Tiago Pascoal

Gendarme - Code analysis tool

2008-12-29T13:20:14Z

In the last few days I've found a tool called Gendarme it is an open source tool from the Mono Project that allows you to find problems in .Net (either Mono or Microsoft.Net) applications and libraries.

It has a rule based system to do the analysis and it can be seen as an FXCop/Team System Code Analysis kind of system.

I haven't counted the number of rules it provides but doing a visual analysis it doesn't seem to have as many rules as Team System Code Analysis. However quantity isn't everything and from my analysis it has a pretty number of good rules (including some categories that the Code Analysis doesn't has like Linq)

The rules are grouped in the following categories

You can see the full list (and description) of the rules here

There is no Visual Studio integration so you either have to run it from the command line or from a supplied windows form wizard. No MSBuild integration exists either but it would be fairly easy to implement a custom action or just call the execute task.

Integration with TFS could be either easy or hard depending on how fully integrated you would want it. Since the execution of Gendarme produces a report (XML,HTML,etc) you can execute on your build process and make the HTML report available on the build results (the easy part) or if you want full integration like having the data directly on the TFS build warehouse that could a lot more work.

I've spent a couple of hours running it on a median sized project and it enabled me to fix some naming mistakes, make the code more clear in some areas and even fix an error where disposed wasn't being called.

During my analysis I also found a bunch of false positives. The tool has a feature that categorizes the issues that it has found with a degree of confidence, which states the degree of confidence that the rule has in the face of the found issue (most false positives had a medium to high degree of confidence which is a bummer).

The rules documentation is complete and allows you to understand the consequence of not implementing the rule and why you should fix the found issue (although some rules are not documented).

Definitively a tool to use in the future.

[cross posted on http://agilior.pt/blogs/tiago.pascoal/archive/2008/12/29/6537.aspx]

Your Code Sucks and I Hate You

2008-12-29T00:03:22Z

Did the title catch your attention? Well it did mine.

It is the title of a post that I've just read. Although the title seems a little bit trolish it's because it probably is, if you read the subtitle you will see the main title is not only trollish but very misleading. The post subtitle is The Social Dynamics of Code Reviews.

It mainly talks about code reviews in open source projects but most of the knowledge sprung in this post is applicable to close source projects.

Code reviews is something that is hard to do effectively. Even you get past the sociological issues mentioned on the post, without a decent tool it is very hard to keep track what has been reviewed and it's not.

Code review is one of the area I wish there were some kind of offering for TFS. Granted you can do code reviews with shelve sets and some sort of informal communication via email (assigning code review tasks or even a work item type) but that would give us no metrics or a simple way to keep track which parts of the code have been reviewed.

The more complete solution for TFS seems to be TeamReview (freely available on codeplex) which combines specific work item types and a Visual Studio add-in to help you manage the process. While I never tested the tool, I've given some attention to the description and workflow and it seems to work at a very micro level of the code. And the metric tools (what has been reviewed, what is not, etc,etc) seems to be non existant.

There are some more mature solutions that perhaps can be adapted to be used with TFS:

Review board which has originated from VMware
The venerable Codestriker
JCR - which unlike other tools doesn't work at the source control level but with whole files

On the commercial side Code Collaborator from Smart Bear has a good reputation and it works with TFS but never tried it either.

[Cross Posted on http://agilior.pt/blogs/tiago.pascoal/archive/2008/12/28/6528.aspx]

Team System Virtual Machines updates

2008-12-26T11:11:49Z

TheVSTS 2008 virtual machines that are currently available are set to expire on 31 December, so Microsoft by the magical hand of Brian Randell dressed as santa (people who know Brian can easily get the resemblance :-)) and updated the virtual machines to expiry on 31 December 2009.

Not only he updated the machine with the latest goodies (power tools, the database edition GDR) but he also added to the list 2 new virtual images that can be run on Hyper-V, this brings up a total of 4 virtual machines (one with only TFS and another with TFS and Team Suite).

