How can one determining which TFS process template is being used? A few were installed and now I can't determine which one is being used by TFS.
TFS Team Project Manager on CodePlex is a free tool which will inspect all your team projects process templates (even if they're customized) and tell you which process template was most likely used to create that Team Project (and give you a % confidence in the match). You can even give it additional "source" process templates, such as your company custom process template, and it will tell you which projects were created with it.
In addition to Edward's approach:Another one, quick & dirty and without any capability to reveal any changes you might have performed, is the following:Right-Click on your TeamProject from within the Team Explorer and select "Team Project Process Guidance":
This should pop-up a webpage that will show you the Process Template that was used to create it.
If you have not modified the process templates (either the ones that are included with TFS, or any that you might have downloaded and installed) then you can export the process template as an XML file and compare against the original version.
(That link is really about modifying the process template, but steps 1-3 discuss how to export the current process template for a Team Project.)
Of course, even if you had modified the process templates slightly, using a diff tool may be able to yield results as to which process templates those were derived from.
Related
I am about to move a local TFS project to visualstudio.com
When the project was created, it was created with a SCRUM process template. However, only source control functionality was used (except about 20 work items which can be deleted).
I want to add them to visualstudio.com as a project of process template type CMMI.
I am reading confusing (and seemingly conflicting) information on-line about how it is done (and if it is even possible).
Has anyone does this before (or have experience with TFS migrations in general)? Any input appreciated!
Thanks
You can use TFS integration tool to process migrating Source control and work items. As you want to change the process template, you need to put the mapping file during migration. More information, you can refer to this blog: https://mohamedradwan.wordpress.com/2015/05/14/migration-to-vso-visual-studio-online-with-different-tools/
I have a project in VS2013 online. It was setup with the default Process template (Scrum 2.0). I have a lot of source code with history but have nothing else, no workitems/backlog/tasks/stories/bugs etc.
I would like to change the template to the Agile template but cant see a way to do this.
Is this possible?
1) If you are using VSO then no.
Your only option would be to create a new Team Project. If it is a TFVC project you will be able to branch your source into the new project on the same instance.
2) If you are using Team Foundation Server then you can
Its very strait forward for your circumstance. I would however sugest that the Agile template is not right for you 😊:
Change Process Template
Template Choice
My recommendation is to keep the Scrum template but if you really want User Storys then rename PBI to user story. If your PM's want Original Estimate and Completed Work fields then add them. You are bot going to get far into agility if you are fighting against the tool...
P.s. Feel free to email me to discuss offline 😊
It is possible to change project template in visual studio team services when you are going between processes derived from same master template. E.g. I took Agile template and added few more states to features.
To change process templates in vsts:
Open process lists page (/_admin/_process)
Click ... next to process template you want to use to show popup menu
Select "Change team project to use "...
We're currently setting up a number of builds in TFS2010 for our various projects/solutions.
We have a large number where the structure and paths, etc. are essentially the same, but one word may change (for example, using all Integration workspaces versus our Trunk workspaces).
In TFS2008, I would simply edit the XML directly and do some creative search and replace or some magic in textpad before saving the file. However, I do not see any immediate way of doing this in TFS2010 - so I'm stuck slogging through the build definition UI.
I know, in doing a SQL Trace, that all of this ends up as XML - so is there a way to directly access this XML for hand-editing vs. being forced to do all changes through the front-end?
Thanks!
Edit for additional clarity
I have the Power Tools installed, etc. and can clone my builds - but my editing options are still limited to the UI, so if I have a large number of workspace path changes I have to do them by hand (one at a time).
My goal is to be able to directly edit the XAML for a specific build definition so I can do a clone, open the XAML, and then do a search/replace in bulk.
Download and install the Team Foundation Server Power Tools. You can also get them through the Visual Studio Extension Gallery. After installing, you can right click on a Build Definition in Team Explorer and select the Clone Build Definition command (added by the Power Tools installation) to make a copy of an existing build definition. Then you can tweak it appropriately for another branch, etc.
The following tool (VS Addin) will satisfy your requirement>
Community TFS Build Manager
http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/16bafc63-0f20-4cc3-8b67-4e25d150102c
The build definitions are all .xaml files now - they're WF4 workflows, and they're XML files.
Jim Lamb is right. The build templates are .xaml files now. The definitions are accessed through web services.
I'm about to experiment with a quick HTML form posting to /tfs/_tfs_resources/Build/V3.0/BuildService.asmx/QueryBuildDefinitionsByUri. I noticed when I clicked the build definition in Team Explorer that it has an associated URI: vstfs:///Build/Definition/2. Stay tuned.
