MSDN Magazine - December 2008 - (Page 49)

the TFS 2008 version of the template defines six custom work item types, 16 team work item queries, 15 reports, a SharePoint template, and its own process guidance. A second popular template is the VSTS Scrum Process Template (Lightweight Scrum) available at codeplex.com/VSTSScrum. VSTS MVPs Mike Azocar, Steven Borg, and Willy-Peter Schaub started this as a community-driven project. Like the Conchango template, the project owners have made the template available for both TFS 2005 and TFS 2008. In addition, they’ve provided a version that supports working with the Microsoft Project Server 2007 VSTS Connector (codeplex.com/pstfsconnector). The TFS 2008 version of the Lightweight Scrum template comes with six custom work item types, 18 team work item queries, 5 reports, a SharePoint template, and its own process guidance. To install the template, you must first install the SharePoint template. Once you’ve done this, install the rest of the Lightweight Scrum template using the Process Template Manager, accessible via the Team | Team Foundation Server Settings menu inside Visual Studio. Unzip the Lightweight Scrum template into a folder, then open the Process Template Manager and click the Upload button. Navigate to the folder containing the ProcessTemplate.xml file and click the Upload button (see Figure 5). Both Scrum templates give you a good idea as to the level of customization that is possible. If you search the Internet, you’ll find additional templates out there. A few VSTS MVPs have set up a CodePlex project called Templex to create a community-driven Process Template Library. Check it out at codeplex.com/templex. Figure 6 The Results of Downloading the MSF Agile Process Template Creating Your Own Templates While it’s possible for you to grab the documentation and build your own process template by hand, most customers I’ve worked with find it easier to take an existing Microsoft template and start from there. I’ll be describing this approach to get you started. Begin by creating a directory in order to download one of the Microsoft process templates. If you’re serious about doing this, you should configure a location in version control to check in the template after you download it. Using the TFS Settings menu Figure 7 Process Template Configuration Files Folder\File %root%\ProcessTemplate.xml Classification\Classification.xml Classification\FileMapping.xml Groups and Permissions\ GroupsandPermissions.xml Reports\ReportsTasks.xml Version Control\VersionControl.xml Windows SharePoint Services\ WssTasks.XmL WorkItem Tracking\workitems.xml Purpose item off the Team menu, download the MSF Agile template using the Process Template Manager to C:\PMT. The Process Template Manager creates a folder called MSF for Agile Software Development–v4.2. Within this folder, you will find six folders and an XML file—ProcessTemplate.xml (see Figure 6). Most of the folders and their contents are self-explanatory. You describe a process template and its contents using a number of XML files. These XML files, in conjunction with the actual artifacts (report definition files, HTML documentation, and so on), come together to define the process template. Figure 7 lists the configuration files, their locations, and their purpose. You can modify the XML files a number of ways. Naturally, any text editor, such as Notepad, will work. If you’re comfortable editing XML by hand and like the Visual Studio XML editor, you can hook up the XSD files by downloading the Visual Studio 2008 SDK. You’ll find the XSD files at %SDK Install Folder%\VisualStudioTeamSystemIntegration\Process Templates\ProcessTemplateSchemas. In addition, the XSD files for work item definitions and global lists are found at %SDK Install Folder%\VisualStudioTeamSystemIntegration\Work Item Tracking\WorkItemTrackingSchemas. You can find the documentation for the process template schemas at msdn.microsoft.com/library/aa395287. You may find it more convenient (especially when you’re new to the whole process) to use the visual Process Template Editor that comes as part of the VSTS 2008 TFS Power Tools, available at msdn.microsoft.com/tfs2008/bb980963 (and discussed in more detail in “Essential Power Tools,” at msdn.microsoft.com/magazine/cc721612). You ProcessTemplate.xml defines a template’s core structure. It references all the other files except FileMapping.xml. Classification.xml defines a template’s Areas and Iterations. In addition, it references FileMapping.xml. FileMapping.xml maps work item fields to fields in Microsoft Project. GroupsandPermissions.xml defines the default groups and their permissions. ReportsTasks.xml defines the list of Reporting Services report definitions. VersionControl.xml defines the permissions in the version control repository, default check-in notes, as well as default checkout behavior. WssTasks.xml defines what SharePoint site template to use (something you must already have installed). In addition, it defines document libraries, folders, and any files including the template’s process guidance. Workitems.xml defines the list of work item types and your process template’s team work item queries. In addition, it contains the definitions for any default work items that the new team project should create during team project creation. December 2008 49 msdnmagazine.com http://www.codeplex.com/VSTSScrum http://www.codeplex.com/pstfsconnector http://www.codeplex.com/templex http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/aa395287 http://msdn.microsoft.com/tfs2008/bb980963 http://msdn.microsoft.com/magazine/cc721612 http://www.msdnmagazine.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of MSDN Magazine - December 2008

MSDN Magazine - December 2008 Contents Toolbox CLR Inside Out Advanced Basics Cutting Edge Patterns In Practice Team System Real-World WF Visual Studio OBA Tools SOA Data Access Geneva Framework Test Run Foundations Windows With C++ Going Places End Bracket

MSDN Magazine - December 2008

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