Orcas Team Build Continuous Integration spec is now available

re: Orcas Team Build Continuous Integration spec is now available

dls — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 21:52:54 GMT

XPS hurdle navigated! My first impression is that the UI is clean, everything up to page 14 (i.e. the build definition wizard) was fairly intuitive. I think I lack some context to appreciate the build explorer and queued build management UI in the later sections, but that doesn't worry me.

I am interested in the details of the build triggering feature, and I'm curious to know if there's more information available. Mostly, I want to answer questions along the lines of "Exactly which checkins where will trigger a build?" In that context, I'm also interested to know if there will be a way to exclude paths as triggers for a build. On the other side of the question, are there other actions besides checkin that can be made to trigger a build (e.g. label application)

re: Orcas Team Build Continuous Integration spec is now available

buckh — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 18:36:23 GMT

The way builds are triggered is that when a checkin occurs Team Build looks at all of the build definitions' workspace mappings (Workspace tab) to determine which build definitions have mapped the files that were modified. Any build definition that has mapped a file that was changed is queued to be built. Team Build is able to do that quickly and efficiently on the data tier.

To exclude something from triggering a build, you would need to either not map it or cloak it in the build definition's workspace mappings.

Nothing other than a checkin will automatically trigger a build. You could, if you want, build something that listens for any kind of event and then, using the Team Build OM, queues a build.

Thanks for the feedback and the questions.

Buck

VSTS Links - 01/11/2006

Team System News — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 15:00:39 GMT

Tim Hibbard on TFS Solutions - Access to the path BuildLog.txt is denied and TF42004. Brian Harry...

Lets Give Feedback: Orcas Team Build Continuous Integration spec is now available

Tiago Pascoal — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 16:44:50 GMT

Lets Give Feedback: Orcas Team Build Continuous Integration spec is now available

Tiago Pascoal's WebLog — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 00:06:18 GMT

The specs for the new Team Build Continuous Integration module that is going to be included in Orcas

re: Orcas Team Build Continuous Integration spec is now available

Brent Schooley — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 23:03:41 GMT

Appears to me that you guys still don't get that the usability of this thing on large projects is horrible. On the target selection you offer absolutely no way to sort the solution files and changing the order requires clicking the up and down arrows like mad! I would suggest a dual listbox (source list and target to be built list) that allows you to add things from the list on the left to the list on the right. Also, couldn't hurt to allow dragging to reorder. By default, when I add a solution to the build list it should occupy the next available build target. I should not have to reorder the items every single time I add a target. If you're willing to lay out the GUI in a 14 page doc like this, I hope you are willing to listen to this feedback. I find the current Build Customization to be a pain and it appears this new version won't even address those issues.

re: Orcas Team Build Continuous Integration spec is now available

buckh — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 04:07:35 GMT

You're right that we didn't do anything about it in the Orcas release. We simply didn't have the time to address it. The good news is that we do plan to address it after Orcas and replace that part of the UI (the last vestiges of the old wizard). I'll record your comments so that we take your feedback into account when designing the replacement.

Thanks,

Buck

re: Orcas Team Build Continuous Integration spec is now available

Brent Schooley — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 16:48:50 GMT

Thank you for your prompt response Buck. Sorry if I came off a bit harsh but I had just been using the VS 2005 Team Build UI when I came across this spec and got a little excited that maybe it would be better. I currently find myself checking off the top solution in our source control and then dropping down into the XML. I did find a program called MSBuild Sidekick that is somewhat helpful but doesn't integrate as nicely with TFS as I would like. Our main build has approximately 90 solutions in it (it's not organized as nicely as it should be) so the build customization UI is almost impossible to use. I look forward to seeing whatever improvements the team is able to provide

Thanks,

Brent

re: Orcas Team Build Continuous Integration spec is now available

buckh — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 08:38:35 GMT

No problem. We absolutely agree that it needs to be improved, and ordering 90 solutions in the current UI is clearly painful. I'm hoping we can make you smile in the future.

Buck

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Buck Hodges — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 06:33:05 GMT

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