September 23, 2011 – Learn TFS Daily

I didn’t forget about you. Here’s your dose of nerd-cool for the day. On with the links…

Installing TFS 11 Build Server from the BUILD Conference in Anaheim from Visual Studio ALM + Team Foundation Server Blog
Tim Elhajj shows off the installation process for the TFS 11 Developer’s Preview Build Server with a step-by-step, screen-by-screen view of the process. Details, screens, and more are at the link.

Installing TFS 11 Extension for SharePoint from the BUILD Conference in Anaheim from Visual Studio ALM + Team Foundation Server Blog
Tim also shows off how to install the TFS 11 Developer’s Preview Extension for SharePoint that was released at BUILD. Again, screens, details, and more are at the link.

TFS11 and Source Control Improvements from Richard Banks
Richard provides a peek into what is probably the most anticipated version control improvement in TFS 11: local workspaces.

Windows Update (KB2468871) Interferes with TFS 2010 (w/o SP1) from Northwest Cadence
The crew from Northwest Cadence lets us know that the latest Windows Update related to .NET 4.0 (KB2468871) will cause problems with builds that will fail or simply hang. The solution is to get TFS 2010 SP1 installed on the build server (or servers) to solve the problem.

September 22, 2011 – Learn TFS Daily

Are you in viewing range for tomorrow’s NASA light show? Today’s all about testing. On with the links…

Manual Testing Tools for Windows 8 Metro Style Applications from the Visual Studio ALM + Team Foundation Server Blog
So you think you’re team is ready to start developing Windows 8 Metro style applications, but how are you going to test them? This post shows how to use Microsoft Test Manager to connect to a Windows 8 device to perform manual testing and file rich bugs. Details, screens, and lots of cool stuff can be found at the link.

Customize Your Test Case Work Item Template to Enable Query on Test Suites, Test Plans, Test Categories and Execution Statistics from Visual Studio Team Test
This is a long overdue post showing you how to customize a Test Case work item enable querying for test cases based on the test suites, test plans, test categories, and execution statistics related to a Test Case. If you’ve never customized a work item before, you may be in a bit over your head (just give me a buzz and I’ll get you pointed in the right direction), but the payoff of these customizations – assuming you are using Test Case work items – is immense.

Convert NUnit to MSTest Unit Test from Shai Raiten
Shai tackles a problem I dealt with a few times at client sites where NUnit test suites were converted to MSTest Unit Tests in order to take advantage of the easy integration between build and MSTest. Shai maps references, attributes, and assertions to get you moving. His post won’t deal with every NUnit test scenario that might be in your library, but in my experience it will handle the vast majority and the remaining few will be pretty easy to figure out.

Web Test Recorder Not Shown in Internet Explorer When Recording Web Performance Test from Syed Aslam Basha
If you’re recording Web Performance Tests in Internet Explorer and you don’t see the recorder add-in, you’ll want to read this post on how to enable it. You need to manage the add-on and make sure it’s enabled.

September 21, 2011 – Learn TFS Daily

We’ve come a long, awesome way. On with the links…

The New Team Explorer in TFS 11 from Brian Harry
Brian provides a deeper look at the new Team Explorer that comes with TFS 11 and many of the new features associated with it, including the new home page, search capabilities, work management capabilities, code review tools, build status management, performance improvements, extensibility, and much more. The new features and usage scenarios now supported are much needed, and really introduce a much deeper work management and communications experience in Visual Studio. Of all of the new goodies coming in TFS 11, the new Team Explorer is the one you’ll end up appreciating the most.

Getting Feedback on Working Software with Visual Studio 11 from Visual Studio ALM + Team Foundation Server Blog
The Visual Studio blog has more on the feedback feature in Visual Studio 11 and TFS 11 by walking through the feedback workflow and providing on overview of the goals of the feedback tools.

New HTML Editor feature in Visual Studio 11 Developer Preview from Web Development Tools @ Microsoft
Microsoft has clearly, and finally, fully embraced HTML as the interface of the future by providing significant improvements in HTML editing in Visual Studio 11. This post discusses many of the new HTML editing features, including HTML5 snippets, IntelliSense for code nuggets in attributes, smart indent, event handler generation, and much more. Lots of details and screens are at the link.

IntelliTrace in Production with VS11 CTP from Larry Guger
Larry takes a look at IntelliTrace in Visual Studio 11 by examining the “IntelliTrace in Production” scenario shown at BUILD.

GPU Debugging with VS11 from Daniel Moth
Daniel shows off the C++ AMP debugging experience with Visual Studio 11 and provides code, a sample, and a video link to his BUILD session on the same subject.

September 20, 2011 – Learn TFS Daily

It’ll take me weeks to wade through all of the Build links, but there’s a LOT of good stuff you won’t want to miss. But the most important news today? Gears of War 3 is out! Hell yes. On with the links…

Windows Server 8: Built for the Cloud, Built for Virtualization from Ars Technica
I’ve seen lots of talk about Windows 8, but not so much about Windows Server 8. In this article, Ars lays out the focus of Windows Server 8 and how it fits into the future of computing.

Dev11 Preview is Out – First in a Series from Jeff Levinson
Jeff highlights a feature of TFS and VS vNext I haven’t seen yet, by diving into the new Feedback tool. A big focus of TFS and the next generation of Microsoft ALM tools is improving communication within teams and with customers and stakeholders. That’s where the feedback tool comes in.

Build Deploy Test Enhancements from Rob Maher
Rob continues his discussions on Build-Deploy-Test by showing off some enhancements he’s made to his own custom code activity that better enables Build-Deploy-Test scenarios. It’s been a while since his last post on the subject, so if you used his previous workflow activity or think this might help you, take a look.

Having Trouble Testing my WPF App with Coded UI Test from Donovan Brown
Lost in all the noise about Windows 8, Visual Studio vNext, and TFS vNext are a number of great posts helping you use your existing tools better. In this post, Donovan shows you how to improve your Coded UI testing experience with WPF by advising you to set the Name attribute on controls you are testing. He shows you what’s happening behind-the-scenes that makes this worthwhile and how it will make your tests easier to modify.

September 19, 2011 – Learn TFS Daily

Tatooine, discovered. And just in time with the Star Wars Blu-Ray release. On with the links…

TFS Azure – Technical Access Preview Experience from Tarun Arora
Tarun gives us a run-down of the experience of using TFS on Azure. He’s been a part of the program for six months now, and has been nice enough to provide a step-by-step getting started guide as well as an overview of his experiences.

Visual Studio vNext: Concurrency Visualizer from Channel 9
Channel 9 has a great video showing off the latest concurrency visualization and debugging tools in Visual Studio vNext. Unless you’ve been sound asleep for the last 5 years, you’ll know that a big part of getting the most out of hardware is dealing with concurrency issues, so check this out to see how Visual Studio will be assisting you.

An MSDN Library for the Windows Dev Center from Jeff Braaten
Jeff highlights the new Windows Dev Center and its four sub-centers: Metro style apps, Internet Explorer, Desktop apps, and Hardware. He answers why the new, integrated library experience was created and explains the scoped library design principles.

TFS 11 – Teasing Local Workspaces from Mickey Gousset
We’ve linked to posts on local workspaces in TFS 11 before, but you should check out this screenshot from Mickey showing the new “Workspace Settings” option showing you how you’ll toggle between local and server workspaces. I agree with Mickey – offline TFS just got a lot better (thank goodness).