What is the difference between a workspace and a (connected to a server) solution?

Question

I know that I should understand such a topic, but I just could not find a clear article.

The part I don’t understand is what is the difference if I just make two decisions on my computer mapped to the same TFS folder, or if I create two workspaces? At some level, I understand that there is a difference between a solution and a TFS workspace, because the solution can be completely local and not connect to any version control. But does the workspace that I created always create on my local computer? If so, I really don't understand why I should have such a workspace.

Another thing that I don’t understand, after I open one solution in VS, I can still switch to another workspace (which is always in a different solution, if my previous question is yes) in Team Explorer and Solution Explorer . What is the idea of ​​this? I find this operation confusing.

By the way, I'm not really sure that I'm looking for a workspace item. I want to do the following: I have several assignments in the same software project of the same development branch. Therefore, I want to be able to work in one task without affecting other current tasks. Previously, I had to either create a new solution (in fact, I did it when I needed to work with another branch), or just postpone changes to one destination → discard pending changes → make changes for other destinations. I was told that the workspace is a solution, but after reading some articles, I still do not know how to use it.

Answer 1

The TFS workspace determines which files and folders for change management are mapped to local files and folders (and thus refers to the combination of user and machine).

The VS solution defines a set of projects and their interdependencies that work as a whole (usually to create a single software product of one or more executable files and libraries).

These concepts are orthogonal. A workspace can contain many folders in a separate folder.

If you do not want to work with several different things at once, which you need to check separately, I would strongly recommend avoiding several workspaces until it becomes more convenient for you to manage the changes. Although multiple workspaces are a powerful approach to some working methods, this adds complexity.

Equally, I would suggest avoiding having a single folder containing multiple solutions - this is not how VS works by default and requires careful management to avoid problems.

Answer 2

Now they are getting a little old (since they are not talking about local or server workspaces and public or private settings), but I wrote a couple of blog posts about workspaces that can help:

• Workspace 101: Introduction to TFS Workspaces
• Workspace 101: Work Folder Mappings

In addition, the Help topic for Professional Team Foundation Server should help.