d

After reading the TFS material, I found that the recommended setup is one collection of projects with one team project that includes all solutions. As part of this team project, the folder structure will be as follows:

  PROJECT COLLECTION
   TEAM PROJECT A
     Solution 1
       Source
       Release
     Solution 2
       Source 
       Release
     Solution 3
       Source
       Release
     Solution 4
       Source
       Release

A few questions:

• Is this the perfect way to configure TFS for my script?
• Should I host a shared code library with other solutions?
• How should a regular third-party DLL be handled?
• When there are branches for clients, should they be separate teams?

Any guidance is appreciated!

Answer 1

We use this structure:

PROJECT COLLECTION TEAM PROJECT A Features Solution 1 - New Feature 1 Solution 2 - Fix Bug Main Solution 1 Solution 2 Solution Common Releases Solution 1 - v1.0.0.1 Solution 1 - v1.1.0.0 Solution 2 - v1.0.0.0 Soltuion Common - v1.0.0.0 

Each decision on functions, main functions and releases is a branch. This allows us to have one place for the main line code in one place for working with functions and one place for releases, and they will all have the same relative paths to each other.