Release Notes – http://tfsdemosetup.codeplex.com/  | Download | Source Code | Report a Bug | Ideas

To Demonstrate the capabilities of TFS 2012 Server/Service Task board you would need to set up TFS with some teams, a few team members, some sample stories, tasks, etc. That’s too many steps if you as me!

Hi! My name is Tarun Arora, I am a Microsoft MVP in Visual Studio ALM & a Visual Studio ALM Ranger, as a consultant I have had to demo TFS Preview to potential customers several times a day. I usually create the team project during the demo to show off how quick and efficient it is, but setting up teams, team members, tasks usually takes longer I don’t prefer carrying out these steps during the demo. I have developed a .net based console application which uses the TFS API to create a standard demo environment saving me from all these manual steps. The console application reads the set up information from an XML file, leaving the setup process highly customizable.

Figure 1 – Demo Dictionary, change values here for unique setup

The console application today sets up,

1. Create a new Team

2. Set the team as the default team

3. Configure team settings

     a. Set Backlog Iteration path

     b. Set Team Iterations and start & finish dates

     c. Set Team Area path

4. Add Team Members

5. Add Product Backlog Items & linked Tasks.

Image 2 – The team website before (on the left) and after (on the right) running the console app

Image 3 – Team configuration before (on left) and after (on right) with new team Demo and 2 members

Image 4 – Iteration configuration before (on left) and after (on right) with new backlog iteration path & sprint dates set

Image 5 – Area configuration (on left) and after (on right) with area path configured for the team

Image 6 – A demo ready Task Board and Task Board for Team Members

Credits,

- Mattias Sköld [Visual Studio ALM Ranger] – I have used TfsTeamTools to perform team creation & add members

- Ivan Popek – TFS 2012 API blog posts had some fantastic reusable samples. 

- Shai Raiten [Microsoft ALM MVP] – Great collection of posts on TFS API.

Enjoy!