I'm currently working on creating a build template for TFS2010 builds. However, I notice that I'm currently 'spamming' the source control with every change I make to the template (and lots more for all the fixes for those changes).
I wonder what the easiest way is to test the build templates I'm creating?
Is there a way to change the template file and custom activity dlls that doesn't involve checking them in?
I currently have a build controller and agent running on my developer machine, which I'm using to test the template (test = start a build and hope for less errors than last time).
Why is 'spamming' a problem? Anyway, I have a separate Team Project for doing this kind of work, that way I can check in to my hearts content without affecting the developers who need to have a stable build. once I've done my testing I check the template in to the team project(s) used by the developers.
I want to test my builds against the teams latest code-base without having to branch it over to a trial project.
Instead, I do the following:
Create a separate build definition called 'Infrastructure'
clone a production definition
Set the trigger on the Infrastructure build definition to manual.
Set the Infrastructure definitions permissions to allow only [Project]\Build group members to have full control of it.
keeps the notification of broken builds away from the bulk of the team).
Create a separate build process template, called 'Infrastructure.xaml'.
Point the Infrastructure build definition at the Infrastructure process template.
Now when I want to iterate on a new build feature for the team:
Check out the build process template I want to update, and lock it.
Copy the build process template I want to update overtop of the Infrastructure.xaml.
Add my build feature to the Infrastructure.xaml file, and check that in.
Use the Infrastructure build definition to test my changes.
Iterate over 3-4 until I get it right.
Complete the feature and have my changes verified by another Infrastructure team member.
Copy Infrastructure.xaml over the build process template I locked in (1) and check it in.
This still results in 'spam' in the TFS source control, but it keeps the build definition iteration out of the eyes of the team. My build process templates are located out of the main source tree (under the Build Process Templates folder, or in the branches themselves under a 'Core/Build' folder where no-one else on the team is typically paying any attention) so that the team is largely unaffected by it.
#d3r3kk: Why not just branch the template and merge changes back when ready instead of creating copies? That way you can preserve source history in a cleaner way as well.
Ideally, there should be a way to have a build process template that is in progress by having it on your local file system and pointing the build definition to it temporarily. Not sure if something like this exists in later versions of VS/TFS. I haven't seen it available via the UI anyway.
What would be the best method of automatically generating a Release Notes text file from a Team Foundation Server 2008 nightly build?
We created a TFS report that lists all Work Items associated with a specified Iteration (version). In addition we added a custom field to Work Items to indicate if we wanted the work item included in the release notes report. (Not all Work Items are appropriate for all clients/users.)
You could automate this process but you would need to specify the iteration in your build task. Or you could list every work item that has been completed as of a specific date.
I think the solutions here are describing "build notes". If you want that, you really need to checkout the TFS Community Build Manager. It has a feature to generate build notes in Word files by using the OpenXML. It's clicking the VSIX and you're done.
But imho, build notes are not release notes. Release notes provide a more customer friendly way of listing you changes. And you need to be able to specify what work items you want in the notes, and the ones you don't want your customer to see. So for that, I have created a custom Team Explorer add-in. And it does more or less what the build manager does as to generating the OpenXML Word.
I use queries to define what the bugfixes are, what new features are available, ... and then the team explorer extension provides the GUI to specify the document fields (Title, descriptions, remarks, ...) and to select the queries corresponding to the blocks on the release notes. After filling in the details, the word document gets generated. I can provide with all the details if you want.
UPDATE:
I uploaded a sample xsl file for transforming the buildlog.xml to get an informative plain releasenotes.txt. Get it here: Automatically generate release notes textfile from Team Foundation Build
That one is actually pretty easy. Grant Holliday describes it on his blog. It basically goes something like this:
Install MSBuild Community Tasks (which contains the WebDownload Task)
Install MSXSL.exe from Microsoft (for transforming xml files)
Extend the tfsbuild project with information regarding the retrieval of the buildlog.xml (using WebDownload task) and transformation with MSXSL.exe
However, you need to download the MSBuild Community Tasks directly from tigris and not use the link provided in this blog post. This is due to the fact, that the link refers to the wrong version which does not support the UseDefaultCredentials options (that you need for the MSBuild Task to be able to connect to the proper TFS Webservice).
Here is the link to the article:
Building a release notes text file with team build
I got everything working except for the xsl file, because unfortunately, Grant does not offer a sample xsl. If you manage to create a proper xml transform file that fits your needs, it would be awesome if you can send me a copy. ;-)