For information how to set up a private Chocolatey repository on VSTS check this post Let me start by saying that I really like VSTS package management. Earlier I blogged about Release Views and I also like the integration with the whole build/release eco system. That said, I was quite annoyed when I noticed that I […]
Continue reading
Archive | Tips & Tricks RSS feed for this section
Trigger Release Pipeline only for Scheduled builds
March 30, 2017 
2 Comments
Currently I am working on some build and release pipelines to deploy some websites automatically. I have some CI builds running, and some scheduled buils that are deployed automatically. This works fine, but there is some waste in the process. My CI build is the same as my scheduled build, with 1 major difference. I do […]
Continue reading Run Functional (Coded) UI Tests in your VSTS Release Pipeline
February 1, 2017 2 Comments
Today I was trying to run some CodedUI test from my VSTS Release pipeline. The process is quite straightforward but there were some tiny catches I’d like to share with you Let me first show the pipeline I have created
Continue reading Order your VSTS Product Backlog based on the order within your Feature Backlog
December 30, 2016 Comments Off on Order your VSTS Product Backlog based on the order within your Feature Backlog
I know, the title is crap but I just don’t know how to call it properly. Let me just give me the real life example. I have this pretty straightforward Product Backlog But I also have this feature hierarchy. Within the features I prioritize my Backlog items. The features also are ranked from most important to less […]
Continue reading Copy files (and run tests) on a remote machine back to the VSTS build and release agent
September 27, 2016 1 Comment
This week I was working on a script, running in my VSTS release pipeline that executed Pester tests on a remote machine. Running Pester tests on the VSTS Build and Release Agent work fine with one the awesome tasks on the Visual Studio Marketplace, but this was about running the tests remotely AND getting the […]
Continue reading Call VSTS REST API from Release Management
June 8, 2016 2 Comments
Update 22/6/2016 That’s how fast things go. Since this blogpost there has been a new update on VSTS that allows you to access the OAuth token by just clicking a checkbox. In the Release Environment, click the elipsis asnd select Deployment Conditions (or Configure Variables etc.). It opens a new screen where you also can […]
Continue reading Call VS Team Services (VSTS) REST API from your Build Pipeline
May 25, 2016 3 Comments
Today I had the necessity to call the Visual Team Services (VSTS) REST API to get the code changes associated to the build I was currently running. I want these changes to get all the files and to do some actions with the files that were changed. First I tried to call the REST API from Postman. In […]
Continue reading Inherited Deny due to Access Levels
April 26, 2016 1 Comment
Yesterday I was building some logic against the TFS API and used impersonation to do that. One of the things that is needed in order to allow a call to TFS to be impersonated is to give a user the “Make Requests on behalf of others” permission. This server level permission is not default and […]
Continue readingBuilding a checkbox in your VSTS custom build task
February 20, 2016 2 Comments
Update 5/25/2016 Since May 6th 2016, this is default functionality in VSTS. Look for the Checkbox Control section in this post! https://www.visualstudio.com/news/2016-may-6-vso Today I was building a custom build task for the new build system in VSTS. I read the documentation and started to work on the task.json. Besides some strings I wanted to have as […]
Continue reading Running a VS Team Services (VSO) Build Agent in a Windows Docker Container
February 15, 2016 8 Comments
A while ago I wrote a post on how to run a Visual Studio Online (now called Visual Studio Team Services) Build Agent in a Docker Container on Linux. I got some good feedback on this post and now it is time to do the same trick again but only on Windows. Yes ! You […]
Continue readingContact me @ Xpirit
Join the Dutch MS ALM meetup
I speak at Techorama Netherlands
- Knowledge Driven Culture
- Remove the [External] Tag in Outlook
- Aligned Autonomy in Practice
- Building an Engineering Culture
- Embrace chaos to achieve stability
-
Using Personal Access Tokens to access Visual Studio Online
- Changing the product backlog in TFS 2012
-
Use Visual Studio as your Diff and Merging Tool for local files
-
Using Custom Reports in TFS: Part 3 – How to set up my reporting environment and structure
-
TFS as perfect tool for Scrum (Part 5) – Sprint Review and Retrospective
The Road to ALM 