This is the posting of a slide deck I delivered at TechEd South Africa 2007.

1. This is the posting of a slide deck I delivered at TechEd South Africa 2007. For URL’s to each of the resources referenced in this presentation please see the speaker’s notes on each slide. Additionally, see www.accentient.com/widgets.aspx for a wealth of VSTS tools, add-ons, and other such helpful resources. Brian Keller

2. DEV306: Visual Studio TeamSystem Tips and Tricks Brian Keller Technical Evangelist Brian.Keller@microsoft.com

3. Agenda • Team Foundation Server • Setup • Team Projects • Client configurations • Power Tools • Policies / Process • Reporting • Branching & Merging • Code Quality • Requirements Management

4. Installing Team Foundation Server • Read the manuals. • Seriously. • Read the manuals first.

5. Team Foundation Guidance • Team Foundation Server Installation Guide • Team Foundation Server Administrator’s Guide • Team Foundation Server Operations Guide (NEW!) • Pricing & Licensing Whitepaper • Migrating? (we’ll cover this later)

6. “Non-setup” Options • Just kicking the tires? • Download a VPC. • See my blog for faster download options. • Outsource your TFS setup/maintenance • www.tfsnow.com – 1st commercial TFS hoster (based in AUS) • www.codeplex.com – for shared source projects

7. Best Practices Analyzer

8. TFS Admin Power Tool

9. Team Projects • “Limit” of 500 MSF for Agile or 250 MSF for CMMI • Not a hard limit • Does affect performance of TFS clients • Usually err towards fewer Team Projects • Main exception: Different Process Templates • Whitepaper: “Guidance for Structuring Team Projects” by Doug Neumann

10. TFS Clients: Optimize for Roles • Team Explorer 2005 / 2008 • MSSCCI Provider • Excel / Project Standard / Pro • TeamPrise • VSTS Web Access • SharePoint • TeamLook • TeamCompanion • SvnBridge • Roll your own using the TFS Object Model • Do NOT write to the Web services directly *Any access of TFS requires a CAL

11. Demo: SvnBridge

12. Team Foundation Power Tools • V1.3 release in September • Lots of essential tools • Online • Rollback • Annotate • Treediff • Custom Check-in Policies • TestToolsTask for MSBuild • Best Practices Analyzer • Work Item Templates • Process Template Editor • More…

13. Demo: Team Foundation Power Tools

14. Check-In Policies • Work Items • Code Analysis • Testing • Changeset Comments* • Work Item Query* • Custom Path* • Forbidden Patterns* *Ships with TFPT v1.2 and above

15. Process Guidance "With Visual Studio Team System,we thought we were buyingdeveloper tools; what we gotwas a culture changing tool." John SzurekEnterprise Architect

16. What About my Processes?

17. Process Template Editor • Graphically edit process templates: • Work Item Types • E.g. Forms, Workflow, Fields • Default Team Project settings • E.g. Roles & Permissions, “Starter” Work Items and Iterations • Tip: Reports may need rework. • Tip: Adding required fields to projects underway may require you to backfill data. PTE installed with Team Foundation Power Tools v1.2 and above

18. Demo: Process Template Editor

19. How Much Work is Left? Planned Work Completed Work

20. How Productive is the Team?

21. How Much Unplanned Work is There?

22. What is the Quality of the Software? Tests Inconclusive Tests Failed Tests Passed Code Churn Active Bugs

23. How Effectively Are We Finding, Fixing and Closing Bugs?

24. Recognizing Signs of Underestimation Slow progress leading to cuts in planned work, but not enough cuts Steady rates of progress, but slope too shallow

25. Recognizing Test Bottlenecks Bulge in resolved. Insufficient resources or inadequate quality from development

26. Recognizing Sloppy Development Practices (1 of 2) Growing “Fault Feedback Ratio” – bugs requiring multiple handling

27. Recognizing Sloppy Development Practices (2 of 2) Falling code coverage Fewer passing and more inconclusive tests Rising code churn

28. Recognizing Scope Creep “Dark Matter” emerging during the iteration Planned work is squeezed out

29. Reporting • Buy Sam’s book • Get to know the built-in reports • Customize reports to suit your organization and process • SSRS, Excel • New docs on MSDN • Use many dimensions to draw conclusions

30. Reporting • Use Work Item Tracking! • Integrated Check-In • Consider Check-In Policies • Link Requirements/Scenarios to Tests • Publish Test Results

31. Branching & Merging • TFS Branching & Merging guide on CodePlex • Branch for: • Isolation • Archival • Tip: Labels are not immutable.

32. Branching & Merging • Branching too often: • Can lead to pain during merging. • Not branching often enough: • Harder to stabilize • Tip: Configure Visual Studio to use your favorite merge / compare tools (e.g. WinMerge).

