Chat Topic: Visual Studio Team System

Chat Topic: Visual Studio Team System
Date: Wednesday, February 07, 2007
DavidKean_MS (Moderator):
Welcome to the Visual Studio Team System chat! We hope you all have lots of questions because we're ready to answer! Each member will now post a blurb about them. Please submit your questions using the "Post Question to Expert" option.
DavidKean_MS (Moderator):
Hello, my name is David Kean and I am moderatoring this chat, I'm a SDET on the Code Analysis team which own Managed (FxCop) and Native C++ (PREfast) Analysis.

DmitriyN (Expert):
My name is Dmitriy Nikonov and I am a Program Manager on VS Team Edition for Database Professionals team

MarkG_MS (Expert):
Hello my name is Mark Groves and I am a program manager within Visual Studio Team Edition for Software Architects.

SmithaS - MS (Expert):
Hi, I am an SDET in WorkItem Tracking team.

kkelly_ms (Expert):
Hello, I'm Kevin Kelly. I work on the Version Control subsytem of Team Foundaton Server

Richard_MS (Expert):
Hello, I'm Richard Waymire, Program Manager on Team Edition for Database Professionals....

drwill_MS (Expert):
Hi, my name is David Williamson. I'm an Engineering Lead with VS Team System Test.

SteveL_MSFT (Expert):
Hi I am Steve Ley. I'm an Operations Engineer for our internal VSTF environment
JManning (Expert):
Q:I am new at TFS/Sharepoint but very experienced in the older VS2003 etc. How do I upgrade Sharepoint to 2007 with TFS - I had installed SP 2003. I can re-install whatever I need to.
A: We don't support Sharepoint 2007 with Team Foundation Server 1.0
JManning (Expert):
Q:So I need Sharepoint 2003 with TFS?
A: Yes, we only specifically support Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 with TFS as-is - we are working on SharePoint 2007 support in the next version of TFS
JManning (Expert):
Q:Is there an approximate time frame yet for Orcas release?
A: We have not announced a timeframe yet.
John Morris MS (Expert):
Q:Can I customize the database install for the Data Tier of a TFS install - specifically can I have differnet LUNs and FILEGROUPs for maintaining the TFS databases and have the system objects of SQL Server in the default file group?
A: Currently, you cannot customize the install to this level of detail
John Morris MS (Expert):
Q:OK so advice on roll-back to Sharepoint 2003 - I suppose I should uninstall SP 2007, & TFS. install SP 2003 and reinstall TFS - right?
A: Yes
John Morris MS (Expert):
Q:I have single server installation of Sharepoint 2003 with tfs. I upgraded to SP 2007 and now I can't connect to my TFS to make a project. Do I need to re-install or is there a doc that explains what to do?
A: Sharepoint 2007 is not supported with Team Foundation 2005. We are working on adding that support for Orcas

Buck Hodges MS (Expert):
Q:Will you be creating any support for building legacy (VB6, VC++ 6.0) projects to TFS Build?
A: No, we don't have anything new planned.
Buck Hodges MS (Expert):
Q:We have a project which partly uses C# but also another proprietary compiler for microcontroller code.. How are we supposed to cope with this scenario in TFS?
A: Could you elaborate? Version control and work item tracking don't have any issues with that. For TFS Build, you'd need to use the Exec task or a custom task to kick off the cross compilers for building firmware
Buck Hodges MS (Expert):
Q:Team Build related question. What about (in a single team build compiling 2 solutions) perform a custom action (a target) between 1st solution compile and 2nd solution compile? thanks
A: There's no simple way to do that in v1. There were some approaches discussed in the MSDN forum. For Orcas, we've addressed this issue and made it easy.
SmithaS - MS (Expert):
Q:Writing reports in Team Foundation System is not exactly straightforward. Can you give some guidance to tutorials for getting off the ground?
A: If you are new to reports then creating new reports requires some learning time. You will need to get familiar with at least one of the tools that are available to create reports. One of them is Report Designer and you can find documentation for it here: <

JManning (Expert):
Q:We have a lot of VB6 source code files in VSS and we want to migrate to TFS Source Control. We are facing the following problems: 1. How to deal with all the shared files in VSS? the branch/merge mechanism is not a good solution for us.
A: Branch and merge are the mechanisms we recommend when you had been using shared files in VSS - it's definitely a transition of process, but we feel it works well - you may want to check out this post -
John Morris MS (Expert):
Q:We would like to move our application tier to another server but the new server has a bakup up tool that uses SQLExpress. The application tier install fails because it sees that the sql server service is installed on the application tier. What do we do?
A: Is the install failing during the system health check? Currently, there is no supported mechanism for bypassing this health check.

