Support for Team Foundation Server Work Items

[peter.peart]

Since the release of SQL Source Control We have been busy implementing support for Team Foundation Server Work Items. If you do not currently use Work Items a brief description from Microsoft is:

"Team Foundation has work item tracking features designed to assist enterprise software development teams to manage their work and software defect tracking. In Team Foundation, a work item tracks this work, and can be one of the individual tasks required to complete a project, a bug that needs to be fixed, a customer scenario that the project needs to address, or any other piece of work in a project that needs to be tracked in a database. The types of work items available in any given project can be customized by your team to meet your project development requirements using a work item type definition. However, all work items contain the following common elements"

In SQL Source Control (v1.0.3.73+), it is now possible to associate a SQL Source Control 'Commit Change' operation with a TFS work item by typing the following into the 'Comment to add on commit' field on the SQL Source Control 'Commit Changes' tab:

1. To Associate a Commit with a TFS Work item use the following syntax '#A<Work Item number><space><Commit Comment>' e.g. #A106 Associate this change to object Foo to Work Item 106'
2. To Resolve a TFS Work item following a Commit from source control use the following syntax '#R<Work Item number><space><Commit Comment>' e.g. #R106 Resolve Work Item 106 by committing this change to object Foo'

The '#A106' and '#R106' portion of the commit will not appear in the Commit Comment made on the TFS Server; it is simply an instruction to SQL Source Control to associate or resolve the item.

We'd love to hear about your experience with this feature; we'll be working on an enhanced UI to make your SQL Source Control/Work Items experience ingeniously simple and welcome any comments or feedback that you may have.
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Peter Peart
Red Gate Software Ltd
+44 (0)870 160 0037 ext. 8569
1 866 RED GATE ext. 8569

[sherr]

The Early Access Release to associate your commits with work items is available at http://www.red-gate.com/MessageBoard/viewtopic.php?t=11654.
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Thank you!
Stephanie M. Herr
SQL Tools Development Manager

[JeffJ]

Would it be possible to add tags for other standard states such as "Closed" as well?

[AdamR]

Is it possible to get a UI for this so we can search for WIs or by user, etc...

[Chris Auckland]

[Chris Auckland]

[AdamY]

An easy way (UI) to associate the check-in with a work item is a must for us (we have not bought yet, just evaluating). The #A1234 hack helps, but is easy to forget and doesn't cover everything. TFS can be set up to require certain things like a work item, code reviewer, and other "Check-In Notes". SQL Source Control ignores all those requirements now which in turn generates "Policy Failure" alerts to our tech leads. We really need the tool to support this. A simple search or list would be nice.

FYI - the workspace issue (not getting to pick a workspace or its location) is the other big deal breaker for us (probably more so than the work item issue). Shelving would be nice, too. Other than that, we love it so far.

[vsalard]

[Jack_TeamGB]

Common Peter, an update please.

I bought this product for my team with the promise that this was in the pipeline and near delivery. Any chance of a Work Item GUI interface soon?

Many thanks

[David Atkinson]

We hope to add this feature in SQL Source Control v4. The downside is that this is unlikely to be released before 2013 due to resourcing constraints.

Our sincere apologies,

David Atkinson
Product Manager
Red Gate

[Jack_TeamGB]

Hi David,

That's painful for us particularly as this promised feature was key to my decision to move my team to RedGate tools.

I appreciate you're honest reply and thanks for responding quickly.

Thanks

[David Atkinson]

We honestly would have expected to have put in this feature by now, but various circumstances have conspired against us.

The v4 release will be focused on improving the team collaboration experience, and I'm hoping it will not only be about browsing work items, but also exposing these in relevant parts of the UI so it will be easier for all to see the intent behind a particular historical change to your database.