How to download files from Azure DevOps using TfvcHttpClient

Question

I would like to download the latest version of all files from one of my Azure Dev Ops code-repository directories using the TfvcHttpClient class. Unfortunately, this is not documented very good, nor can i find useful example programs.

What i have got so far ist this:

var creds = new VssBasicCredential(string.Empty, "PAT_GOES_HERE");
var connection = new VssConnection(new  Uri("https://username.visualstudio.com/DefaultCollection"), creds);
using var tfsClient = connection.GetClient<TfvcHttpClient>();

var result = tfsClient.GetItemsBatchZipAsync(new TfvcItemRequestData() {ItemDescriptors = new []{new TfvcItemDescriptor(){Path="/", RecursionLevel = VersionControlRecursionType.Full,VersionType = TfvcVersionType.Latest}} }, "Testcases").Result;
var fs = File.Create("c:\\temp\\x.zip");
result.CopyTo(fs);

The file gets created with size 0, but no bytes are copied and CopyTo() does not return.

How would i download the latest version of a directory?

Answer 1

Here is a complete solution that works with the current version of the .net libraries (16.205.1).

using System.IO.Compression;
using Microsoft.TeamFoundation.SourceControl.WebApi;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.Common;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.WebApi;

namespace GetCurrent
{
    internal class Program
    {
        private static readonly string DevOpsPat = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("DIE_DEVOPS_PAT") ?? throw new InvalidOperationException("DIE_DEVOPS_PAT");
        private const string DestinationDirectory = "c:\\temp\\testcases";

        static void Main()
        {
            var credentials = new VssBasicCredential(string.Empty, DevOpsPat);
            var connection = new VssConnection(new Uri("https://twoelfer.visualstudio.com/DefaultCollection"), credentials);

            using var tfsClient = connection.GetClient<TfvcHttpClient>();

            var zip = Path.GetTempFileName();
            using var stream = File.Create(zip);
            using var item = tfsClient.GetItemZipAsync( "$/Testcases" ).Result;
            item.CopyTo(stream);
            stream.Close();
            try
            {
                ZipFile.ExtractToDirectory(zip, DestinationDirectory);
                File.Delete(zip);
            }
            catch
            {
                throw new Exception("Unable to unzip the file: " + zip);
            }
        }
    }
}