Develop Reference

Check if all files in TFS folder are "latest"

I´d like to check if all files in an specific tfs folder are "latest". If they are not (see picture) a get-latest will be executed. If they are all "latest" no get-latest will be performed.
The reason why I´d like to prevent always executing a get-latest is that it takes much time.
So what I need to know is whether all files are latest. I tried to get this information that way. Getting the latest-state worked well, but it took even more time than an get-latest itself.
Is there any way to get information about the latest-state of files hostet in tfs, without performing time-consuming operations?

If you want to know whether you're up-to-date without downloading files, then you can do a "preview get":
tf get /version:T /preview
This will tell you whether you're up-to-date or not, and if not, what you would need to download to become up-to-date.
But this strategy will not provide a benefit for speeding up your updates, it will be (net) slower than if you'd just done a get latest in the first place.
Get Latest (with preview) will ask the server what's necessary to do a get: the server will compute the differences between your workstation version and the server version and provide you with the list of files that you need to download.
Now if you were to turn around and do a Get Latest, then that will... ask the server what's necessary to do a get. It will recompute that list, and give you the list of files that you need to download. Now you'll actually download them and "complete" the Get by telling the server that you've updated your local files.
You've added an unnecessary round-trip and server computation to the mix.
Doing a "Get Latest" is the fastest possible route to updating your latest version information, whether you're already up-to-date or not.

Hash of source codes at compile time in C#

Having a server that other devs use, I currently log the version of the dll they use. I do that by having the client that use Reflection to retrieve its version:
Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().GetName().Version.ToString();
It's nice, but since it come from dev that uses TFS and do themself the build, I can not see if they have the latest version of the sources. Is there a trick, like a compilation tag, that would easily allow a hash of the generating source code?
Note: I have try to send the MD5 of the dll (using assembly.Location), but it is useless since the hash value changes between 2 compilations (I suppose there is some compilation timestamp inside the generated dll).

This is most collaboraton issue then a coding.
In the moment that you find out that the version is old one.notify them about it.
If the real version is not old one, that means that developers before making buold did not increment the version ID, which is mistake.
In other words, ordanize it among people, and not relly on these kind of tools (if there is any). You trying to create a complicated tool, that will help you avoid mistakes, but humans will find a way to make them again.
So it's better to create solid relation structure among you, imo.

Create a tool on pre build event to hash/last-write-time your code files.
Write the result to a cs file or a embedded resource file.
The result file must exclude in above action.
For prevent skip build (up-to-date) feature not work,Compare the file before write.
And if youre opening the file in IDE will get a prompt `changed from out side' when build.

Seem there is no easy way to do it.

Seeking Advice on Design for Multiple Users working in the same file

I am at the earliest stage of writing a desktop application for use by multiple users. I am looking for advice on what is the best way to approach this.
The Spec
I will persist my Model in a file which would often be used on a mapped network drive. (It is for the design of roadways and other linear features like railways and streams.)
The various end users need to be able to connect to and edit the file simultaneously. For example, Billy Bob is working on the road named US321 while Rupert is working on I40. The models for each road live in the same file. End users can "claim" any road name, in which only the claimant can edit the given road. Rupert can't edit US321 while Billy Bob has it claimed, but Rupert can read US321 for reference. Once a user is finished editing the road data, he can release the claim and someone else could edit it.
Limitations on Serialization?
My understanding of Serialization is quite limited (see my profile). But it looks to me like there is a one-to-one correlation between objects and serialization files. So if I use serialization to implement this, it would not be possible to claim just a part of it nor would it be possible to update only a part of it. (Is this correct? If not, then I can use Serialization, right?)
The Solution I am Considering
I am considering using SQL Server Express, and I am interested in the community's warnings, corrections, or affirmations on this.
The end users would not have to know that I am using SQL Server Express in the background. (I would even change the file extension to something suitable to my app.) I would load roads into a list, and each road would be "claimable". Claiming a road would mark it in the database for the other instances of the app to react to accordingly, kind of like it is a shared MS Excel file that multiple people can edit simultaneously, but (in the analogy to Excel) being able to lock individual worksheets.
[Edit] See Micah Armantrout's very informative response, below. So now I am wondering about using Microsoft Access as the intermediating db app.
[Edit]
Conclusion
Thanks to everyone for their helpful answers and comments. Micah's answer was very helpful since I did not realize I would be limited to the file being controled by only one server. Although it makes perfect sense now, I had not anticipated it, and if I had gone that route, I would have run aground on it after many hours of working in that direction.
When I first read urbadave's idea, I dismissed it as something I had already considered and not liked. But after thinking it over, it is clearly the simplest approach. I just use a directory like it is a file, but with user-transparency to my my top level sub-objects. But there clearly is an appeal to having my whole model be encapsualted into a single file.
So this is what I have decided to do: Start with just writing to a directory, just as urbadave suggests. Then later test out putting it in a zip directory and using the ZipPackage class to pluck out and insert the individual serialized files (or XML files -- another decision I have to make some day).
Paul

