TFS

Visual Studio Online - output colouring by tag

Wed, 23 Sep 2015 06:09:32 GMT

I started being more involved in continuous integration and deployment using Visual Studio Online which is ‘the new‘ TFS hosted in Azure.

I've discovered an interesting and useful feature when using it PowerShell. When you use Write-Host if you add [Debug], [Warning] and [Error] in your output string then you get a nice colour in the Console and Logs pages of the build result.

Have a look at the below images.

In this example the following output was used:

Write-Host "[Debug] Debug value"
Write-Host "[Warning] Warning value"
Write-Host "[Error] Error value"

As you can see the Console doesn't shows the value in square brackets.

This worked for me in both Azure hosted and local hosted agent. I guess it should be the same on the TFS hosted on premises.

Unbind TFS

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 15:35:00 GMT

This a follow up post to the previous one Migration from TFS to Git

If you migrated your code from TFS to Git you'll soon realise that you don't need all the TFS bindings. After spending some time trying to find a tool which does this I've wrote mine. The tools I found didn't do what I need. They remove the bindings ok but in case with git you get the '.git' folder and the tools remove bindings in this folder as well.

I put the source code on GitHub so you can download it and use at your own risk. It edits the .sln, .csproj and deletes .vsssscc and vspscc files. Find the details on the GitHub web site: Unbind TFS

Migration from TFS to Git

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 15:35:00 GMT

Some time ago we were trying to migrate our code from TFS 2008 to the hosted TFS (http://tfs.visualstudio.com) using TFS Integration tool - http://tfsintegration.codeplex.com/. After a few failed attempts we decided not to migrate the history but only the latest version of code and keep the TFS 2008 for historical reference. Although the tool wasn’t properly tested with hosted TFS it worked in some cases. I managed to migrate a few folders but not the entire project. Our project has a complex tree structure and keeps the history since 2008. Also some of the branches were deleted during the time. Because of all of this the migration was a nightmare.

The migration was postponed due to other tasks and the good things happen during this time – Microsoft announced Git support in TFS, in hosted TFS as well. Hosted TFS had Git implemented for some time already but the option wasn’t enabled except for a few people including MVPs.

If you need to get your TFS source into Git first of all you need to get it from TFS into your local Git. For this purpose you’ll need either git-tfs or git-tf. After installing one of this, clone your TFS:

git tfs clone http://[YourTFSserver]:8080/tfs/DefaultCollection $[FolderOrProjectName]

Here we run into troubles as we were given the following error:

TF50605: There was an error looking up the SID for [SOME USER NAME]

The error was related to a domain user who left the company some time ago. Using the help from this web site: http://davehope.co.uk/Blog/deleting-the-tfs-workspace-for-a-missing-account-fails-tf50605/ we managed to delete the workspace linked to this user but it didn’t fix the issue.

When you clone the TFS project the command line will display the changeset it’s cloning, something like:

C1250

Which means the changeset 1250. We searched this changeset using Team Explorer in VS and we found out that the changeset is assigned to the same user with the workspace issue.

The only way to reassign this changeset to a different user is to update your TFS database.

Run this to find the owner if:

SELECT IdentityId FROM tbl_Identity WHERE (DisplayName LIKE 'USER NAME')

Now when you have the IdentityId you can find all the changesets made by this user:

SELECT * FROM tbl_ChangeSet WHERE ownerid = [OWNERID]

A simple update will reasign the changesets to another user:

UPDATE tbl_ChangeSet 
SET ownerid =  [IDENTITYID OF ANOTHER USER], committerid=[IDENTITY ID OF ANOTHER USER] 
WHERE ownerid = [IDENTITY ID OF THE OLD USER]

After this update we clone the project again and after about 8 hours the project was cloned into local Git.

The next step is to push the source to the Git repository. Some steps, like removing TFS binding before pushing should be done. This article explain everything you need to now: http://devlicio.us/blogs/derik_whittaker/archive/2012/11/07/moving-from-tfs-to-github-what-we-did.aspx

If you want to use git from Visual Studio you’ll need to install the CTP for Visual Studio Update 2: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudioalm/archive/2013/02/11/february-ctp-for-visual-studio-update-2.aspx and Visual Studio Tools for Git: http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/abafc7d6-dcaa-40f4-8a5e-d6724bdb980c

Installation of TFS 2011 beta

Sun, 27 May 2012 14:35:00 GMT

The new release of the TFS 2011 Beta comes with the Express edition. This edition is limited to 5 users but it can be a perfect solution for your home development environment. You don't need to install third party source controls and use application or plug-ins for Visual Studio integration.

I've started a new project and was quite tempted to try it. This is beta but this doesn't bother me too much as I this is not for any critical development.

First of all download the installation from this link: http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/11/en-us/downloads#tfs-express

Next, after the installation is done you'll have to configure it:

The configuration didn't work. I need SP2 for SQL Express 2008. If you have the SQL Express 2008 already installed and if you follow the link form the error message you'll download the full SQL Server Express 2008 SP2. This is not just SP2. If you try to run it, it wouldn't update your existing instance. You'll have to install it as a new instance. I didn't like this because I wasn't sure if I install a new instance, will TFS use the new SQL instance or the old one. I have SQL Server 2008 R2 installed already and it didn't pick up this SQL instance. You wouldn't find just SP2 for SQL 2008 Express without full installation. You would need to install SP2 for SQL Server 2008 (not Express).

After installing SP2 for SQL Server 2008, run the installation. This time the configuration just warned me that the SQL Server will be updated. Happy with that, and after a while as it took more than 10 minutes, I have TFS 2011 Express up and running.

Now if you want to add a new project in Team Explorer you need to install Visual Studio 11 Beta Team Explorer. Download it from here: http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/11/en-us/downloads#express

After installation open Visual Studio 11 Beta and add a new project

Next open the Visual Studio 2010 and add the project to the source control.

Bear in mind that when installing Visual Studio 11 Beta it changed my solution icon to the same as VS 11.