As I evaluate Visual Micro I’m thrilled with IntelleSence for Arduino code, debugging is great but could really use the ability to work in libraries and now we get to source control. To which I’m really surprised there are no conversations on source control in the forum.

I’m working with TFS to test source control.  I built a TFS project with a source control folder ($Arduino) and mapped it to documents\arduino.  Then I did an add to folder (mistake I will talk about later) and was surprised to find VS knew about .INO files and considered them as a file worth checking in to source control (cool).
  
Now for the mistake…  Opening the solution I got a complaint about trying to write to vsarduino.h in the \Visual Micro directory.   I checked the file out and all was good.  Next I compiled the sketch using ‘Start Without Debug’ with no problems.  Next I tried ‘Start Debug’ and again complaints about several XML files in \Visual Micro (Compile.vmps.xml, Configuration.Debug.vmps.xml, Upload.vmps.xml). 

First question: In testing (deleting) the files in the \Visual Micro directory and removing them from source control it appear that they are created as need and don’t need to be keep in source control. True?

Second Question: What exactly is being stored in the .SDF file and should it be considered worthy of source control?

Third Question: Where exactly is VS hiding debug break point information?

The only other issue I’ve encountered at this point with source control is using ‘Show All Sketch Files’ which will cause you to be prompted with a dialog for all the files in _core and _ library that reads ‘You are attempting to add an item to a source-controlled project, but the item’s path has no mapping.  If you continue with the add, this item will not be added to source control.  Do you wish to proceed with the add?”.  You will also get messages similar to the following in the output window if you add the item.

There is no working folder mapping for C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\arduino\cores\arduino.
There is no working folder mapping for C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\arduino\variants\standard.
There is no working folder mapping for C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\libraries\SoftwareSerial.
There is no working folder mapping for C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\libraries\EEPROM.

Now you can proceed by clicking the “Add the item”.  I’ve also considered mapping the C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\ directory.  And I’m wondering if there isn’t some VS magic setting you could set when adding the arduino core and library files as I’ve noticed that source control is very uninterested in varduino.h listed in the Header Files folder.

Fourth Question: Any thoughts on this?

Note to Readers: If as a developer you are not using one of many source control products available you will be taken out and shoot tomorrow.  Hint: That’s enough time to implement source code and prevent your demise (no excuses).

Sorry i was in a rush earlier.

The breakpoints are stored by VS in the solution file. For Visual Studio that is .sln for Atmel Studio that is .asln. It's annoying I would prefer they were stored with each project but I guess this allows you to have different solutions with different configs of the same project.

As for source control I think someone else has made a forum note about that. They got it working okay although didn't mention "all all sketch files" which I will test when time allows.

It would be nice to write a page on viaualmicro.com with an overview of how to use source control with Arduino so if we can change anything obvious we will.

The vsarduino.h begins with a . so i think that is why it is ignored. Maybe that's a clue to a solution or maybe just exclude the entire /Visual Micro sub folder of the sketch from source control. This folder is not required to build an Arduino project.

Yes the vsarduino.h and the project files are re-built when required. They are not used during compile and are not considered a part of the source control system for Arduino projects.

These files are for intellisense only so can be safely ignored

I think that is a generic source control error you get if the solution (.sln) is in a different folder root than the project

This probably means the solution is in a location such as documents/visual studio/projects and the sketch is in document/arduino/sketch/

While you are getting to know things it is best to force vs to save the solution in the sketch folder (when prompted). 

If you already have a solution in the wrong place you can either close the solution then manually move it to the sketch folder using windows explorer or click the solution name in the tree view and click "File>Save Solution As" into the sketch folder.

Visual Micro will work better with the solution in the same folder as the project simply because when you attempt to open the sketch it will open it automatically. 

tip: Once you have a project and/or solution you can use the standard Visual Studio "File" menu items to open your Arduino projects.