Note you may have to supply a different path to the P4Merge program if you installed it in a different location. Then choose Add and set the options as shown:

Go to Tools->Options and navigate to Source Control and Visual Studio Team Foundation Server. Setting P4Merge up as your comparison tool is simple enough. The only hassle with using this tool is that it doesn’t integrate that easily into Visual Studio as a merrge tool – you can’t just call the executable and supply arguments, you have to work around it a little. Many people talk about how great the BeyondCompare product is, but for the sake of my wallet I’d rather use a tool that was free. Oh, for those who don’t know, a 3-way merge is a merge that shows both your current version of the file, the file you’re merging with, and the root file from which the two other files are derived (i.e. By the way, I keep WinMerge installed because of it’s great directory comparison feature. Now, in the past, I’ve usually gone for WinMerge as my tool of choice to replace the out of the box offering, but WinMerge is starting to show it’s age and whilst it does a great job at comapres it doesn’t do 3-way merges, so I’d rather use something else. Thankfully, Visual Studio gives you a way to customise the tool that is used for merging.

Sure, it does the job, but it could be so much better. The merge and diff utility included with Visual Studio 2008 is, let’s face it, not the best tool on the market.

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