Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) Blog - by Neno Loje : Unreleased

The Future of VSTS Modeling Tools: UML + DSL

neno — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:52:14 GMT

Well if you asked me a year ago if Microsoft is going to deliver UML tools the answer would not been to positive.

As you can read in Cameron Skinner's blog Microsoft changed it's views a bit. It's not anymore about "DSL vs. UML", but a combination of both: "the right tool for the right job".

There will be a clean separation between the two approaches:

UML will be used at the high-level modeling ("logical" layer")
DSL at the "physical layer"

As a result Microsoft will introduce five UML 2.1 compliant UML diagrams with the next version of VSTS and a few new DSLs. The UML diagrams are:

Class Diagram
Use Case Diagram
Component Diagram
Sequence Diagram
Activity Diagram

You can have a look at those on these screenshots by MVP colleague Willi.

So Microsoft is not at all moving away from DSL, but recognized the value of UML as an addition and now clearly propagates the value in using a combination of both.

The future is: UML + DSL. The "programmatic approach" as Cameron puts it.

TFS 2008 Trials: How to extend the trial?

neno — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 11:01:00 GMT

Since Team Foundation Server 2008 was released end of November 2007 the early adopters which for some reasons have not obtained a product key yet are facing the problem of expiring trial licenses on their TFS servers.

I definitely recommend to find out when your TFS trial expires. You can use the Version Detector Tool [1], which Brian Harry [2] blogged about.

If you have trouble getting a product key in time:

From ten days before it expires you can extend the trial period for 30 additional days (using the tool mentioned above).
If that's not enough contact Microsoft to get additional 30 days.

Eventually people will check for the expiration date before they actually learn it the "hard way"...

So: don't be a fool, use the tool!

:-)

[1] http://blogs.msdn.com/bharry/archive/2008/01/15/checking-your-tfs-version-and-extending-trials.aspx

[2] http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/techfellow/harry/default.mspx

Can't find Team Foundation Server 2008 Standard Edition?

neno — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 23:21:00 GMT

TFS 2008 is released! Well… at least the Workgroup and Trial Editions are available. And the Standard Edition won’t be available until January (when the product keys are available as well).

So the solution for now Microsoft recommends you to use the Trial Edition and upgrade it to the full-blown Standard Edition later.

Enjoy!

Future Directions: Service Pack 1 Beta

neno — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 23:41:59 GMT

Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Visual Studio 2005 clients and Team Foundation Server is scheduled to release somewhere around beginning 2007 depending on the feedback of the public beta, which is available to download (see links at the bottom of this post).

What's on the agenda for SP1?

Here's a short compilation on fixes, improvements and new features I read about for SP1:

Highlights

Work Item Tracking - Custom Controls
Merge History in Version Control API
VPN-less remote connections to the TFS though an ISAPI filter
Possibility for a separate Data Warehouse SQL Server
MS Excel and MS Project 2007 Integration
Support for Web Application Projects

Note: A more comprehensive list with explanations by Brian Harry can be found here and the one by Rob Caron is located here.

Bugfixes

A list of bug fixes of SP1 can be found here.

The KB Hotfixes included in SP1 are listed at the bottom of this post.

Visual C++ developers find the list from the C++ team right here.

Team Build

As Buck Hodges (MS) says: "For Team Build users, I'll spare you the suspense and tell you that there are no meaningful changes in Team Build itself in SP1. There are changes in other parts of the system, though, that will be of some benefit."

Managed Code Analysis

A list of Managed Code Analysis fixes that made it into Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Beta (or will make into the RTM) can be found here.

What about compatibility to non-SP1 client/servers?

Marcel de Vries writes "you also might want to know is that the TFS SP1 is 100% compatible with non SP1 Visual Studio installations. So there is no issue in SP1 clients connecting to non SP1 servers and visa versa.". [read]

What about upgrading to SP1 RTM later?

Again, Marcel de Vries writes "you can install the beta of the service pack without worrying about the fact if you can install the RTM version later. The RTM can be installed after uninstalling the beta." [read]

Download Links

Do you know more? Feel free to leave me a comment.

Microsoft Knowledge Base on Team System

neno — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 06:06:00 GMT

Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Database Professionals CTP 5 Update

neno — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 09:04:00 GMT

This update specifically improves performance of the following scenarios:

Schema import (reverse engineer)
Schema diff
Project reload

[Download] [Announcement]

The Future of Team System

neno — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 20:57:00 GMT

With strategic products it is extemly important to look into the planning and direction for the future...

Here's what I've found so far:

Team Foundation Server and the Future

Have more? Leave me a commment, please.

Time to update: Team Foundation Server Release Candidate (RC) released

neno — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 14:23:00 GMT

While the so called client SKUs (the three Team Editions plus the Team Suite) were released in November last year the TFS is targeted to release in March 2006.

Now the last planned publically available pre-release version: the Release Candidate (or short "RC") can be downloaded from the MSDN Subscriber Downloads.

If you are using the Beta 3 Refresh right now, make sure to read the following about updating to the RC:

TFS Beta 3 released: Get started with Team System today!

neno — Sun, 25 Sep 2005 10:53:00 GMT

Finally, Rick LaPlante announced the availability of Team Foundation Server Beta 3 which works perfectly with Visual Studio 2005 RC 1 and SQL Server 2005 Septeber CTP and comes with a "Go-Live" license and product support. The best thing is there is a migration path to Beta 3 Refresh, which will be needed to be able to work with the final RTM-bits of Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005, as well as the final versio - scheduled for 1Q 2006 - so you don't need to be afraid that your data will be lost during update.

To get started

Download the TFS Beta 3 via MSDN Subscriber Downloads
Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Installation Guide
Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server Beta 3 Readme
Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server Beta 3 Known Issues
Background Info: Why a Beta 3 so close to Visual Studio 2005 RTM? (by Rick LaPlante)

Do it yourself: What you need to get started with Team System Extensibility

neno — Sat, 02 Jul 2005 19:23:00 GMT

Visual Studio 2005 Team System Extensibility Kit for Beta 2
The Extensibility Kit for Beta 2 provides an early look at the extensibility points and is the basis for what will become the Team System SDK. It’s provided “as is” and without formal product support. It is intended to give an early look at how customers and partners could extend Team System functionality.

It's coming: Visual Studio 2005 Launches Week of November 7th

neno — Sat, 02 Jul 2005 18:49:00 GMT

Visual Studio 2005 Launches Week of November 7th
At TechEd 2005 in Orlando, Paul Flessner announced that Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005 and BizTalk Server 2006 will all launch together during the week of November 7th. Visit the Launch Portal for updated information leading up to this event.

Jump to launch portal