TFS 2010 nested branches and common components

Question

We develop a common component that we typically use in all projects. We want to include the source code in each project and be able to commit changes to the common component made while coding project back to the common component. So the TFS structure would be something like this:

$/Common Component/Main/ComponentA

$/Some Project/Main/ComponentA (branched from $/Common Component/Main/ComponentA
$/Some Project/Main/Some Stuff
$/Some Project/Dev (branched from $/Some Project/Main)
$/Some Project/Release/1.0 (branched from $/Some Project/Main)

Is it possible to have the Main folder as a branch while its subfolder ComponentA was branched in from another location ($/Common Component/Main)? Or is this a nested branch which cannot be done in TFS 2010?

Answer 1

You can have nested branches but TFS discourages them. To do it, create the top level branches but then convert them to folders. The branching structure still is there but you can now do nested branching. The trade-off is that you lose some of the features like "View hierarchy".