{"id":3261,"date":"2012-06-04T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-04T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.msdn.microsoft.com\/bharry\/2012\/06\/04\/team-foundation-services-updates-64\/"},"modified":"2024-05-02T15:33:11","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T22:33:11","slug":"team-foundation-services-updates-64","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/team-foundation-services-updates-64\/","title":{"rendered":"Team Foundation Services Updates 6\/4"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019ve just finished sprint 31 and today we deployed it to the service.\u00a0 In all, it a modest set of things but some nice improvements.\u00a0 We\u2019re now starting to get to the point that new things showing up on the service are ahead of what we have in the on premises product.\u00a0 Some of this will show up in the RTM release of the on premises product and some will show up in incremental updates.\u00a0 We\u2019re moving to a model of updating the on premises product more frequently \u2013 partly to avoid too much divergence between the service and the on premises capabilities.\u00a0 However, as a general rule, if you want to know what\u2019s coming in the on premises product, you watch the service and see what\u2019s there.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a screen shot for the first few items on the list below\u2026<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/1263.image_thumb_7EEAA907.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16069\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/1263.image_thumb_7EEAA907.png\" alt=\"Image 1263 image thumb 7EEAA907\" width=\"804\" height=\"292\" srcset=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/1263.image_thumb_7EEAA907.png 804w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/1263.image_thumb_7EEAA907-300x109.png 300w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/1263.image_thumb_7EEAA907-768x279.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 804px) 100vw, 804px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Improved setting of iteration dates<\/strong> \u2013 We continue to work on the experience of setting dates for iteration.\u00a0 In the Beta it was a cumbersome process and we made some improvements last sprint and more improvements this sprint.\u00a0 The two main things we did this sprint were:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Set iteration dates directly from Task Board and Sprint Backlog pages \u2013 Now the links to set the dates are directly in your workflow rather than have to go down a \u201cconfiguration\u201d path.<\/li>\n<li>Smart defaulting when setting iteration dates \u2013 Instead of always defaulting the date picker control to \u201ctoday\u201d (then then you have to scroll through months to set dates for future sprints), we default it to start the day after the previous sprint \u2013 clever, eh? <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-smile\" style=\"border-style: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/00\/00\/00\/36\/52\/metablogapi\/0876.wlEmoticon-smile_499170D5.png\" alt=\"Smile\" \/>\u00a0 And the length will default to the length of the previous sprint.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Personalize columns for the Product Backlog and Sprint Backlog<\/strong> \u2013 This has been a common request.\u00a0 People want to be able to control what columns are displayed in the backlog lists.\u00a0 Now you can!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/8204.image_thumb_34BF7855.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16070\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/8204.image_thumb_34BF7855.png\" alt=\"Image 8204 image thumb 34BF7855\" width=\"464\" height=\"299\" srcset=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/8204.image_thumb_34BF7855.png 464w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/8204.image_thumb_34BF7855-300x193.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 464px) 100vw, 464px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Compare the backlog below to the one in the screenshot at the top \u2013 I\u2019ve removed the Effort column, reordered State, added Activity, and resized Assigned To.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/5633.image_thumb_781753EA.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16071\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/5633.image_thumb_781753EA.png\" alt=\"Image 5633 image thumb 781753EA\" width=\"644\" height=\"279\" srcset=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/5633.image_thumb_781753EA.png 644w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/5633.image_thumb_781753EA-300x130.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 644px) 100vw, 644px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Expand all\/Collapse all<\/strong> for the Product Backlog and Sprint Backlog pages \u2013 Last sprint, we added expand all\/collapse all in work item query results. This sprint we added it to the backlog pages too.<\/p>\n<p><strong>State Transition Diagram on history control<\/strong> \u2013 This was a feature we had in Web Access in 2010, a pictorial representation of the state transitions of a work item.\u00a0 We put so much work into redoing the web UI in TFS 11, we just didn\u2019t get a chance to pull this feature in yet.\u00a0 We finally got around to it and now you have it.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/8345.image_thumb_0CD9269E.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16073\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/8345.image_thumb_0CD9269E.png\" alt=\"Image 8345 image thumb 0CD9269E\" width=\"644\" height=\"456\" srcset=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/8345.image_thumb_0CD9269E.png 644w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/8345.image_thumb_0CD9269E-300x212.