I know how to add custom BuildStep task; however, it would be nice to create a new section, similar to the Summary and Build Steps sections.
We are selectively deploying the files on a successful build based on the difference between the workspace and destination environment. We do create an HTML and XML log of the files we move and the files they overwrite. It would be nice to add a section to the build report to display this information.
Something like this:
image http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/71360b417a.png
Any ideas?
Currently Microsoft do not provide any mechanism for extending the build report in VS 2008 or VS 2005. They are doing heavy changes to the build report for TFS 2010 however and I know that customization of that report has been a much requested feature but I'm not sure what the status is of that yet.
Related
QUERY:
I want to create a build definition template on TFS that would keep a check on the files being checked in. I want to retrieve the path of the files that are being checked in and these files should be saved to the SQL server.
WHY DOING THIS:
I want to search the files (contents of the file also) on TFS and show the relevant file(s) to the end user based on the search term. As we know TFS saves Data to SQL server but doesn't stores in a way that we can use SQL full text index. So, I am planning to save the files to the SQL server using the TFS Build definition template that would watch the files being checked in and save the file to the SQL Server.
Please help with any pointers on TFS build definition template on how get the path of files on TFS and how to trigger the save event to SQL server.
Thanks in Advance.
Install a build controller and register at least one build agent (prerequisite for the TFS build system).
Create a new build definition and set the trigger to "Gated check-in".
Download the default process template and modify it. Follow the instructions over here: Customize your build process template.
Remove everything that belongs to calling MSBuild from the workflow (inside the "Run on agent" activity).
Create your own activity and put it there. The activity should use the downloaded sources, inspect them and write build errors if something is not to your liking. (see Use and develop custom build process activities)
I have a solution file with multiple projects that I am trying to configure for continuous integration on a development server using Team Foundation Server. I would like to customize this to only deploy the changes that were checked in.
Scenario example
Projects
My Project (MVC app)
Logic Layer
A user checks in a new Home.cshtml file and updates a code file in the Logic Layer. I would like to configure the automated build to just build the following package:
My Project
bin/MyLogic.dll
Views/Home.cshtml
What steps are done to achieve this scenario?
You want an incremental build, though I don't recall if it was supported back in TFS 2010.
Try configuring the build to not clean the workspace. Set the "Clean Workspace" property in the "Basic" section to "None".
Then, it will keep the binaries from the previous build, and, just like Visual Studio, will only build targets for which the inputs have changed.
I am creating a build definition in visual studio 2013. As you know, while creating build definition we can also set the assembly (in "Automated Tests" section) which contains the unit test methods to run. I am able to create the definition till this point. Now, what I want is once the test run is over, I want to call an exe that will parse the Trx file generated as a result of test run and send the run results in an email.
Can anyone have an idea about where I can set the path to the exe and pass some arguments to it while creating build definition? If this cannot be done while creating definition, what else is the other way to achieve it?
Thanks!
What you ask involves multiple steps, especially if you want to pull the tool from version control (which is IMHO the best option).
See the ALM Rangers' Team Foundation Build Customization Guide for help and guidance on this topic.
Or you can just setup an email notification when the TFS Build completes. That should include the test run results, and a clickable link to go to the full build report.
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 am playing with TFS 2010, and am trying to setup a build process that will have some custom steps.
These include things like, stopping/starting IIS, search and replace files etc... across environments.
I have tried to look for examples online and have not found anything clear and meaningful on how to just run a script or something over the source files. Looking at the default build process template (DefaultTemplate.xml) I cant make much sense of it.
How do I go about doing this ?
For info on customising the TFS2010 workflow build templates have a look at Ewald Hoffman's series. Start with Part 1 (archived here).
I should also mention that since it looks like you're doing deployment then you may want to break deployment automation away from build automation.
This is almost exactly what I'd say for this question (Split build and deplyment stages, investigate TFSDeployer). One additional element is more generic - for deployment tasks you can't find an easy integrated tool you should create a custom deployment script. You can call any script by adding an "InvokeProcess" step in your Build workflow. TFSDeployer also has locations where you can insert custom PowerShell Scripts. (If you don't like PowerShell you can have PowerShell or "InvokeProcess" call a different script engine.)