Team Development with Visual Studio Team Foundation Server

• The TFSBuild.rsp file contains command-line options for MSBuild. You can modify
this file to further customize the build.
• Event notification enables custom build steps or notifications through the
BuildStatusChangeEvent and BuildCompletionEvent events.
• Team Build integrates with work items, code coverage, code analysis, and test cases.
How Team Build Works
Team Build consists of the Team Build Service layered on top of the MSBuild build
system. MSBuild is responsible for the build itself, while the Team Build Service is
responsible for communicating with the TFS application-tier. Team Builds are created
from the Visual Studio client and you can start them from the client, by an event on the
build server, or from the command-line, for example as a scheduled task. Once started,
the build process consists of the following steps:
1. Get sources from source control into the build directory.
2. Compile the source and generate binaries.
3. Run code analysis (Optional).
4. Create a work item if there is a build failure.
5. Run tests (Optional).
6. Calculate code coverage (Optional).
7. Log build details.
8. Copy the build to the drop location.
After the build is complete, the following are available:
Build details. You can view details from any client or from reports.
Build binaries. Binaries are placed in the drop location.
Build Log. You can review the log for errors and warnings.
Work item. If the build fails, a work item is created to track the build break.
How to Determine Your Build Strategy
Use the following steps to determine your build strategy:
1. Consider your build consumers.
2. Review solution scenarios.
3. Understand common stumbling blocks.
Consider Your Build Consumers
Most development teams have one or more of the following build consumers:
• Development team.
• Test team.
• Internal build adopters.
• External beta adopters.