TFS & Visual Studio ALM - by Neno Loje

Creating Fake builds in TFS Build 2010 using the command line

In TFS it's possible to create "faked" builds, without actually running them. You can read about it in this blog post by Jason Prickett.

Main scenarios are:

• Using a different build tool than TFS Build
  (by creating faked builds will let you use some of the great TFS features).
• Creating sample data to show off TFS functionality

You can create "faked" builds on the command line using the following tool.

Syntax/Usage:

TfsCreateBuild.exe /collection:http://tfsserver:8080/tfs/MyCollection
/project:TeamProject /builddefinition:"Daily Build"
/buildnumber:"MyApplication_Daily_1.0"

(replace parts in blue)

Optional parameters:

• /status:<value> Status of the build (Succeeded, Failed, Stopped, PartiallySucceeded)
• /flavor:<name> Flavor of the build (to track test results against, default: Debug)
• /platform:<name> Platform of the build (to track test results against, default: x86)
• /target:<name> Target of the build (shown on build report, default: default)
• /localpath:<path> Local path of solution file. (e.g. Solution.sln)
• /serverpath:<path> Version Control path for solution file. (e.g. $/proj/src/app.sln)
• /compileerrors:# Number of compilation errors.
• /compilewarnings:# Number of compilation warnings.
• /analysiserrors:# Number of static code analysis errors.
• /analysiswarnings:# Number of static code analysis warnings.
• /droplocation:<path> Location where builds are dropped.
• /buildlog:<path> Location of build log file. (e.g. \server\folder\build.log)

The result:

Download the tool from here: TfsCreateBuild.exe (.ZIP, 5,94 KB)

Prerequisite: This tool requires Team Explorer 2010 to be installed.

Configuring Urban Turtle for customized process templates

You are using Urban Turtle, and when opening the Planning Board or Task Board tab you receive the following error message:

Error Message: Errors in the configuration file currently prevent Urban Turtle from properly displaying some data (see more details).

Cause:

Urban Turtle supports the following process templates out-of-the-box:

• MSF for Agile Software Development (English and French version)
• Visual Studio Scrum 1.0 (English)
• Scrum for Team System v3

For other/customized process templates/work item types, you need to supply a config file.

Workaround:

• Locate the folder {ProgramFiles}\Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2010\Application Tier\Web Access\Web\UrbanTurtle\configuration\project'
• Copy the .XML file of an existing process that fits most
  (do not modify the original .XML files as those are removed during uninstall/upgrade)
• Change the copy of the .XML file to the values from your process template
• Enjoy Urban Turtle!

Note: If you are using "MSF for CMMI Process Improvement" you can contact Urban Turtle support and they will send you a compatible configuration file to drop in the config folder.

(Thanks to Mario Cardinal and the UrbanTurtle team for this support with this.)

Installing SharePoint 2010 complete install using local accounts

The Scenario

You want to install SharePoint 2010 complete install and use local accounts (instead of Active Directory accounts).

The Problem

You receive the following error message:

Error Message: The specified user is a local account. Local accounts should only be used in stand alone mode.

The Solution

The workaround is to use a PowerShell script instead of the Wizard, as explained at: http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/blogs/fromthefield/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=112