This is what has been included

the latest virtual machine additions or integration services components
all of the latest Windows Updates as of December 1, 2008
Team Foundation Server 2008 SP1
Visual Studio 2008 Team Suite SP1
Team System Web Access 2008 SP1
Team Foundation Power Tools, October 2008 update
the latest MSSCCI provider
Team Explorer 2005 (this allows you to work with TFS from Visual Studio 2005 which is installed so that you can edit and customize TFS reports)
the GDR for the product formally known as Visual Studio 2008 Database Edition (aka Data Dude)
current Process Explorer, Process Monitor, and Background Info

You can get the goods here

VSTS “all-up” Virtual PC/Virtual Server image (6 GB download, expands to 15 GB)
TFS “only” Virtual PC/Virtual Server image (3 GB download, expands to 8 GB)
VSTS “all-up” Hyper-V image (6 GB download, expands to 15 GB)
TFS “only” Hyper-V image (3 GB download, expands to 8 GB)

Or read all the details on Brian's post

[Cross Posted on http://agilior.pt/blogs/tiago.pascoal/archive/2008/12/26/6506.aspx]

TFS Branching guidance 2.0 has been released

2008-12-23T21:32:12Z

When I give a Team System Workshop one of the topics that tends to generate some discusssions is the module about source control and branching (mainly the branching patterns and usage).

Branching is not an easy subject, it normally requires a mindset shift for people who are not used to it. Specially when there are so many ways of doing it.

In TFS 2010 branching is going to be a lot easier and powerful since the team has been spending a lot of time on branching and visualization support

When it comes to branching patterns my bible is still Software Configuration Management Patterns: Effective Teamwork, Practical Integration but a few days ago the VSTS Rangers with the collaboration of the VSTS MVP's has launched the second release of the TFS Branching Guide on codeplex. This will help TFS users deal with branching scenarios and usages in TFS.

What will you get if you download the package?

TFS Branching Guide - Main 2.0
- This is the main article which briefly explains branching concepts and introduces 3 levels of the most common branching scenario
TFS Branching Guide - Scenarios 2.0
- A collection of less common branching scenarios
TFS Branching Guide - Q&A 2.0
- A set of most frequently asked questions with answers
TFS Branching Guide - Drawings 2.0
- A set of branching drawings in different formats including a large branching poster
TFS Branching Guide - Labs 2.0
- A couple of examples for hands on labs with step by step instruction for practicing the branching scenarios

[Cross posted on http://agilior.pt/blogs/tiago.pascoal/archive/2008/12/23/6467.aspx]

Nova Comunidade VSTS no Brasil

2008-12-06T19:18:47Z

Foi lançado no brasil uma nova comunidade virtual de Visual Studio Team System.

É muito recente mas já conta com alguns membros.

Para os interessados, podem encontrá-la aqui

[Crossposted em http://agilior.pt/blogs/tiago.pascoal/archive/2008/12/06/6253.aspx]

Team Foundation Power Tools - October 2008 Just Released

2008-11-08T14:50:06Z

The Team Foundation Power Tool has just been released.

It includes major news since the last release.

Major features highlights:

Explorer Extension - That's right you will now be able to do operations on TFS source controlled files directly from windows explorer!!!!
The concept of Teams (team tools) - The concepts have teams have been introduced. You can see teams inside team explorer (it even has IM integration). It also allows you to have team queries (work items for the team (or sub teams) instead of just my work teams)
Power Shell Extensions - If you are a scripting buff youwill love this
TFS Server Manager - Watch statistics and data about TFS usage (this is the tool Brian Harry uses to give us the TFS dogfood statistics on his blog)

The installer as also been greatly improved (for example the setup is now per machine instead of per user), tfpt.exe had some additions and the help file has been improved.

The Team Tools has a GREAT feature. It allows you to automatically get updates for custom contents (custom controls, check in policies,..) this will greatly reduce the hassle of manually distributing custom controls and check in policies.

