On December, 4th, I posted a small article containing a youtube video of Brian the Build Bunny and simply the comment that I wished I had one (update on this: maybe I’ll get myself one…). What was most fascinating on this was, that two weeks later, I suddenly got over 300 hits on my blog (which usually has around 10 to 20 hits per day). I had a quick look at the stats and noticed that all of them went directly to my Build Bunny post.

However, the article didnt actually contain anything of any interest. And the referers didn’t show how those people got to my blog. Today, I noticed that there are still visitors looking for Brian (did you notice, that I had a typo in the headline?). This time I got curious. Where did those people come from anyway. So I had a closer look into the stats.

And guess what: From Redmond. Microsoft Corp.

This is so typical. I post really interesting stuff about how to quit Microsoft Windows Live OneCare, why Microsoft Windows 7 will kick ass, the all new Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2008 Branching Guide 2.0, how to generate Release Notes with Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2008 Team Build and automate the incrementing of Assembly version numbers (thanks again, Chris!). And they come for looking at a youtube video about Brian the Build Bunny.

Time to get one and do something with it, they really find interesting.

Since I can safely assume, that you guys from Microsoft still visit my blog for Brian, could you please add comments about why and where you got the link from?

First of all let me say that credit goes to Christian Binder whose blog article was the reason why I got things working in the first place. Thank Chris! Since his howto is in german, I will translate most of it here. For reference, please visit his blog!

(weiterlesen…)

I recently found out about a blog entry written by Grant Holliday, that describes how to extend an MS Build process within an automated Team Foundation Build so that a release notes textfile is generated and copied to the drop location.

This basically goes something like this:

1. Download and install the MS Build Community Tasks from tigris
2. Download and install the MSXSL.exe tool from Microsoft
3. Extend the build.proj file

This process involves the WebDownload build tasks that retrieves the buildlog.xml file from the respective TFS webservice after the build is done. Nex step is transforming the xml file to generate a releasenotes.txt file.

Everything you need to know to get things done is very well documented on Hollidays blog.

However, there are two things to notice: First, you need to download the Community Tasks msi file directly from tigris. The link, Holliday provides, leads to an outdated version that does not include the UseDefaultCredentials property. The result ist, that the process will terminate with a 401 error due to missing authorization.

Second, Holliday does not provide an example xsl file for transformation of the xml file.

To achieve the same result as Holliday does (and shows on the blurry screenshot), you can try using the following xsl file: ReleaseNotes.xsl

The TFS Rangers recently releases a revised version of their popular Branching Guide. The new version contains several pdf files with information about branching in Team Foundation Server 2008 and different scenarious as well as a Q&A, a poster, branching drawins and a couple of examples with hands on labs.

Learn everything about it here: TFS Branching Guide 2.0 – Home .

Nunja. Natürlich nicht ganz kostenlos.

Aber während Besitzer der Team Development Edition sich bisher darüber ärgerten, dass sie nicht in den Genuß der Database Edition kamen ohne dafür noch einmal eine ordentliche Stange Geld hinlegen zu müssen, hat sich Microsoft jetzt dazu entschlossen, für die Besitzer der beiden Editionen die jeweils andere Edition kostenfrei zur Verfügung zu stellen.

Ein besonderer Vorteil ergibt sich hierdurch für alle Microsoft Certified Partner, die über die ISV Kompetenz verfügen. Die durften bisher nämlich eine Instanz des Team Foundation Server nebst fünf Lizenzen der Team Developer Edition kostenfrei einsetzen; Gold Partner sogar 25 (link). Jetzt dürfen sie aus dem Subscriber Portal von Microsoft auch endlich die Database Edition herunterladen.

Hintergrund ist übrigens, dass die Developer Edition und die Database Edition mit Visual Studio 2010 miteinander verschmelzen und Microsoft diesen Vorteil bereits jetzt zum Endkunden durchreichen will.

Better Together – Visual Studio Team System Development Edition and Database Edition
In recognition of the increased need to integrate more of the lifecycle members together, we will provide a unified Development and Database product in Visual Studio Team System 2010. Beginning October 1, 2008 Development Edition and Database Edition MSDN subscribers will have access to both products. (link)

Was bekommen sie dadurch?

• Datenbankprojekttyp mit Skripten zum Erstellen von Datenbanken und Aktualisierung vorhandener Instanzen
• Komponententests auf Datenbankebene
• Automatische Generierung von Testdaten zum Füllen einer Datenbank ohne die Notwendigkeit einer Produktionsumgebung
• Automatische Aktualisierung von Referenzen bei umbenannten Datenbankobjekten
• Funktionen zum Vergleich von Schemata und Daten

Das ist noch weit nicht alles (link), macht aber schon einmal den Mund wässrig…

Nachtrag:

Hier gibt es einen sehr schönen Beitrag, der die Features der Database Edition mit einigen Bildern und Erläuterungen zeigt.