VSTS Training
Looking over the main page of my blog it feels like I am
only blogging when I attend training or a community event 
So here I go
again: I attended VSTS training last week which was just excellent. The
trainer, Adrian Jakeman, was very knowledgeable and made the classes a lot of
fun.
I haven't actually worked with VSTS previously and was quite
impressed. At the moment we use the following tools for our development and
surrounding processes:
| Document Repository: |
Sharepoint Services |
| Modeling: |
Microsoft Visio |
| Unit Testing: |
NUnit |
| Development: |
Visual Studio 2005 |
| Version Control: |
Subversion |
| Issue Tracking: |
Gemini |
| Continuous Integration: |
CruiseControl.NET |
While these are working very well, it would be wonderful to
be able to combine all of these. Which is exactly what VSTS does, plus
reporting.
We didn't actually install Team Foundation Server, and I
hear that it can be quite a nightmare. At this stage I am waiting for a server
and then I'll try my hand at that :S I
don't foresee us moving our current project into VSTS, but will rather start by
doing some internal projects with it. Don't have the time for any unexpected
nasty surprises!
A couple of things that I would like to improve, mostly to
do with the unit testing capabilities:
- When
you right-click in your regular project and select Create Unit Test, it
doesn't pick up the language you are working in.
- I
don't like all the additional test attributes and instructions it adds to
each test. There is probably a setting somewhere to remove that.
- Would
be useful to right-click and in test class or in test method to run only
that test. Yes, I am spoiled by TestRunner.
- The detail
in the email alerts is really limited. I am used the information that I
get from CruiseControl, and not getting the test results (only summary 20
passed/5 failed in VSTS), no coverage results, etc frustrates me. I don't
want to open the test manager every time to see that detail.
- To
configure Continuous Integration with VSTS is quite a hack, but it works.
I presume this will be improved in the next version.
- I
know our Project Manager is going to feel that the integration with MS
Project is not sufficient at this stage, especially because of 2 things:
can't group tasks and use predecessors with the work items. But I have
been told that this is one of the main priorities for the next version.
O and a very cool tool for editing the process template: Process Template Editor (original )
As soon as I have it installed I will blog some more about our experiences... any of you using it currently?