Find the source code to a legacy application running in production in TFS

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This is a 'duplicate' posted in StackOverflow, but I may not have included enough words there to actually have the question appear. I always get more real help here in the Lounge than there anyway.

I have a legacy app running in production with a long gone author and non-existent documentation. I am trying to track down the source in Team Foundation Server and have not been able to find it. To wit, no solution, project or .cs file has the executable's name and I have struck out wading through all the AssemblyInfo.cs files as well.

Can anyone give me a way to search or a place to look in a solution for the compiled exe name? I also am facing source files of the same name in multiple places throughout TFS from multiple authors.

What I have tried:

I have tried finding the executable name in the solution names, the project names, source file names, and looked in AssemblerInfo.cs for many of the projects.

Posted 22-May-18 9:26am

Jim_Snyder

Updated 22-May-18 19:31pm

v6

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Richard Deeming 22-May-18 15:29pm

Which version of TFS? If it's "15" or higher, there's a free extension you can install:
Code Search - Visual Studio Marketplace[^]

Jim_Snyder 22-May-18 15:47pm

I do not 'own' the TFS. It belongs to another division of the company. I appreciate the answer, though.

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User 7429338 · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-22T19:32:00

The executable file name is specified, without extension, in the .csproj file:

<AssemblyName>my_program</AssemblyName>

To identify the project as an executable rather than e.g. a library, it should also have:

<OutputType>WinExe</OutputType>

Note that it's possible that the executable has been renamed after it was built. Executables often, but not always, have their original file name stored with their version info. You can check this in the window explorer:
https://i.stack.imgur.com/YOGRS.png[^]