19 Dec 2014

Quick Edit in Visual Studio Online

Visual Studio Online
A couple of days ago, I wrote about the final VSO updates for 2014.  One of the new features discussed was the Quick Edit features in VSO. At the time of that post, the updates hadn’t been propagated across all VSO accounts. I still don’t know if the new features have hit all accounts yet, but it has at least hit mine :-) That said, here’s a quick run-through of the new Quick Edit features now available in VSO… Editing a File You can now edit a file directly with Visual Studio Online within your web browser. To do this,…
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17 Dec 2014

Visual Studio Online/TFS Features & Roadmap

TFS, Visual Studio Online
If you’ve been using and/or following Visual Studio Online and/or Team Foundation Server, you’re likely already familiar with the Features Timeline published by Microsoft. For those not familiar, it is essentially a running history of features that have been delivered via successive sprints (roughly every three weeks). Not only does it list available features but also shows what version of TFS the features is in (e.g. 2013.4) or whether it is VSO only (e.g. Future update). Here is a partial screenshot of the current timeline: The features in today’s release are shown at the top for 17 Dec 2014. You…
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17 Dec 2014

The Final VSO Updates for 2014

Visual Studio Online
It’s nearing the end of 2014 (where’d the time go?!) and Microsoft has pushed out the final updates for Visual Studio Online for the year (the next release will be near the end of January, 2015). However, just because it’s the last push of the year doesn’t mean it isn’t a great update. In fact, there are several great things in this update. Here’s the quick rundown… Quick Edit – With this update, you can now make edits to a file in version control (Team Foundation Version Control or Git) directly from within your web browser. You can use the…
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23 Nov 2014

Build v.Next–What do we know?

Visual Studio Online
As announced at Microsoft’s Connect(); event a couple of weeks ago, the company is working on several enhancements to their ALM stack. One of the changes announced is a major overhaul to their build system, currently referred to as Build v.Next. Although pieces of the new build functionality has been demoed on stage, we do not yet have access to the bits to try things out for ourselves. With that said, what do we know today about Build v.Next? DISCLAIMER: The details below have been gleaned from various Connect(); sessions and blog posts. The bits demoed are in an early,…
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14 Nov 2014

What Features are in Visual Studio Community 2013?

Visual Studio 2013
In case you missed it, Microsoft announced a new, FREE version of Visual Studio at their Connect(); event this past Wednesday – Visual Studio Community 2013. This is a brand new edition that will likely replace the Express SKUs available today. You can use the Community edition for FREE in the following scenarios: Any individual developer can use Visual Studio Community to create their own free or paid apps. An unlimited number of users within an organization can use Visual Studio Community for the following scenarios: in a classroom learning environment, for academic research, or for contributing to open source…
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13 Nov 2014

Getting Started with Microsoft’s Dev. Tools for FREE!

Visual Studio
So you've decided you want to get into software development for the first time or, maybe, you currently develop software for non-Microsoft/Windows platforms (e.g. Java/Android, Objective-C/iOS, etc.) but you are concerned the cost of development tools might be insurmountable. Well, I have some great news for you… you can actually get started developing using Microsoft development tools for NO cost - i.e. totally FREE! Let me show you how… Get an IDE! The first tool you need to acquire is an Integrated Development Environment or, IDE. There is no better IDE on the planet than Microsoft's very own Visual Studio.…
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17 Oct 2014

Visual Studio/TFS 2013 Update 4 RC Available

TFS 2013, Visual Studio 2013
In case you missed it, Visual Studio 2013 Update 4 RC (Release Candidate) is now available for download. Also, this is a “go-live” release which means you can use this update in production environments and there will be a supported upgrade path from the RC to the final release (RTM) version. What’s in Update 4? You can view the details of this release here along with some of the ALM-specific improvements here, and web-specific enhancements here. However, here are some of the highlights: CodeLens improvements Lots of updates to Release Management Review and merge code with Git pull requests New…
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19 Aug 2014

Bing Developer Assistant for Visual Studio

Utilities, Visual Studio 2012, Visual Studio 2013
Microsoft has introduced a new Visual Studio extension – Bing Developer Assistant for Visual Studio (currently tagged as Beta). This extension allows you, the developer, to locate millions of code snippets and sample projects from within the Visual Studio IDE. Essentially, this extension combines the features of two previous extensions: Bing Code Search and Sample Browser. Code Snippets in IntelliSense The Bing Developer Assistant extension provides some nice additions to the Visual Studio IntelliSense experience. Most notably, it can provide you with a code snippet that is relevant to the API you are actively coding against. For example, in the…
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03 Aug 2014

Extending TFS and Visual Studio Online eBook–Update 1

eBooks, TFS, TFS API, Visual Studio Online
Back in May, I wrote about the initial release of Extending TFS and Visual Studio Online, an eBook that Mike Douglas and I have been working on. To reiterate, the primary focus of this book will be to provide scenario-based examples on how to utilize the new REST-based APIs and Service Hooks. Based on our everyday experiences with TFS and Visual Studio Online, along with feedback from our readers, we plan to provide a book that will be simply indispensible for anyone wishing to extend TFS or Visual Studio Online using the new API. Although our original plan was to…
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09 Jul 2014

Visual Studio Online License Changes on the Way…

Visual Studio, Visual Studio Online
Brian Harry announced today some exciting changes coming to the set of Visual Studio Online licensing plans. Long story short, they (Microsoft) will be adding a new Stakeholders license license for Visual Studio Online – and, making this an even better announcement, the Stakeholders license will be completely free! Here is the list of features that will be supported by the Stakeholders license for Visual Studio Online (once available – currently planned for mid-August, 2014): Full read/write/create on all work items Create, run and save (to “My Queries”) work item queries View project and team home pages Access to the backlog,…
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