Buck Hodges MS (Expert):
Q:hey guys - I'm talking to a customer who is adament that they want per team-project backups and restores. I know this isn't possible out of the box; is there anything we can say to them today?
A: There's no good answer in v1. You could go to the extreme of having one team project per server.
JManning (Expert):
Q:Other than back end storage systems (SQL vs File System), what is the difference between the new Source Control systems (VSS 2005 and TFS VSS)
A: They're entirely different code bases - TFS version control (not TFS VSS) is implemented differently (web services, SQL Server). In terms of behavior differences, we tried to make it a similar experience ( $/foo/bar, similar Visual Studio experiences) to ease the transition.
DavidKean_MS (Moderator):
Q:any ETA for a FxCop SDK ?
A: I assume you mean a supported, documented and stable API? Unfortunately, there is no currently plan in the Orcas timeframe to make this a supported scenario; it will remain an off-road experience. Is this something you see as important? What kind of rules do you write?

MarkG_MS (Expert):
Q:what are the most importand changes in the team architect edition?
A: For the Orcas release we have focused on updating the system designer to enable a more top-down approach to design.
Buck Hodges MS (Expert):
Q:Will Continous Integration builds in Orcas be as straight forward to create as CI builds using CruiseControl.NET? We briefly toyed with TeamBuild in the current version but it seemed a bit, uh, obtuse to us. So we stuck with our own build infrastructure.
A: Yes, it gets first class support. Here's a pointer to the spec: Here's a link with more detail on other changes in Team Build for Orcas:
Buck Hodges MS (Expert):
Q:I have installed Orcas Jan CTP and want to connect to my TFS. The TFC does not appear to install the necessary integration into Orcas. Am I missing something simple here?
A: TFS functionality is not in the Jan CTP. It will be in the next CTP that's released.
JManning (Expert):
Q:2. In VSS when a share file is locked (checked-out) by someone, this file cannot be changed by any other user, we want to keep this behaviour! 3. This feature in VSS is very straightforward comparing to the branch/merge mechanism in TFS
A: In TFS we call this "exclusive checkout" and you can enable it on entire team projects or just on certain extensions - you can check the FAQ entry @

JManning (Expert):
Q:Does anyone from the TFS team have any thoughts about streams versus branch/merge; depending on who implements the stream (i.e. accurev, cc, etc) there are some people who think it is just another word for a branch. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
A: They are definitely very similar concepts - I think you can get a great clarification of how we think of branches by checking out DougN's recent channel9 video @

