Is it possible to get a warning before editing a file on a branch in git in visual studio?

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I know this kind-of goes against the whole ethos of Git but ...

Is it possible in Visual Studio to get some kind of warning before editing a file for the first time on a particular branch?

I'd like to adopt the good practice of always creating a new branch before I begin work on new code but - try as I might - I always start my code editing and then after editing one or more files realise that I am working on the main develop branch.

What I'd like is some way to semi-protect a branch so it pops up a warning or is read-only (or gives me a mild electric shock) so I am forced to create a new branch for each feature.

In defence of my this-is-just-not-the-Git-way question, I spent years working with Microsoft SourceSafe. It works completely differently and I wouldn't want to go back to it but I did like the fact that checked-in files could be read-only, so I knew when I was starting something new.

I should point out that this is for use on a local Git installation that pushes to a remote BitBucket account.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

What I have tried:

I've tried a good Google session and looked at various Visual Studio Extensions.

Posted 31-Oct-18 2:24am

Patrick Skelton

Updated 22-Nov-19 0:41am

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Dirk Bahle · Answer 1 · 2018-10-31T04:32:00

I do not know about this rule but you should check out the Settings section in your GitHub project - there are actually settings that can be used to guard against commiting to the master branch.

There are branch protection rules that you can use to guard individual branches:
Defining the mergeability of pull requests - User Documentation[^]

You can create a branch when you commit your code. Just make sure you are on the correct branch when you commit

-> when you do that you should realize that you are on the master branch - you can still create a local branch before commiting it - then when you publish - you will publish to a branch instead of master.

Patrick Skelton · Answer 2 · 2019-11-22T00:42:00

I've come up with a partial solution to this. I have a small batch file that I run from a Visual Studio keyboard shortcut that makes every source file in my local copy of the project read-only.

I can usually remember to run this whenever I complete a feature on a branch in Git. So when I next come to start a new feature and I try to edit a file, I get a warning saying the file is read-only. (It reminds me of my not-so-good old days of using Microsoft SourceSafe.)

I guess most people would find the read-only warning annoying, but it is easily dismissed, and it does remind me to double-check that I have started a new Git branch whenever I start to work on anything new.

Is it possible to get a warning before editing a file on a branch in git in visual studio?

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