Visual Studio 2015 How to merge a branch into master?
GitVisual StudioVersion ControlGit BranchGit MergeGit Problem Overview
I am new to GIT, so far I had been using Visual Studio Online TFS for my version control and I am the only developer. When I created my last project I was kind of mislead into thinking GIT was the best option for this.
So I checked-in my master. Then when I was going to work on a Feature I read I had to create a branch (this was not necessary in TFS) so I created "development_print" as a new branch and worked on my feature.
Now my feature is complete but I don't know how to merge it back into master. I am not interested in multiple branches at the moment, just want my new feature merged into master and remain with master.
In VS there is a merge branch option but it only allows me to merge into development_print (I want my feature into master!) so it does not let me set Into Current Branch and for Merge From Branch shows:
- Development_print
- master
- origin/development_print
- origin/master
which is kind of confusing? it seems all backwards. So how do I get out of this mess without losing all the work I did on the feature?
Git Solutions
Solution 1 - Git
The way to merge development_print branch into master branch as below:
VS -> Team Explorer -> Branches -> double click master branch -> Merge -> select development_print for Merge from branch -> Merge.
The select box shows:
development_print
master
origin/development_print
origin/master
That means you have branches development_print and master for both local and remote. origin/ means branches exist in remote.
If you don’t want the development_print branch after merging you can delete it for local and remote:
Team Explorer -> Branches -> select development_print -> right click -> Delete -> select development_print under remotes/origin -> Delete Branch From Remote.
Solution 2 - Git
You can follow the Microsoft tutorial "Create work in branches".
Also, as shown in "Getting Used to Git in Visual Studio: Branches" from Jeremy Bytes (2014, but should still apply), you can go back to the "Branches" section and select "Merge".
> This gives us drop-downs to fill in:
You can see the branch section in "Microsoft Application Lifecycle Management", also used when you created your topic branch:
Solution 3 - Git
In VS switch to master branch to be your current branch and from Team Explorer -> Branches you should get the Merge options in the right order where you will be able to select in the "Merge from branch" drop-down development_print branch and the "Into current branch" field will be preselected with master.