jim_boyle_MSFT (Expert):
Q:We need to integrate teams from outside our company. This was a problem in first realaese of TFS. Has this been addressed?
A: SP1 for Team Foundation Server includes the Extranet feature which may address this
Buck Hodges MS (Expert):
Q:Is there a plan for another service pack prior to Orcas release to address outstanding issues?
A: I don't know of anything, for whatever that's worth. :)
Buck Hodges MS (Expert):
Q:now I get to ask future-facing questions as a customer :) any thoughts about doing a UI for visualizing SCM file structure (i.e. branches)
A: It's certainly been discussed for a future release. Do you have particular things you would like to see?
Doug_Neumann_ms (Expert):
Q:I am new at TFS/SharePoint but very experienced in the older VS2003 etc. How do I upgrade SharePoint to 2007 with TFS - I had installed SP 2003. I can re-install whatever I need to.
A: Currently, TFS 2005 does not work with SharePoint. We're doing some work to enable it, but that probably won't be released for a couple months.
DmitriyN (Expert):
Q:Why the reason to make the database profession a different SKU all together? Developers could leverage the same functionality that it provides. Why the seperation? Any plans on merging the features into the overall product? I think it would be good.
A: We will be integrating with Visual Studio Team System in Orcas, and we will continue to have a stand-alone product. So, the complete Orcas VS Team Suite will contain VS Team Edition for Database Professionals in it.
JManning (Expert):
Q:Is there an SP2 expected between now and orcas?
A: We have not announced any plans for a SP2
DavidKean_MS (Moderator):
Q:what's up with the limited length of the questions?
A: Nice feedback! I'll tell the chat guys that customers want this to be increased.
Doug_Neumann_ms (Expert):
Q:In what version of TFS, automatic fail over from primary to snad by server will be added?
A: It's not in Orcas, but will be part of the following release.
Buck Hodges MS (Expert):
Q:Any plans for (out of the box) integration between Sandcastle and TFS build?
A: We haven't talked about in-the-box support, but we'll add it to the list of things to consider for the next release. You may already be familiar with what's out there now, but here's a pointer to some possible solutions now:
Richard_MS (Expert):
Q:Can I use VSTS Database Edition to connect and use different databases, such as Oracle or Sybase, or it is strictly SQL Server related?
A: Not in version 1
MarkG_MS (Expert):
Q:How can I use VSTS Architect edition to build WCF Application Diagram? Currently VSTS 2005 allows you to build Application Diagram for Web Services, but there is not support for WCF. Are you planing to add it in Orcas?
A: We currently do not natively support WCF on Team Architect, there is a forum post that has some details We are also focusing on enabling WCF throught the P&P software factories
Buck Hodges MS (Expert):
Q:Are there any enhancements to the Team Project Alerts for Orcas like specifying a directory on which you want to be alerted (instead of the whole project). I know about Bissubscribe but haven't had much luck with that tool.
A: There aren't any new GUI tools in Orcas, unfortunately.
Mairead - MSFT (Expert):
Q:Any chance that you will be implementing better GUI/wizards into Data Dude to ease script writing?
A: Can you elaborate on what type of script you would like a wizard for? Importing or exporting?
JManning (Expert):
Q:Suppose that if A is my SCM root, and B branches from A and C branches from B. When I bring up my merge UI with C as my source, I can only see B as my target, shouldn't I see A as well?
A: We only support merges between directly related branches in TFS v1, you would need to do a command-line tf merge /baseless if you wanted to get changes directly from C to A (or vice versa) without going through (merging and checking in to) B first
JManning (Expert):
Q:Are there any plans to make VSTS work better in Vista limited user account mode? It seems like a step backwards to have to run as admin.
A: We're working on a GDR to improve this with Vista, but some scenarios (like debugging) may still require admin privs.
John Morris MS (Expert):
Q:Are there any plans to add DB maintenance features into TFS? I can't keep telling my company that the hardware requirements for the TFS database includes adding new hard drives every time the current ones get full.
A: We planning on adding more administrative support in a future release. To some extent, you can SQL Server Management Studio to do some database maintenance. Did you have activities in mind?
Buck Hodges MS (Expert):
Q:Is there a code reviewing mechanism within TFS?
A: There's nothing in the box for Orcas. It's been discussed for a future release. There's at least one project on CodePlex trying to address it.

DavidKean_MS (Moderator):
Q:re q[6]: well.. I just started looking into it.. but due to the lack of information it seems like way more work than it should be to create something but the simplest rules.. One rule that comes to mind is to check event raising function that they surrounded with a try-catch.

