04 Dec 2009

TFS 2010 Beta 2 Power Tools Released

TFS, Utilities, Visual Studio 2010
For anyone that’s been using Team Foundation Server for any amount of time, odds are you’ve also been making use of the Team Foundation Server Power Tools (if not, then they’re well worth a look).  If you have been taking advantage of Team Foundation Server 2010 Beta 2’s “Go Live” license then you’ve had to make due without the enhanced functionality provided by the TFS Power Tools.  That is, until now. The Team Foundation Server 2010 Beta 2 Power Tools have been released and are now available for download.  Here are the links: Team Foundation Power Tools TFS MSSCCI Provider…
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13 Nov 2009

Team Foundation Sidekicks Updated (v2.4)

Add-ins & Extensions, Team System, TFS, Utilities
First of all, if you are using Team Foundation Server and don’t currently make use of the Team Foundation Sidekicks (from Attrice Corporation), you should.  That said, Attrice has released an update (v2.4) to their current set of Team Foundation Sidekicks. This update resolves a few issues with the previous release as well as one new feature - “Users View Sidekick”, which offers the following features: Display all users in Valid Users group on TFS server Search users list by user name or display name This is the last planned release that will support TFS 2005/2008.  All future enhancements will…
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02 Oct 2009

TFS Work Item Manager/Dashboard

Team System, TFS, Utilities
A few days ago, Telerik announced the availability of two new free products built to provide an informational view into your Team Foundation Server projects.  These products are TFS Work Item Manager and TFS Project Dashboard. TFS Work Item Manager highlights: Work Item grid filtering, grouping, and aggregation Area and Iteration filtering using single and multi select modes Filter query results using a tree of areas or iterations *Unique Task board view of work items independent from any process template Print work item cards for the board in your room Iteration schedule Paste clipboard contents into a work item "New…
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13 Apr 2009

Deleting Work Items in TFS – a UI

Team System, TFS, Utilities
If you work with Work Items in VSTS/Team Foundation Server then you’ve probably had the desire to delete a work item at some point.  Sounds easy enough, right?  Just right-click a work item and select… wait, there’s no Delete option?  That’s right – the Team Foundation Client does not include any functionality for deleting work items from TFS. Although it’s a tad inconvenient, you can delete work items from TFS by installing the Team Foundation Server Power Tools  (October 2008 release or greater).  Of the many features available as part of the power tools, there is a command called destroywi…
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06 Apr 2009

Omaha Team System User Group

Team System, User Group, Utilities
Due to the recent birth of our new son, Zachary, I am somewhat late in getting this post on-line.  Although I am a little behind in getting this posted, I still want to get the word out about our last presentation at the Omaha Team System User Group. On March 24th, Farm Credit Services of America (FCSA) once again hosted the user group meeting.  Many thanks go out to Russ Wagner for his continued help and for accepting the position as co-leader of the Omaha Team System User Group! This meeting’s topic was presented by Jeremy Novak, a developer at…
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20 Mar 2009

IE 8, ASP.NET MVC, Silverlight 3 Beta and More

Silverlight, Utilities, Visual Studio
For those of you who have been following the MIX conference this week, there have been several new (final and beta) releases.  So far, the ones most interesting to me personally include: Internet Explorer 8 (final) – there are some great improvements in this version of IE that you can read more about here. ASP.NET MVC 1.0 (final) - ASP.NET MVC enables you to build Model View Controller (MVC) applications by using the ASP.NET framework. ASP.NET MVC is an alternative, not a replacement, for ASP.NET Web Forms that offers the following benefits: Clear separation of concerns Testability - support for…
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06 Mar 2009

TFS Admin Tool v.Next

TFS, Utilities
For those of us who use the Team Foundation Server Administration Tool, we know how much of a time saver it can be.  If you have not used the TFS Admin Tool, hosted on CodePlex, here’s a quick description: The TFS Admin Tool allows a TFS administrator to quickly add users to all three platforms utilized by Team Foundation Server: Team Foundation Server, SharePoint, and SQL Reporting Services, all through one common interface. The tool also allows administrators to change the current permissions on any of the three tiers, identify any errors, and view all of the users and their…
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25 Feb 2009

Install Partner

Utilities
If your development shop is anything like ours, then you probably have dozens of various development tools, utilities, etc.  In our case, we have multiple development teams which utilize a common set of tools but also make use of specific tools that apply to the types of projects each team supports.  There are two common issues that arise because of this configuration: When we re-image our development machines we still need to install most of the developer tools that we make use of.  Again, some of this is common across teams but most of it varies by team and developer.…
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17 Oct 2008

TFSInfo Updated for TFS 2008 SP1

TFS, Utilities
The TFSInfo utility has been updated for TFS 2008 Service Pack 1.  This update includes the following changes: UPDATE: TFSInfo will correctly report TFS 2008 SP1 when it is installed. UPDATE: TFSInfo now displays the TFS installation folder. FIX: TFSInfo now finds the TFS installation folder when it has been installed in a non-default location. You can see from the screen shot which information is displayed.  In case you can't see the image, the following information is displayed by TFSInfo: AT Server Name AT Version AT Edition (e.g. Standard, Workgroup, or Trial) TFS Installation Folder DT Server Name DT Server…
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16 Jul 2008

TFS Power Tools – July 2008 Release

Team System, TFS, Utilities
The July 2008 release of the Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server Power Tools has just been released.  Here is a summarized list of what is included with the tools: Command line tool (TFPT.EXE) Team Explorer IDE menu additions Build Notification tool TFS Best Practices Analyzer Process Template Editor Work Item Templates Custom check-in policies TFS Server Manager TFS Users tool Alert Editor One of the more exciting changes, from my point of view, is the new user interface for managing TFS Alerts.  It is going to be nice having this capability available directly from within the IDE.…
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