Notion Tools for Team System v1.0 Released

I’m proud to announce that Notion Solutions (my employer) has released v1.0 of the Notion Tools for Team System  suite. 

Notion Tools for Team System v1.0 was finally released on February 20th.  We’re actively documenting requirements for v1.1, your ideas are welcome!  You can download the software from our website and follow the instructions to get it up and running with a trial key.  In order to get it working, you do have to install the server software.  While the server components make it harder to “try it out”, it was needed to facilitate some of the capabilities we implemented.  We do offer a quick start consulting engagement to make the needed process changes and train your team up on the use of the tools.

Please review the tools and even order online.

• Notion Timesheet - time-tracking system that allows users to capture and record time against Team System Work Items directly from within Visual Studio.
• Notion Work Organizer - extends Visual Studio to enhance Team System with a better means of managing work items and their associated documentation and artifacts. Manages parent/child work items.
• Notion Work Planner - By taking an account of the expertise and productivity of each team member, teams can use estimates to develop more accurate iteration and release schedules.
• Notion Work Item Controls - contains custom work item controls that help teams visualize and maintain hierarchical relationships between work items in a Team Project.

I’ve been using this product suite daily since 01-Dec-2008 as well as having written parts of it.  We have been “dogfooding” it for a while and have worked out a lot of the kinks.  I hope that you will find this a useful product of high quality and stability. 

As stated above, we are looking for your feedback on any or all of the tools.  We can only make it better for you if you tell us what you need.

Oracle Support Announced for VS DB Pro 2010

Quest Software has announced that they will be creating an Oracle DSP (Database Schema Provider) for Visual Studio Team System 2010.  This means that all of you Team System folks that have Oracle databases in your apps can get the same benefits from the Database Edition as the SQL Server folks have enjoyed.

I have a number of clients that have Oracle back-ends so I hope that the integration is as good as we get with SQL Server. 

Quest has opened up a Beta program on their TeamFuze.net site for Oracle professionals using Team System.  Stop by and get in on it.  I’d love to hear from anyone that has used this product.

Introduction to MSBuild Presentation Deck, Examples and References

Thanks!

Thanks to all the folks that attended my Introduction to MSBuild presentation yesterday at the Team System User Group – Virtual Edition meeting. I found it an interesting experience.

As promised, I’ve attached a link to the presentation materials and demos. Below you will also find a (by no means comprehensive) list of sources for using MSBuild.

I’ll be presenting this at a couple of upcoming Code Camps, so if you have attended one of these presentation…this is your download too. :-)

Here is the link to the download: http://manicprogrammer.com/cs/files/folders/st_jean/entry8576.aspx

References

Root MSBuild Reference on MSDN: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/0k6kkbsd.aspx

MSBuild Forum on MSDN: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/msbuild/threads/

Best Practices for Creating Reusable Builds, Part 1 from MSDN Magazine: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd419659.aspx

Inside the Microsoft® Build Engine: Using MSBuild and Team Foundation Build You can get it at Amazon.com or any other technical bookseller

MSBuild Team Blog http://blogs.msdn.com/msbuild/

MSBuild Wiki on Channel 9 http://channel9.msdn.com/wiki/msbuild/homepage/

Custom Task Libraries

MSBuild Community Tasks http://msbuildtasks.tigris.org/

SDC Tasks Library http://www.codeplex.com/sdctasks

MSBuild Extension Pack http://www.codeplex.com/MSBuildExtensionPack

Introduction to MSBuild presentation Today

I just realized that I never posted about this session.  I will be giving an Intro to MSBuild session at the Team System User Group – Virtual Edition at Noon ET today.  This is a mix of SecondLife and LiveMeeting so you can access it from the comfort of your home. :) 

The info on the session can be found on the Team System Events page of VSTSRocks.  you will have to install the SecondLife and LiveMeeting clients to participate so be sure to get that all set prior to the session.

New England Code Camp 11: ”Developer Stimulus Package” Announced

First off I just want to say that this is a GREAT name for a code camp!  :) 

Chris Bowen has announce the next New England Code Camp will be held on Saturday, 28-March-2009 from 8:30am to 7:00+pm at the Microsoft offices in Waltham, MA.

“Chris Pels and I are excited to announce that the 11th edition of the venerable New England Code Camp series will be held on March 28th in Waltham, MA!

  Code Camps (started in 2004 with New England Code Camp 1), are free events organized by and for the developer community.  A fantastic chance to share knowledge without marketing noise getting in the way.  Check out the Code Camp Manifesto for the guiding principles.”                - Chris Bowen

I’ve proposed the “Introduction to MSBuild” and “Extending the TFS Warehouse” sessions so if you miss them at the New Hampshire Code Camp you will have a second chance in March.  I’m also looking into other potential sessions but since it’s a single day there may not be room.

As always Registration is Free, just browse over to TheDevCommunity.org. 

The call for speakers is also open (See Chris’ blog for info).  If you have any interest in getting some practice speaking in from of crowds of “like-minded individuals” I highly recommend putting together a session and presenting.  This is an great way to help out the community.  I know that everyone has something that they find interesting or are passionate about.  Why not make a session out of it and present?

New Hampshire Code Camp Update

We’re two weeks out from the NH Code Camp in Nashua.  I just checked the presentation list on theDevCommunity.org site and there’s 23 sessions proposed with a good mix of topics.

I’ve proposed another session entitled “Introduction to MSBuild” that gives a “from the ground up” look at how to use MSBuild to automate your build process.

Here’s the abstract:

“The .NET Framework 2.0, 3.5 and even windows Vista now ship with an "Enterprise-grade" build automation system called MSBuild.  It is the foundation of the Visual Studio project and compilation systems and has been extended to provide the "Build in a Box" functionality within Team Foundation Server.

In this code-heavy session I'll show the basics of MSBuild's syntax, features and extensions.  Some significant improvements were shipped with the .Net 3.5 version so I'll also hilight those differences.  Time-permitting we will dive into more advanced topics that will "round out" the MSBuild experience.  The session will start from "Hello World" and build from there so no experience with MSBuild is assumed or required.”

Hope to see you at Daniel Webster College.

Oh and in case you are on the fence, we will be giving away a “Visual Studio Team Suite 2008 with MSDN” among other goodies.  As of this moment, you have roughly a 1 in 140 chance of winning.  Those are some pretty good odds.

Team System Web Site Remodeling

It looks like Microsoft have revamped the Team System Web Site.  I just finished perusing it and I like it.  It’s easy to navigate not too flashy as to be distracting.  I recommend you go and check it out for yourself.

Here’s the URL:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/teamsystem/default.aspx