33. 12 17 19 20 Test Dev Prod 10 18 19 21 Traditional Promotion Modeling • Source baselines of varying quality foo.cs bar.cs

34. $/…/Dev $/…/Test $/…/Prod 15 24 26 18 17 19 23 25 21 12 14 27 13 9 27 20 18 13 9 10 16 25 23 22 24 26 17 15 Team Foundation Promotion Modeling • Branches of varying quality foo.cs bar.cs foo.cs bar.cs foo.cs bar.cs

35. Migrating to Team Foundation • We ship tools for: • Visual SourceSafe • ClearCase / ClearQuest • TFS Migration & Sync Toolkit • Uses provider model to interface with 3rd party SCC / WIT systems • Several approaches: • 1-way, 1-time • 1-way, many times • 2-way mirror (scheduled or real time) • Tip: Is “Get Latest” an option for you?

36. Team Foundation Server 2008 • The results are in: 2X faster than 2005! • Better Scalability • Single Server: Up to 450 users • Dual-Server: Up to 3600 users • Support for WSS 3.0 / MOSS 2007 • Windows Server 2008 & SQL Server 2008 • SQL Named Instances • Port Flexibility • Destroy

37. Team Foundation Server 2008 • Continuous Integration Built In • Build scheduling (Manual, Every check-in, “Rolling”, Scheduled) • Build Queue • Retention Policy • .VSMDI not required for BVT’s • Annotate • Treediff • Get Latest on Checkout • More… (see Brian Harry’s blog)

38. Upgrading to TFS 2008 • Backup -> Run Setup • Uninstall (usually) not required • Dozens of customers already running TFS2008 in production • http://blogs.msdn.com/sudhir/ • Before you upgrade • Custom Check-in Policies? • See Ed Hintz’ blog • 3rd party TFS tools? • Ensure compat w/ TFS2008

39. Code Reviews • Encourage Static Analysis first • Shelving • Stores changes on server without committing them to branch • Shelvesets can be shared • Community add-in: TFS Code Review • Uses work items for code review workflow • Check-in associated to code review work item

40. Unit Testing • Use Code Metrics to target areas of high cyclomatic complexity for simplification (New in 2008) • Parameterize your tests and feed with data (Improved in 2008) • Code Coverage helps ensure you are writing the right tests – but don’t rely too heavily on this. • Use unit tests as BVT’s. • Warning: VSTS 2008 tests not compatible with VSTS 2005.

41. Web Testing • Tests Web scenarios • Should be granular down to the user story level • Can be made modular (e.g. Sign-in + Browse + Sign-out) • Note: Executes at the HTTP(s) layer, not presentation layer. • Add validation logic to help ensure correct data. • Can be parameterized (Improved for 2008) • AJAX support (New in 2008)

42. Load Testing • Tests scalability • Can be applied to Web tests or unit tests (or both) • Guidance on MSDN for testing strategy • Hotmail.com case study • NCAA “March Madness” case study

43. Building • Use Team Foundation Server 2008! • Use differing build frequencies for different purposes • Rolling / Every Check-in for near-real time notification of build breaks • Run BVT’s (usually unit tests) • Consider 32-bit vs. 64-bit • Get creative with your notifications • Team Build Tray Icon • Be careful about punishing build breakers • If your CI breaks, fix it. • Less frequent (daily/weekly?) builds for integration / manual tests • Scout the build • Update build status • Publish test results • Use reports • “Named builds” for user-acceptance testing

44. DBPro Service Release 1 • 3 Major Features: • 3 & 4 part names • Through “Database References” • Reduces number of warnings • Filegroup Support • SQLCmd $Variable Support • Adds support for SQL Server 2005 SP2 and Windows Vista • Requires Visual Studio 2005 SP1

45. DBPro Power Tools • Refactoring improvements: • Move Schema Refactoring • Disambiguate Schema Refactoring • Wild Card Expansion Refactoring • sp_rename & move schema deployment script generation • MSBuild task improvements: • Schema Compare Build Task • Data Compare Build Task • SQL Script Pre-Processor Task • Expands variables and include files • SQL Extended Property Build Task • Used for getting and setting object levelversioning information

46. Demo: Static Analysis, Unit Testing,Code Metrics, Continuous Integration

47. TeamSpec from Personify Show • Word • TFS sync bar

48. stpBA from stpsoft BA draws screens in Visio Show: • Many stencils in the left hand toolbar • Screen in the main surface

49. stpBA from stpsoft

50. stpBA from stpsoft Dev team reviews the prototypeBuild a version of the app that users can look at Show • TFS client • List of scenarios open in the query results (or would it be requirements?) • In the work item preview you can see a thumbnail preview of the walkthrough screen • What is cool • Changes BA made flow to team (single system for managing requirements enables everyone on the team to accss the “big picture”) • Devs have links to everything, including thumbnails of the screens!