Go grab it. I still haven't tried the final version but i have been using a pre release version for a few weeks and it's great (love the team tools).

Kudos for Team System Team to deliver value added tools between the major releases.

It is available for download here

[Cross Posted on http://agilior.pt/blogs/tiago.pascoal/archive/2008/11/08/5898.aspx]

It just doesn't make sense....

2008-07-21T04:48:29Z

According to this article for the first time there is documented case of a Leopard hunting down a crocodile.

While it doesn't seem to be that big of a crocodile nonetheless it seems like a feat for the leopard (I certainly wouldn't mess with either one of them :-)).

But the comment that caught my attention was:

"It just doesn't make sense. The meat you get out of a crocodile is just not worth the risk it takes a predator to acquire."

I have no idea why the Leopard did or what his motivations were. But I drew an immediate parallel to a lot of things that happen in IT. A high risk move for a ridiculous amount of meat. :-)

The photographer's site has a take on the story and the full sequence of photos

TFS: I have a volume license but can't find my serial number anywhere...

2008-07-05T08:25:15Z

This is the question I hear a lot.

People install a TFS trial and when they license it with a volume license agreement but they can't find their serial number to upgrade from trial to licensed version.

After failing to find the key, they do the sensible thing. Call Support. :-) Which normally doesn't help.

Here is the recipe to quick found your key.

Download the TFS ISO file from the volume licensing site.

Either burn the image or use an ISO reader to see it's contents.

There should be a folder called AT which contains a file called setup.sdb

Open setup.sdb with a text editor (notepad will do fine) and search for the string Product Key

The next line contains the product key.

Voilá. You are now read to fire up TFS setup (control panel->add/remove programs) and enter your serial key.

Molding the shape of TFS next version

2008-03-29T15:05:51Z

Once again Team System Product group is asking for the community feedback on some of the upcoming features of TFS next's version.

You have the opportunity to influence the future of TFS to match your needs. The product group has released three more specifications that are open for discussion:

The entire list of already published specs are here

Even though shaping up the future of the next version is great, what is even greater is using Team System 2008 to help us solve our current problems. :-)

I you haven't tried Team System 2008 in the next few days you will have the opportunity to do so. Since the current version VSTS VPC freely available images are set to expire on 1st of April.

A new version of the VPC has been already sent to the distribution server and as we speak (well as i write :-)) it is being replicated to the CDN servers, the release announcement is imminent. :-)

This new version brings some extra goodies. Besides a Team Suite version of VS and TFS server it also has VSTS 2008 Hands on Labs installed (also available has a separate download if you don't want to download the VPC).

Watch out of the announcement of the release very soon on Brian Randell blog

Project Server 2007 VSTS Connector installation gotchas on TFS 2005

2008-03-28T14:12:47Z

On the 10th of March Lenny Fenster released a new version of the Project Server 2007 VSTS Connector.

This releases fixes some bugs and adds support for TFS 2008, unfortunately Lenny forgot (most probably lacked the time to do it) to update the requirements list. We had some issues while upgrading the older version of the connector on a installation still using TFS 2005.

The components install without problems except the connector for Team Foundation server (the third option on the installer). The installer aborts stating it had unexpected error. The log file hasn't any useful information.

After some heavy digging (and nagging Lenny over IM :-)) I figured out that the problem lied on the fact that the connector installer references to TFS 2008 API instead of TFS 2005

To solve the installation problem you have two choices:

Install the TFS 2008 API on the server the connector is going to run. The only way to install the API is by installing Team Explorer 2008
After the first time the installation fails, create a standard .Net policy redirection DLL file configuration file on the installation folder temporary directory (c:\windows\PS2007-TFS Connector) so when the code attempts to to access TFS using the API it uses 2005 API instead of the 2008 version. I haven't gone this path, since this would also involve applying the same redirection on the connector. So in theory this should work but I haven't tested it. :-)

The web site to manage the connector is also configured to use framework 3.5 so you must install framework 3.5 on that machine (if the web site is installed in the same machine as the TFS connector then no need to worry about this since Team Explorer 2008 also installs framework 3.5).

