Where are my diagnostic build logs? 12 October 2014 Donovan-Brown (0) Problem: I am trying to customize TfvcTemplate.12.xaml and can’t increase the verbosity level any longer. Solution: Open the desired build and click the Diagnostics menu and select View Logs. Explanation: In the past there was an argument on the build template that allowed you to control the output verbosity. However, in the new template that argument has been removed and is hardcoded to “Normal” on the call the msbuild. Nevertheless, the data is being captured in the logs placed in the drop location. Simply double click on the xml files. If you are prompted for how to open the file select Internet Explorer. There is an xsl file that will format the data making it easy to read in Internet Explorer. You can read more here.
Tokenization for DSC 05 September 2014 Donovan-Brown Work (0) Update! This resources has been officially release by Microsoft here http://tinyurl.com/xReleaseManagement Update 3 of Release Management introduced Desired State Configuration (DSC) as a deployment option in addition to the deployer based solution. With DSC we can utilized the Local Configuration Manager (LCM) already installed on many Microsoft operating systems to deploy our applications without the need to install prerequisites. However, I noticed after playing with it for a while that there was no mechanism to tokenize files for transformation. This is a requirement for applications that store configuration information in web.config or app.config files. This data needs to be updated as the code is promoted from one environment to the next. I set out to fill this gap by writing a custom resource to transform the files as we can with the deployer based option of Release Management. Attached to this post is a zip file that contains custom Windows PowerShell Cmdlets, custom DSC Resource and a sample configuration that shows how to use them. The xReleaseManagement folder contains the implementation of the Trackyon_xTokenize resource to be used in your configurations. This resource requires the Write-Token and Test-Token Cmdlets provided in the Trackyon.PowerShell.ReleaseManagement.Module module also in the attached zip. Finally in the zip file are to ps1 files with a sample configuration and start-dscconfiguration calls. All of the Cmdlets, resources and tools are provided AS IS, and are not supported through any support program or service. xReleaseManagement.zip (15.90 kb)
Validate code automatically during a Team Foundation Build 03 June 2014 Donovan-Brown Work (0) Problem: I need to run my Layer Diagram validation during my build. Solution: Edit your build definition and under Build process parameters, expand Advanced, and type the following in the MSBuild Arguments parameter: /p:ValidateArchitecture=true
I can't register the Microsoft Deployment Agent 2013 11 May 2014 Donovan-Brown Work (0) Updated: With update 2 the deployer account no longer as to be an admin on the machine. The account simply needs to correct permissions to deploy the desired components. Problem: When I attempt to register my deployer I get a 401 unauthorized error. Solution: Make sure the account you are using is an Administrator on the deployer machine and added to Release Management on the Server. Also the account running the installer must have access to the Sql Server on the Release Server machine.
I can't build my Wix projects with Team Build 19 December 2013 Donovan-Brown Work (0) Problem: I get the following error when I attempt to build a solution using TFS that contains a Windows Installer XML (WIX) project: "light.exe: Error executing ICE action 'ICE01'. The most common cause of this kind of ICE failure is an incorrectly registered scripting engine. See http://wix.sourceforge.net/faq.html#Error217 for details and how to solve this problem. The following string format was not expected by the external UI message logger: "The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This can occur if the Windows Installer is not correctly installed. Contact your support personnel for assistance."." Solution: The build service account must be in the Administrators group on the build machine.
How to set the “default” configuration for a project. 25 June 2013 Donovan-Brown Work (0) Being a Process Consultant specializing in TFS I teach many companies how to use Team Build. When you create a new build definition you have the option to set “Configurations to Build”. However, if you leave that value blank the build will build the “default” configuration. The questions I am inevitability ask are “what is the default configuration” and “how do we set the default configuration”? Well in this post I will show you where it is stored and how to update it for typical Visual Studio 2012 project. Visual Studio projects are msbuild scripts and because of that we can set properties in the actual project files that are going to be sent to msbuild to be compiled. To change the default configuration you we need to load the project file as xml which is the file format of msbuild. With the project open in Visual Studio simply right click on the desired project and select “Unload Project” from the context menu. Once the project is unloaded right click on it again and select “Edit [Project Name]” and Visual Studio will open the file as an xml file we can edit. Search the file for a “Configuration” element in a property group (it is normally the first group). It should look similar to this: <Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Debug</Configuration> This is the line responsible for setting the default configuration of your build. Simply change “Debug” to the desired default configuration, save the file then right click on project file in Solution Explorer and select “Reload Project”. After you check in your changes an queue a new build it will be built using this configuration if the “Configurations to Build” is blank in the build definition.
I can't find the Kanban board in Update 2. 06 May 2013 Donovan-Brown Work (0) Problem: I installed Update 2 for TFS but when I click board I don’t see the Kanban board I see the task board. Solution: Click the board link at the top of the Backlog Page under the "Product Backlog" heading next to "stories". Explanation: The board link at the top left of the page between the backlog and work items links takes you to the task board. But if you click the board link below the "Product Backlog" heading where you enter new User Stories it will take you to the Kanban board.
How to setup a discussion board on your TFS Project Portal 24 April 2013 Donovan-Brown Work (0) You can set up discussion boards on your SharePoint Project Portal site to share information and discuss topics with other people. Navigate to the Project Portal Click All Site Content at the bottom left of the page Click the Create link at the top of the page If you do not see the Create link you need at least the Design permission From the Communication section select Discussion Board Enter a Name and Description and click Create button
I get an error when I attempt to search my TFS Project Portal 24 April 2013 Donovan-Brown Work (0) Problem: When I attempt to use the search feature of my TFS Project Portal I get the following error: "Your search cannot be completed because this site is not assigned to an indexer. Contact your administrator for more information." Solution: Configure the "Microsoft SharePoint Foundation search server". Explanation: Open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration Click Manage content databases under the Application Management section Make sure the SharePoint site is selected for Web Application and not SharePoint Central Administration Click the WSS_Content database link Find the Search Server section and select a search server If your dropdown is disabled you must for configure a search server
How to configure a search server for SharePoint 2010 24 April 2013 Donovan-Brown Work (0) If you would like to be able to search your TFS Project Portal you must enable a Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Search Service. This process is for SharePoint 2010 that is installed by TFS during the configuration. Open a command prompt and change to the following directory: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\BIN Run the following command: psconfig.exe -cmd services –install NOTE: This command will take down our TFS while it runs. Open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration Click Manage services on server under the System Settings section Click the Start link next to SharePoint Foundation Search You will be sent to the Configure Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Search Service Settings on server [serverName] Simply scroll down and click the Start button