VSTS 2008 SP1 and IE8 ...

IE8 is coming up soon as Beta 2 is already out in the open, and one of the major changes in IE8 - I actually just came across it by chance - is that IE8 opens up to 6 concurrent connections per host compared to only 2 in IE7.

That leads to the question of Does VSTS support IE8? Will it really open the 6 connections per host?

Well luckly the answer to both questions are YES ...

• VSTS 2008 SP1 has the IE8 Option in the Browser Mix
• By testing IE8 in the load test, it worked :)
  It opened 6 concurrent connections per host.
  The test was created by having a load test with one web test in it, and one concurrent user, once ran against IE7 and another run against IE8.

Using TFS to Develop Custom SharePoint Products and Technologies Applications

This article discusses methods and strategies about how to use Team Foundation Build with SharePoint Server 2007 application projects, including recommendations and procedures to conduct automated and scheduled builds for SharePoint Server 2007 application development and deployment.

MSBuild Extension Pack

MSBuild Extension Pack is a new CodePlex project which is the successor to the FreeToDev MSBuild Tasks Suite and provides a collection of over 170 MSBuild tasks designed for the .Net 3.5 Framework.

It includes the following tasks:

• System Items:
  Certificates, COM+, Console, Date and Time, Drives, Environment Variables, Event Logs, Files and Folders, GAC, Network, Performance Counters, Registry, Services, Sound
• Code:
  Assemblies, CAB Files, Code Signing, File Detokenisation, GUID’s, Mathematics, Strings, Threads, Zip
• Applications:
  BizTalk 2006, Email, IIS7, MSBuild, SourceSafe, StyleCop, Team Foundation Server, Visual Basic 6, WMI

Each task is documented and provided with an example in the help file. Where applicable, tasks are remote enabled, simply specify a MachineName and the task will target the remote machine.

Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 Overview

Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0 mark the next generation of developer tools from Microsoft. Designed to address the latest needs of developers, Visual Studio and the .NET Framework deliver key innovations in the following pillars:

• Democratizing Application Lifecycle Management
  Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) crosses many roles within an organization and traditionally not every one of the roles has been an equal player in the process. Visual Studio Team System 2010 continues to build the platform for functional equality and shared commitment across an organization’s ALM process.
• Enabling emerging trends
  Every year the industry develops new technologies and new trends. With Visual Studio 2010, Microsoft delivers tooling and framework support for the latest innovations in application architecture, development and deployment.
• Inspiring developer delight
  Ever since the first release of Visual Studio, Microsoft has set the bar for developer productivity and flexibility. Visual Studio 2010 continues to deliver on the core developer experience by significantly improving upon it for roles involved with the software development process.
• Riding the next generation platform wave
  Microsoft continues to invest in the market leading operating system, productivity application and server platforms to deliver increased customer value in these offerings. With Visual Studio 2010 customers will have the tooling support needed to create amazing solutions around these technologies.
• Breakthrough Departmental Applications
  Customers continue to build applications that span from department to the enterprise. Visual Studio 2010 will ensure development is supported across this wide spectrum of applications.

Read the full article on MSDN

Team System Web Access 2008 SP1 Power Tool Released

A new release of the Team System Web Access Power Tools have been released on Microsoft Donwload Center.

New With Service Pack 1

• Work item only view for users without a client access license. [Previously known as Work Item Web Access (WIWA) feature]
• Run a single instance with multiple languages (CHS, CHT, DEU, ENU, ESN, FRA, ITA, JPN, KOR, RUS).
• Create work items with initial values by using a URL.
• Share ad-hoc work item queries by using a URL.
• Find and view Shelvesets.
• Improved work item search syntax.

Features in Team System Web Access

• Direct links to work items, query results, diffs, changesets and more.
• Display custom controls on work item forms.
• View queued or completed builds, queue or stop builds.
• Add new work items or edit existing ones.
• Work with any type of work item, including custom ones.
• Add new work item queries or edit existing ones.
• View, download, upload, check-in and check-out documents on SharePoint team portal.
• View reports, export as PDF or Excel.
• Browse items in version control, download source files, view changesets, diffs, history, and annotated views.
• Search for keywords in work items.

VS/VSTS/TFS/.NET 3.5 SP1s are Released !!

Finally Visual Studio/Visual Studio Team System 2008, Team Foundation Server 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1s are Released !!

• Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1
• Team Foundation Server Service Pack 1
• .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1

They bring great chunck of good value, bug fixes and SQL Server 2008 support.

According to my research and knowledge the improvements include:

• SQL Server 2008 Support
• ADO.NET Entity Designer
• Improved WPF Designers
• .NET performance improvements
• TFS Improvements that includes Add to Source Control Dialogs enhancements, Drag & Drop files into Source Control Explorer, Unbound files Version Control, Date/Time column for Checkins, Ribbon support for Office 2007 and Performance & Scale improvements.