Lost a bunch of hair on this one, I hope this saves you same time if you are in a similar situation.

Requirements Management with Team System

2008-03-22T19:05:26Z

Requirements management is considered one of the Achilles heels of Team System but that is not entirely true. Requirements management is a term that refers to a very broad set of different activities that concern the lifecycle of requirements life.

But there is a certain truth to this pre conceived idea, since Team System offer is (practically) non existent when it comes to requirements elicitation (which is widely confused with requirements management, since requirements elicitation is just a small part of requirements management).

When it comes to requirement management Team System is (imho) only ill served in the elicitation phased. And by that I only mean out of the box support, since there are offers from several partners to help you handle this shortcoming in Team System.

One of my my favorites for this task is the young TeamSpec from Personify Design, if you are more curious about TeamSpec you can watch Juan Perez talking about it oh Channel 9

Microsoft recently launched a Requirements Management with Visual Studio Team System White Paper explaining all the phases of requirements management, how they relate to Team System and some partner products that will help you fill the gaps that Team System currently has.

As a bonus the white paper also includes some information how this gap will be reduced in Rosario (Team System next version).

TeamPrise 3.0 Released

2008-03-19T14:12:30Z

Just got a mail from Martin Woodward that TeamPrise 3.0 has been released. TeamPrise is an amazing piece of technology that allows you to use Team Foundation Server in a cross platform perspective.

If you have cross platform development environment with developers working on different systems like Linux or Mac OS X there are no excuses not to use Team Foundation Server. TeamPrise is the solution that allows you to access Team Foundation Server from any environment that runs java or the Eclipse IDE.

If you are curious on what is new, you can read the changelog for version 3.0.

If you had attended my session last week on Techdays you could have watched my demoing TeamPrise (still v2.0) running in an Linux Machine. :-)

Visual Studio Features comparison

2008-03-05T22:47:44Z

Off all the questions that i got asked, one of the most common is "which edition of Visual studio do I need to take advantage of feature X". It is usually a though question because the number VS of features is huge and the number of editions isn't also very small. :-)

If I can't answer the question directly from top of my head I tend to consult the Visual Studio Features Comparison list.

Is is so huge that there isn't a single matrix that conveys all information, but it is split among 24 (!!!) feature matrixes. :-)

[Cross posted on http://www.agilior.pt/blogs/tiago.pascoal/archive/2008/03/05/3826.aspx]

VST09 - It seems I will do another session on Techdays.....

2008-03-02T11:53:03Z

I have been informed that due to my recent misdeeds I will have to step in and do another session on Techdays.

Although I don't know if this is going to be a punishment for me or if it is my co-presenter Miguel Madeira that is going to be pay the penalty for having me on stage with him. :-)

This is session VST09 and we are going to talk about Team Build, and how you can use it to automate your build present and how you can use on you your agile development process by leveraging the continuous integration capabilities.

Don't worry, if you are yet not aware of what is continuous integration at the end of the session you will. We will explain what is continuous integration, what are the advantages and where does continuous integration fits in Team Build within the build process and the unit testing.

We will also explain how you can leverage the build process to help you in other areas of your development process but we don't want to spoil all the surprises, see you in the session. :-)

[Cross Posted on http://www.agilior.pt/blogs/tiago.pascoal/archive/2008/03/02/3799.aspx]

Visual Studio Team System Best Practices pre session on Techdays feedback

2008-02-19T22:54:16Z

It seems I'm going to present a session on Techdays 2008 on Team System best practices.

I would like to know what are your expectations for such a session and what kind of topics you would like to be covered on this session?

I would love to have your feedback. :-)

[Cross posted on http://agilior.pt/blogs/tiago.pascoal/archive/2008/02/19/3728.aspx]