Buck Hodges
Azure DevOps (formerly VSTS and Team Foundation Server)
Latest posts
Orcas: Unattended installation of the build agent
You can install the build agent (aka Build SKU) without going through the setup UI if you do the following. Thanks to Tony Edwards for this information. Edit the msiproperty.ini. Note that as of Beta 2, the ones that are in there are bogus and are not used. You have to add two new ones. This will be fixed before the release of TFS 2008. VSTF_LOCAL_DOMAIN=corpdomain VSTF_LOCAL_USERID=someaccount If you then run setup silently, setup /q all of the chained installers get invoked silently and the install succeeds. Unattended installation is also supported for Team Explorer.&...
Keyword expansion in TFS
Periodically, the topic of keyword expansion comes up, which TFS (at least through 2008) does not support. At one point during the v1 product cycle, it was a planned feature and was partially implemented. However, there are lots of challenges to getting it right in TFS version control, and it wasn't worth the cost to finish the feature. As a result, we ripped it out, and TFS does not support keyword expansion. Since it's not supported in the product and not likely to be supported any time soon, folks gravitate toward the idea of using checkin policies to implement keyword expansion. ...
How to enable code coverage without a test list
Aaron pointed out this post by Ben Day that talks about using the RunConfigFile property with a build that runs tests without using test lists (.vsmdi files). It all boils down to looking like the following (in Orcas, you would specify the $(OutDir) part in the TestContainer's Include attribute, whereas you don't in the TFS 2005 power tools TestToolsTask TestContainerInOutput element). <ItemGroup> <TestContainer Include="$(OutDir)\HelloWorldTest.dll" /> </ItemGroup> <PropertyGroup> <RunConfigFile>$(Solution...
New home for the AssemblyInfo task
The AssemblyInfo task has a new home, because the CodeGallery portion of GoDotNet is being phased out. You can now find it here in the GotDotNet User Samples.The AssemblyInfo task is useful for updating assembly version numbers as part of your build. Aaron Hallberg explains how to use it with Team Build in his post, Team Build and the AssemblyInfo Task.Technorati tags: msbuild, team build, team foundation
MSDN chat with the VSTS (including TFS!) product group is today!
The first chat is at 1:00 PM Eastern time, so I'm planning to be in that one. Join members of the Visual Studio Team System product group to discuss features available in Visual Studio Team Foundation Server, Team Editions for Architects, Developers, Database Pros, and Testers. In addition, discuss what's new in the upcoming Orcas CTP. We will be holding two sessions: Join the chat on Tuesday, July 3rd , 2007 from 10:00am - 11:00am Pacific Time. Add to Calendar | Additional Time Zones -and- Join the chat on Tuesda...
V1.0 of the Migration and Synchronization Toolkit has been released!
Matt Mitrik, program manager for TFS migration and synchronization toolkit, has announced the release of version 1.0. Note that it also includes the source code so that you can extend it as well. Check it out! V1.0 of the Migration and Synchronization Toolkit has been released! The first complete version of the Migration and Synchronization Toolkit has been released on CodePlex! To get the latest source code, including the complete reference implementations, please visit the CodePlex page for the Toolkit: http://www.codeplex.com/MigrationSyncToolkit In addition to updating the source code and re...
Orcas: Scheduled builds now support building even when there are no changes
Back in February, I wrote a post on the build scheduling feature that we've added for Orcas. In that post, I stated that we designed it such that the scheduled build only occurs if there has been a checkin that affects the build. Based on feedback, we changed it so that you have the option to force the scheduled build to run even if nothing has been checked in. I've updated the original post to include the feature change. If you look at the bottom of the dialog, you'll see there is a checkbox that allows you to have the scheduled build always run. As always, we appreciate your feedback! ...
Specs for a CCTray equivalent for Team Build and TFS Hosting
Jim Lamb has posted a couple of specs recently. The first is a Windows tray app that notifies you when builds complete, like CCTray does for CruiseControl.Net. Due to the time constraints of the Orcas release, we were not able to implement this for the product, but we are considering releasing it as a power tool for Orcas, in addition to including it in Rosario. Rather than lots of dense text, the spec is really just a series of drawings of the UI, so please take a look. Build Notification Applet Well, we've worked up an initial design for a notification applet that would run in your tray (er, I me...
Outlook 2007 macro to create work item and changeset hyperlinks
Richard Berg updated the Outlook macros I posted nearly two years ago to work with Outlook 2007. These macros will convert the selected number into a hyperlink to that work item or changeset. I have them hooked up to Alt+W and Alt+C for work items and changesets, respectively. Outlook macro for work item and changeset hyperlinks -- updated for 2007 When I upgraded to OL2007, Buck's great little macros stopped working. Today, I finally got the guts to ask the Outlook guys what they broke improved. The answer was simple enough. I'll let the code do the talking: more... Technorati ...