Agent Git

Visual Studio 2017

The Agent Git plug-in allows you to seamlessly integrate Visual Studio 2017 with Git.

Features of the plug-in include:

Easy to install, easy to configure, easy to use
Add solutions, projects and files to Git, all from within the IDE
Check out, check in, get latest version all without leaving the IDE
Revert file changes from within the IDE
Provides the option of automatic file locking on check out and unlocking on check in
View file differences, file status and file history from within the IDE
The power of Git with the feel of Visual Source Safe
Can use an external difference tool to view file differences

Videos

Below is a video showing Visual Studio, Agent Git and Git in action:

Using Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 and Git with Agent Git

Tutorial

Described below are the step required to get Agent Git to work seamlessly with Visual Studio 2008 and Git.

As an introductory tutorial, it is recommended you follow these steps as described.

Step 1: Agent Git Provider Setup

Inside Visual Studio use the Tools, Options menu and in the Source Control section select Agent Git as the active provider.

vc_options_1

In the Environment section, configure the behaviour to suit.

vc_options_2

Step 2: Configure Agent Git

Use the File, Source Control, Launch Agent Git menu to start the Agent Git configuration utility to do the once off configuration of the plug-in.

vc_launch

The resulting Agent Git configuration dialog is shown below:

agent-git-setup

You can use this dialog to configure the behaviour of the plug-in.

Step 3: Create a Test Solution

To see how Agent Git works we need something to play with so the next step is to create a simple test solution.

From within the Visual Studio IDE create a simple solution as shown below:

vc_create

Step 4: Add Solution to Source Control

At this point, we have a new solution and we will use Agent Git to import the solution into the Git repository.

Use the menu shown below to add the solution to the Git repository:

vc_add

That menu will result in the display of the project binding dialog shown below:

vc_binding

This dialog takes two inputs, a project name and a local folder location that contains the Git repository.

In this particular case hitting the Ok button will result in the following dialog:

vc_create_repo

The reason the dialog is displayed is because we are dealing with a new project and no Git repository exists for the project and as such the response should be Yes.

However, for the case where the project already has a Git repo the answer should be No and the path should then be modified to point to that existing Git repo.

After hitting Yes the IDE will indicate that the files have been added to the repo as shown below:

vc_files_added

Use the repository browser to confirm the solution files are now inside the source control repository as shown below:

vc_repo

Step 5: Using the Source Control Inside Visual Studio

At this stage, the solution has been imported into the repository and the solution has been bound to the repository.

To check the solution is correctly bound use the View History menu on any of the files in the solution and the history dialog should be displayed as shown below:

vs_history

With the solution now fully configured, use the check out, check in, revert, compare or any of the other source control commands to manage the files in the solution.

To access the source control from inside Visual Studio use the popup menu as shown below:

vc_use