Wednesday, October 31, 2007

TFS to TFS Migration Tool Pre-Release Available on CodePlex!

Back in June the TFS Migration and Synchronization Toolkit was released, the toolkit helps migrating data between 3rd party version control and bug tracking systems and TFS.

Having multiple locations and on site development arose the idea of having a TFS to TFS tool as well, so work was begun on writing a TFS to TFS migration tool based on the toolkit.

A pre-release of this TFS to TFS Migration Tool is now available on CodePlex!

This tool enables migration of work items and version control items with history between TFS servers. To learn more about the tool, you can visit the TFS to TFS Migration Tool page on CodePlex.

The purpose of this pre-release is for testing and stabilizing of the tool before officially releasing the tool.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Patterns & Practices: Performance Testing Guidance for Web Applications

Patterns & Practices: Performance Testing Guidance for Web Applications is now available on MSDN.

Contents
Landing Page
Foreword By Alberto Savoia
Foreword By Rico Mariani
Introduction
Chapters
Chapter 1 – Fundamentals of Web Application Performance Testing
Chapter 2 – Types of Performance Testing
Chapter 3 – Risks Addressed Through Performance Testing
Chapter 4 – Web Application Performance Testing Core Activities
Chapter 5 – Coordinating Performance Testing with an Iteration-Based Process
Chapter 6 – Managing an Agile Performance Test Cycle
Chapter 7 – Managing the Performance Test Cycle in a Regulated (CMMI) Environment
Chapter 8 – Evaluating Systems to Increase Performance-Testing Effectiveness
Chapter 9 – Determining Performance Testing Objectives
Chapter 10 – Quantifying End-User Response Time Goals
Chapter 11 – Consolidating Various Types of Performance Acceptance Criteria
Chapter 12 – Modeling Application Usage
Chapter 13 – Determining Individual User Data and Variances
Chapter 14 – Test Execution
Chapter 15 – Key Mathematic Principles for Performance Testers
Chapter 16 – Performance Test Reporting Fundamentals
Chapter 17 – Load-Testing Web Applications
Chapter 18 – Stress-Testing Web Applications

This guide was produced by the following Team
  • J.D. Meier, Microsoft, Senior Program Manager, patterns & practices
  • Carlos Farre, Microsoft, Software Design Engineer Test, patterns & practices
  • Prashant Bansode, Infosys Technologies Ltd
  • Scott Barber, PerfTestPlus Inc, Chief Technologist
  • Dennis Rea, Wadeware LLC

Microsoft Tester Center

Microsoft launched their Tester Center that can be found on MSDN.
The Microsoft Tester Center showcases the test discipline as an integral
part of the application lifecycle, describes test roles and responsibilities,
and promotes the test investments required to deliver high-quality
software.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

VSTS Resource Center

Deitel.com just launched a Visual Studio Team System Resource Center.

In the Resource Center you'll find:
  • The Microsoft Visual Studio Team System site where you’ll find product information, solutions, technical information, community resources, news, downloads, support, power tools, developer features, team system blogs, RSS feeds and more.
  • Information about Visual Studio Team System 2008—the latest version of VSTS.
  • Visual Studio Team System 2008 downloads including Visual Studio Team System, Test Load Agent, Team Suite, Team Foundation Server, and the Power Tool Community Technology Preview.
  • The Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Installation Guide.
  • The video, "Overview of Visual Studio Team Developer: Writing Maintainable and Robust Applications with Microsoft Studio Team System," presented at TechEd 2007 by Noah Coad.
  • "Comparing Visual Studio Team System Editions," from Vertigo Software.
  • The sample chapter, "Introducing Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System," from Pro Visual Studio 2005 Team System: Application Design, by Steve Shrimpton.
  • "Managing a Project With Visual Studio Team System," by Peter Varhol.
  • The blog, "Software Engineering with Visual Studio Team System," by Sam Guckenheimer (a software engineer with the Microsoft Visual Studio Team System).
  • The sample chapter, "Overview of Team System," from Working with Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005 Team System, by Richard Hundhausen.
  • Visual Studio Team System video tutorials from Microsoft.
  • Visual Studio Team System books, blogs, conferences, FAQs, training, forums and newsgroups.
  • ...And more.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

VS 2005 TFS Power Tools Updated

Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server Power Tools is a set of enhancements, tools and command-line utilities that improve the Team Foundation Server user experience.

This release includes everything from the previous Power Tools release and includes two great new tools, the Team Foundation Server Best Practices Analyzer and Work Item Templates.

Team Foundation Server Best Practices Analyzer
This release of the Team Foundation Power Tools includes the first release of the Team Foundation Server Best Practices Analyzer (Team Foundation Server BPA).

The Team Foundation Server BPA is a diagnostic tool that performs the following functions:
  • Gathers configuration information from a Team Foundation Server deployment
  • Performs specific tests on the Team Foundation Server deployment
  • Analyzes the collected information according to specific rules and reports the findings as information, warning, or error messages
  • Provides links to articles to resolve warning and error messages

You can use the Team Foundation Server BPA in either a pre-installation or a production Team Foundation Server environment. You can use the Team Foundation Server BPA to perform the following tasks:

  • Proactively verify that the Team Foundation Server configuration is set according to recommended best practices
  • Determine configurations that differ from default, recommended, or required settings
    Identify the source of problems in an unhealthy Team Foundation Server deployment

Work Item Templates
Team Foundation Power Tools installs a Work Item Templates feature that supports the ability to create, apply, capture, and set default work item templates. This feature adds additional menu items to the Team Work Item Templates menu.

You use work item templates to create or update work items. Work item templates automatically set field values. This feature conveniently reduces the number of steps to create or update work items. For example, you can create a task template that will set the area path, iteration path, and discipline whenever you use it to create or edit a task.