Team Foundation Server the answer to all project management problems?

1. Team Foundation Server the answer to all project management problems? Richard FennellDirector .NET Developer Network Bristol 19th September 2007

2. Agenda • The Need for TFS • Core Components of TFS • Add-ins and the API • The future – Orcas and beyond

3. Software Projects Need... • Source Code Control • Work Item tracking • Project Management • Document repositories • Communications • Remote Access

4. Excel Project Team System Web Access Operations, QA and Help Desk Non-Microsoft Developer Visual Studio Team SystemApplication Life Cycle Management (ALM) Solution

5. Dev Team (Remote) Dev Team (Local) Build Server Business User Win 2003 Server SQL Server 2005 IIS 6.0 Version Control Proxy (Remote) Active Directory HTTP / S TCP/IP Team Foundation Server Team System Architecture

6. System Requirements

7. Versions • Team Foundation Server 1.0 (early 2006) • Team Foundation Server 1.0 SP1 (late 2006) • Team Foundation Server ‘Orcas’ Beta 1 (Q2 2007) • Team Foundation Server 2008 Beta 2 (Q3 2007) • Team Foundation Server 2008 (late 2007 or early 2008)

8. Installation Tips • Read and follow the MSDN walk-thru • Do not deviate from the walk-thru • Not even for a moment • And keep trying over and over...... • Using a VPC for the front end server can help as you can commit/roll back as you go.

9. Installation Tips • Make sure there are no domain/group policies you have forgotten • If the reporting service configuration stage fails make sure you drop (and delete) the DB files • Use the log files if you have problems • Use AD groups for security

10. TFS & VSS Differences • Architecture • TFS: client/server, VSS: client-side • Security • Windows/AD vs. VSS based security • Reliability • VSS database integrity can be compromised • TFS uses SQL Server • Scalability • TFS can support up to 2000 user per instance and data size is limited only by physical media & SQL Server limits ( in the terabytes)

11. TFS & VSS Differences • TFS does NOT perform a “get latest” on checkout • “get latest” and “check out” are 2 separate ops • “get latest” is explicit in TFS, controlled by the user • Provides a consistent snapshot of code • TFS does NOT add a file until checked in

12. Migration from VSS to TFS • VSSConverter migration tool • Imports VSS repository into TFS • Command line interface • Can migrate most VSS repositories easily • VSS Shared files are copied • VSS Pinned items are labeled as “PINNED” in TFS

13. Workspaces • Workspaces provide Isolated areas • A single PC can have many workspaces • Workspaces are a powerful tool with branching

14. Branching

15. demo Visual Studio & TFS

16. TFS Tools & Add-ins

17. Visual Studio Power Toys • MSSCCI provider for other IDEs • Team Foundation Power Toys • Tfpt.exe command line tools • Process Template Editor • Check In Policy Pack • Test Tools Build Task

18. Cool Tool – Attrice Team Foundation Sidekicks

19. Cool Tool – Visual Studio Web Access Power Tool ‘TeamPlain’

20. Cool Tool - eScrum

21. Integration with Project Server • Project Server 2007 VSTS Connector available on CodePlex

22. demo Add-ins

23. TFS Customisation

24. Customisation • Process Template Editor – Power Toys • .NET API • TFS Event Handlers • Attach to TFS’s eventing Service and register for an event such as CheckInEvent • Write a web service to that ‘does something’ when event trigger

25. Using the TFS API • Team Explorer installs all the DLLs are in the GAC, but doesn’t registered them for Visual Studio • Can write own desktop clients to do anything you can in Team Explorer or the command line

26. Using the TFS Event Handling But first a quick diversion into Continuous Integration.........

27. Why do we need continuous integration? • Replication of development environments can be hard • The project integration phase is hard • It is usually attempted only at the end of the project • It is prone to time overruns and often introduces bugs

28. What is Continuous Integration? • Based on automated builds • The solution is built whenever the code is changed • Should be started as soon as possible • And repeated as often as possible • A core part of most Agile processes • There are a variety of tools......

29. CruiseControl • Originally a Java-based framework for a continuous build process • Distributed under an open source BSD-style license and is free for use • Ported to .NET by Thoughtworks and hosted on SourceForge as ccnet

30. CruiseControl Image Source - http://cruisecontrol.sourceforge.net/overview.html

31. demo Using CruiseControl

32. Visual Studio Team Build Drop Location Team Foundation Client Create build type Start build View Reports Application Tier Team Build Web Services Build Machine Data Tier Sources Work items Team Build data Team Foundation warehouse MSBuild

33. TFS versus CruiseControl • TFS provides • Integration with the rest of the Team Server • Unified access to all MSBuild tasks • But at the cost of: • Cost & Complexity • Visual Studio 2005 is not designed for CI out the box, basically you have to do some API work

34. demo Using Team Build for CI

35. Cool Tool - Team Build Ticker

36. Other Cool Tools • SVNBridge – Allows SubVersion client to access TFS • Conchango’s Scrum Project Guidance Pack • Personify Design’s TeamLook Outlook Add-in • Microsoft Israel’s Team System Outlook Add-in • TeamPrise Client Suite – TFS access from Macs, Linux and Eclipse IDE • NB all clients still need a Team Explorer CAL

37. So what is missing in TFS 1.0? • TFS Work Item Hierarchy • WSS 3.0 Support • Disconnected working is limited • I am sure other people have other issues.....

38. The Future for TFS • Release Types • Servicing : Service Packs etc. • Out of Band releases: Power Toys • Major Releases: Visual Studio 2008

39. Visual Studio 2008 Administration • Share Point 2007 support • Enable use of a separate Share Point farm. • Support for SQL Named Instances • “Longhorn” server support • Sync Large Groups (~30,000 or more) • Installation on a domain controller • Non-default ports & web sites • Simplify installation • Upgrade from TFS 2005

40. Visual Studio 2008 Version Control • Add support for checkin policy overrides to the warehouse (an oversight from V1). • Annotate & Folder Diff • Destroy • Get Latest On Checkout • Workspace improvements • Performance & Scale improvements • Migration toolkit between TFS and other systems

41. Visual Studio 2008 Build • Support multi-threaded builds with the new MSBuild. • Continuous Integration • Improved ability to specify what source, versions of source, and other build properties. • Improved ability to manage multiple build machines. • Stop and delete builds from within VS. • Simplified ability to specify what tests get run as part of a build. • The ability to store build definitions anywhere in the version control hierarchy

42. So is TFS the answer to all project management problems?

43. Good VSTS Resources • Patterns & Practices Team Development with TFS Guide • http://www.codeplex.com/TFSGuide • “How Do I?” Video for Visual Studio Team System • http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/teamsystem/bb507749.aspx • Microsoft Visual Studio Team System Virtual Labs • http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/virtuallabs/aa740411.aspx • Team System Widgets • http://teamsystemexperts.com/widgets.aspx

44. Good VSTS Blogs • Brian Harry (Product Unit Manager for Team Foundation Server ) • http://blogs.msdn.com/bharry • Rob Caron (Lead Product Manager for Developer Content Strategy at Microsoft) • http://blogs.msdn.com/robcaron • Roy Osherove (Blog on TFS, Agile and Testing) • http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove

45. For Further Information • My random thoughts ‘But it works on my PC!’ http://blogs.blackmarble.co.uk/blogs/rfennell • You can also get in touch via: Email – richard@blackmarble.co.uk WebSite– www.blackmarble.co.uk