Visual Studio TFVC Merge Lines Misaligned

Question

I am using Visual Studio 2017 with Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC). I am trying to merge changes from a parent branch into a child, but I am getting tons of conflicts that shouldn't exist. The compare function works fine and shows a hand full of difference, but the merge tool is trying to shuffle the 2 sets of code together like a deck of cards. It's so bad, I would feel safer making the change manually.

Is there a way to help the Merge Tool identify the comparable lines of code?

Answer 1

You can try the external Compare amd Merge Tools, e.g WinMerge, ExamDiffPro or Beyond Compare.

For example:

Using Beyond Compare as an External Merge Tool:

Go to Tools | Options | Source Control | Visual Studio Team Foundation Server, then click Configure User Tools and then Add. Enter the following:

Extension: *
Operation: Merge
Command: <Path to BCompare.exe>
Arguments: /merge %1 %3 %2 /o:%4 /dn1:%6 /dn2:%8 /dn3:%7 /dno:%9 /nh 

Then it will invoke the external compare and merge tool when you click Merge Changes in Merge Tool to resolve the conflicts. And based on my test it can identify the comparable lines.

For ExamDiff, you can reference : Using ExamDiff Pro as an External Diff Tool