FIX: New folders aren’t showing in DevOps Repository

Where is my directory structure in Azure DevOps?

This was a nice one. I was asked to create a new repository in Azure DevOps and to think about the structure.

I started in good spirits with creating the repository and started organizing the folder structure and the ideas I had.

I then tried to sync the new folder structure to the git in Visual Studio Code, but the directories themselves did not appear in the DevOps repository online.

I was a bit surprised. Ran a test in another DevOps where I still had some items to be synced an voila. It did work there.

I then clone the repository again to Visual Studio Code, but again no success. The next step was to create the directory online and see if I could get it synced to my local device.

When creating one of the folders online, I immediately saw what my problem was.

“Git folders cannot be empty, so a placeholder file will be added its content can be edited before commit.“

Can we also automate the creation of these items?

Yes we can!

I mainly use my repository for PowerShell, so I will also explain below how you can solve this with PowerShell.

For the dummies among us,

• Go to Start,
• Open PowerShell_ISE,
• Open a new tab,
• Copy / paste the following command to PowerShell_ISE.

$Path = 'C:\temp\Repository'
Set-Location -Path $Path

Change the ‘Path’ to where your repository is cloned.

Now, copy / paste the rest of the script.

$items = Get-Childitem
foreach ($item in $items){
    New-Item -Name "$($item.Name).txt" -Path $item.FullName -ItemType File
}

You can change the .txt to any file extension you want (as long as it’s not a directory).

So, the full script will be:

$Path = 'C:\temp\Repository'
Set-Location -Path $Path

$items = Get-Childitem
foreach ($item in $items){
    New-Item -Name "$($item.Name).txt" -Path $item.FullName -ItemType File
}

Run the script by pressing F5 in PowerShell_ISE.

Now sync or push your repository again and they will be in the online version this time.