TFS & Visual Studio ALM - by Neno Loje

Available Check-In-Policies for Team Foundation Server 2010

Shipping as part of Team Foundation Server 2010:

• Builds – Requires that build breaks that were created during a build must be fixed before a new check-in.
• Code Analysis – Requires that code analysis is run before check-in. [More]
• Testing Policy – Requires that check-in tests are completed before check-in.
• Work Items – Requires that one or more work items be associated with the check- in.

Supplied by the TFS 2010 Power Tools (needs to be installed on all VS clients):

• Changeset Comments Policy – Requires users to provide check-in comments.
• Custom Path Policy – Allows you to scope other check-in policies to specific folders or file types.
• Forbidden Patterns Policy – Prevents users from checking in files with filenames that contain forbidden characters or patterns.
• Work Item Query Policy – Requires that the associated work items need to be part of the result of a specified work item query.

Note: When using an older version of VS (2005/2008) you need to install the corresponding version of the TFS Power Tools (VS 2005 requires 2005 Power Tools, etc.)

Developed by the Community:

• TFS Code Comment Checking Policy (CCCP) – Requires that the source code contains code comments (/// for C#, ''' for VB.NET) before check-in.
• StyleCop Team Foundation Server check-in policy - Enforces StyleCop rules on projects (provides integration with Visual Studio for policy violations review)
• Check for Compilation Warnings and Errors Check-in Policy – will check for compilation warnings and/or errors (can be restricted to a set of warnings, if desired)
• Branch check in policy – Requires the user checks in inside the branch specified in the check in associated work items.
• LogSubstPol (Keyword Expansion Check-In Policy) – insertes the check-in comments and other keywords into your source code
• Update Work Item Check-in policy - allows developers to update Remaining-Work and Completed-Work fields on check-in.

But what about the "Override policy" checkbox?

• Set up Policy Override Email Alerts (Post by Martin Woodward)
• Monitor via the TFS Warehouse SQL database (via Colin Dembovsky)
• Create a Report in Excel using the SQL OLAP cube (German with English screenshots)

Further reading:

• How to: Implement, package and deploy custom check-in policy for TFS 2010 (Jim Lamb)
• How to write custom check-in policies (Brian A. Randell, MSDN Magazin, Nov 2007)
• How to distribute custom checkin policies […] using the power tools (by Youhana)

Do you know another great check-in policy for TFS 2010? Let me know!

Updates:

• (Nov 3, 2011) Added Update Work Item Check-in policy.