SQL server will work for what you are looking for but if your going to have multiple users you need to have a machine setup to be a server. It will not do you any good to have sql server express installed on each machine It might be one of the users machines or an actual server with SQL server express you are going to need to set it up to be accessible outside of a current machine to do this follow this tutorial.
If you are using anything past windows XP SP2 you will need to open up the ports of the firewall follow these instructions this is also talked about in the link below.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlexpress/archive/2005/05/05/415084.aspx
As far as sharing data I mean seeing other peoples work. If you are not wanting to install sql server on a server you can use MS Access I would refer you to a article on which one to use when
http://www.techrepublic.com/article/should-you-use-sql-server-express-edition-or-microsoft-access-for-your-small-business-applications/6140859

While I have access to a nice database at work, most of my personal programming does not use a database. One of the tricks I've used in the past is that file extensions are meant to carry meaning. In your case, you can exploit file extensions to indicate claims and control writing to the master file.
You're right, you would want to serialize each road object to its own file. The Master File would be the serialization of a collection object that holds all of these individual road objects.
The users select and open these road files. Before opening the file, the user's app re-names the file, adding an extension (perhaps the user's id). This way, you can use directory scans to find claimed and unclaimed files.
The master file is only written to when the user releases their claim on the road they are working on. The user's app opens all the road files, assembles a master object using the road objects and then serializes this object into the master file. When finished, the users app releases the user's claim on the road file by renaming it.
Before writing to the master file, the user's app renames the file, indicating it is about to be written to. If an users app needs to write, it can check to see if the file is renamed, and wait for the file name to be restored to a writable name.
This is a sketch of how I would attack this spec. Good luck.

Is there a .NET library for file compare and that returns enumerable collections off added, changed and deleted lines?

Is there a (preferably free) .NET library for file compare and that returns enumerable collections off added, changed and deleted lines?
Basically everything beyond compare does but in .NET and returns collections you can interact with.

What you're looking for is a Diff generation library.
I would take a look at DiffPlex.
You'll have to read the files into memory yourself, but it wouldn't be hard to build a wrapper class around DiffPlex so that you can easily use files from that point on...

I've tried looking at DiffPlex, but find that there are a lack of code examples when it comes to Windows forms. I've tried to use the side-by-side but having serious difficulty implementing it. I've even tried contacting author but to no avail. The only sample code example I can find was using the InlineDiffBuilder class from DiffPlex.
It talks about a side-by-side example but only gives you an image. It would be really great if there were more tutorials and examples for this awesome code.

Shredding files in .NET

Is there a SDK that can be used in managed code to shred files securely?
EDIT: This is the only link i could find in google that helps me
EDIT: Either SDK or some kind of COM based component.

This code from codeproject may be a good starting point.
Eraser has been around for years, you could call out to it by using System.Diagnostics.Process, or at least review the algorithm there.

Take a look at Windows.WinAny.Helper at the CodePlex. It has SecureDelete extension which allows you to shredd files with different algorithms like Gutmann, DoD-7, DoD-3, Random or Quick.

Technology has changed in the past few years so when I happened to see this answer (why wasn't an answer accepted again?) I wanted to provide an update for others with similar questions.
Please note that shredding is very much filesystem and media dependent. Attempting to "shred" a file on a log based filesystem or a filesystem stored on smart (write leveling) flash isn't going to get you very far. You would have to, at a minimum, write enough data to complete fill the device to hope that the old data might be overwritten one time.
More likely you would have to write several smaller files and when you get FS full, delete one and then keep writing a new one, to ensure that all reserved space has been overwritten as well. Then you will probably be fairly safe. Probably.
I say probably because the storage media/FS could decide that a block was failing (or used too much relatively) and map it away substituting some other part of the disk instead. This is a per-block thing of course, so any much larger file is unlikely to be reconstructed.