A: We do plan on releasing more guidance, samples and whitepapers around this in the future. Until then, feel free to stop by on the FxCop forum ( Also check-out the regularly updated FxCop blog ( and keep a watch out for a CodeAnalysisDeveloperCenter in the future.
MarkG_MS (Expert):
Q:What are the plans in utilizing or bundilng in efforts of the patterns and practice team into VS, for example Guidance Automation. I would like to see more guidance put into place to better guide users on best practices for each application.
A: There are some plans in to enable closer integration between P&P software factories and VS, but at this time we are not able to talk about details.
jim_boyle_MSFT (Expert):
Q:Is there any way to generate reports in VSTF combining two or more team projects?
A: If the 2 team projects are on the same TFS server you can do that as the cube is an aggregation of data across all team project on that server.
Doug_Neumann_ms (Expert):
Q:One SCM pattern I've seen used is the idea of branch on task - the customers that I've seen do this are usually using a stream-based system like CC or accurev. Are there any best practices or advice against doing so for TFS?
A: You can do "branch per task" with TFS, but the system wasn't designed with that as a primary scenario. Among other things, your path space will get pretty crowded pretty quickly due to all of the branches you're creating. Be careful to organize them appropriately. Alternatively, you can do all of the work for a given task in your workspace, using shelving as a mechanism for checkpointing and backing up your work. This is a more agile way of working, and reduces your need to do a lot of merging.
Matt Mitrik - MSFT (Expert):
Q:Hi. How is it going with migration tool from Rational ClearCase to TFS Version Control? Any progress? Any dates?
A: We're currently working on several conversion/synchronization tools, and the Rational ClearCase to TFS tool is one of our highest priorities. We don't have any release date at this time.
Buck Hodges MS (Expert):
Q:Is there any way to permanently delete files form TFS SC? It seems files never are deleted.
A: No, not in v1. It will be available in Orcas (feature is known as "destroy").
JManning (Expert):
Q:Is it possible in the current release to load-balance/cluster multiple TFS machines? If not, is that planned for the future?
A: You can't do it for the application tier, but we have customers that do run on SQL Clusters. We're investigating clustering of the app tiers as well for future versions.
DmitriyN (Expert):
Q:DB Professional Q : when will you add the DB InteliSence inside of Team Suit?
A: We are investigating this functionality for the next full release of Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals
drwill_MS (Expert):
Q:Hi, when I was tring to use the publish result function to publish a load testing result to our TFS. I am getting an error message " method failed with unexpected error code 1" I have no idea what this error message mean?
A: Are you publishing test results (to TFS)n or load test data (to a SQL db)?
kkelly_ms (Expert):
Q:Cool, in terms of the visualisation, ideally I would like to be able to manipulate the UI to faciliate branching/merging. So it would be great if the UI were interactive; other than that, the usual tree view with the roving eye-thing would be ok IMHO
A: Hi Eric. ...got it. but at what level of granularity would you like the graph? File level seems too weedy...agree?
Mairead - MSFT (Expert):
Q:Any chance that you will be implementing better GUI/wizards into Data Dude to ease script writing?
A: We do want to investigate having designer support in conjuntion with TSQL for scripting. We don;t have specific plans around wizard for script writing but then again I would need to understand more specifically what you looking for?
GertD-MSFT (Expert):
Q:I find that creating a new table w/ FK's indexes slower in DB Pro having to make all the pieces by hand than a more integrated approach in Management Studio GUI. Any plans to implement a similar GUI in DB Pro?
A: Yes we will be adding visual designers, but these will be code behind style designers like WinForms so tou can switch between source and visual representations on demand.
JManning (Expert):
Q:Does anyone know a time frame for availability a standalone client to access TFS team explorer, source control explorer, etc.? (one not integrated into the VS IDE)
A: You can install the TFC sku without Visual Studio - it's a free download, but you need a CAL to connect to TFS. It includes it's own VS-like shell and some command lines, like tf.exe
Buck Hodges MS (Expert):
Q:Can you elaborate on what will be available in Orcas regarding external user access to posting bugs and feature requests as well as external user visibility into the status of work items?
A: By external access to bugs, do you mean web access? There's no plan for web access to bugs in Orcas, as far as I know.
JManning (Expert):
Q:Are you guys working on improving the TFS backup / restore procedure? It's currently very complex, prone to errors, and a lot of hard work. I want a wizard, please
A: We're trying to improve the management (includeing backup/restore) in future versions.
John Morris MS (Expert):
Q:Are you guys working on improving the TFS backup / restore procedure? It's currently very complex, prone to errors, and a lot of hard work. I want a wizard, please
A: Nothing is currently planned. I'd be curious to get more information on what you would like to see.
GertD-MSFT (Expert):
Q:In msdn foruns there's an issue about performance with data dude? Is it near to be solved?
A: If you are refering to the performance problem incombination with making changes to to a large project under TFS source control, the answer is yes. The hotfix is going to the customer for testing tomorrow and we will release it based on there findings
Matt Mitrik - MSFT (Expert):
Q:I recently ran in to the 260 character limitation on file names + paths in TFS. Other than using shorter names/paths is there anything that can be done?
A: Sorry, but there is nothing other than shortening file names to resolve this problem. You should be aware that the underlying file system also has this limitation, so you may be close to reaching this limit there as well.
MarkG_MS (Expert):
Q: A: "We are also focusing on enabling WCF throught the P&P software factories"... how? are the gat and gax integrated in orcas?
A: We are currently not planning on a in the box integration with GAT/GAX in the Orcas time frame, but we are taking feedback on this currently.
Doug_Neumann_ms (Expert):
Q:re q[14]: Well afaik, there's not a standalone Sourcecontrol client, some files need to stay in SourceSafe due to other projects.. does check-in policies work etc etc.. ?
A: Version control offers a command line client that is stand alone which may meet your needs. Checkin policies still work through that client. There is no stand alone GUI, however if you install Team Explorer and not VS2005, you get an almost stand alone client. Checkin policies do not work with VSS, if that's what you were asking.
Buck Hodges MS (Expert):
Q:Hello, what advantages has TFS source control vs SourceSafe 2005?
A: That's more than can be addressed here. Here are some links that may help.