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 644px) 100vw, 644px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Next\/Previous Buttons in Query Results triage view<\/strong> \u2013 We added some nice navigation controls for easily moving back and forth through work item query results.\u00a0 That includes keyboard accelerators.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/7245.image_thumb_3DABB83C.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-16074\" src=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/7245.image_thumb_3DABB83C.png\" alt=\"Image 7245 image thumb 3DABB83C\" width=\"724\" height=\"349\" srcset=\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/7245.image_thumb_3DABB83C.png 724w, https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2012\/06\/7245.image_thumb_3DABB83C-300x145.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 724px) 100vw, 724px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Drag\/Drop of Queries in Query Explorer<\/strong> \u2013 We added drag &amp; drop to move queries between folders and public\/private sections.\u00a0 Makes it much quicker and easier to reorganize your queries.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Option to create a team area<\/strong> \u2013 We got feedback that not everyone wants to create a new area path for every new team.\u00a0 We added a checkbox to the create team dialog to control it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Improved Java build support<\/strong> \u2013 Previously, one of the impediments to doing Java builds on the build service was that the UpgradeTemplate.xaml (which Java builds use by default) didn\u2019t support dropping binaries into version control (the place you need to put them for the hosted build service).\u00a0 In this sprint, we added VC drop location support to the UpgradeTemplate build workflow, making this easier.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Shorten build agent working directory<\/strong> \u2013 Ahh, our friend the 259 character path limit on Windows.\u00a0 We were using longer paths (about 32 characters) on the build agents, reserving more of the 259 characters for \u201cinfrastructure\u201d.\u00a0 We\u2019ve now shortened that paths to 9 characters, giving you more access to the path length.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the fairly visible changes above, we continue to work on the plumbing behind.\u00a0 Some changes we\u2019ve made this sprint include:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Online account updates<\/strong> \u2013 With us updating the service every 3 weeks (and more often than that if you consider hot fixes), it\u2019s really important that the upgrade process is smooth.\u00a0 Historically, the process has been take down the server, do the upgrade, bring the server back up \u2013 Not a good plan for a 24&#215;7 large scale service.\u00a0 Several months ago, we introduced the ability to keep the service up during upgrades and only to take accounts offline one at a time while we update them.\u00a0 So no customer was down longer than it took to upgrade their own data.\u00a0 This sprint we are introducing the ability to even do online upgrades of individual accounts so no one suffers any downtime during an update.\u00a0 In fact the update today is the first one we\u2019ve executed this way!\u00a0 Some future updates will undoubtedly be disruptive enough to require some downtime but, from this point forward, I expect most updates will have none.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Improved project creation time<\/strong> \u2013 Right now creating a new project on the TFS service averages about 100 seconds (just over 1.5 minutes).\u00a0 That\u2019s WAY longer than we want it to be but it\u2019s a fairly rare operation for any one person so it\u2019s been lower on our list of things to worry about.\u00a0 We\u2019re finally getting around to looking at why it\u2019s taking so long.\u00a0 We made some changes to significantly reduce SQL round trips that we believe (at least our internal testing shows) should reduce the time by about 25% (so about 75 seconds instead of 100 seconds).\u00a0 Obviously these are averages so any given person might see varying results.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got more avenues to pursue here and we\u2019re hopeful that the time will continue to come down in the next few sprints.<\/p>\n<p>As usual, it will take several hours before all of the changes show up in all accounts.\u00a0 We generally update accounts in \u201cmost recently used\u201d order \u2013 recently accessed ones are done first, crusty ones are done last.\u00a0 So, if you use your account actively, you should see the updates quickly.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve also been working on some larger changes that we\u2019ll be unveiling soon.\u00a0 I can\u2019t tell you what they are yet but I\u2019m excited to talk about them soon.<\/p>\n<p>Brian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019ve just finished sprint 31 and today we deployed it to the service.\u00a0 In all, it a modest set of things but some nice improvements.\u00a0 We\u2019re now starting to get to the point that new things showing up on the service are ahead of what we have in the on premises product.\u00a0 Some of this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":244,"featured_media":14617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11,5],"class_list":["post-3261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-announcement","tag-tfs"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":"<p>We\u2019ve just finished sprint 31 and today we deployed it to the service.\u00a0 In all, it a modest set of things but some nice improvements.\u00a0 We\u2019re now starting to get to the point that new things showing up on the service are ahead of what we have in the on premises product.\u00a0 Some of this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/244"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/bharry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}