Join members of the Visual Studio Team System product group to discuss features available in Visual Studio Team Foundation Server, Team Editions for Architects, Developers, Database Pros, and Testers. In addition, discuss what's new in the latest Community Technology Preview (CTP).

Join the chat on Wednesday, November 8^th, 2006 from 10:00am - 11:00am Pacific Time.

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This weekend I was hard at work tidying up the TfsAlert source base, fixing Vista breaking changes.  This morning I finally migrated it to CodePlex.  Right now we are actively working on the package for an initial release.  We should have that released later this week.

If you download the source there are a few things to note.

• The source base with all written TDD but using partial classes.  Our deployment package will strip out the tests but right now if you run you will need those testing assemblies.
• We currently call the TFS OM directly to subscribe so you have to have those assemblies installed .  This will be changed in a future release to call the Web Service directly. 
• Currently listens on port 9999.  You have to manually open the Windows Firewall so it can listen on that port.
• You have to setup the config.  We don't have a UI screen for that yet.  There are just a few settings in the config file.
  • Add your TFS Server.
  • Add your User Id
  • Select the events you want to subscribe to, Selected == true / false
  • Add a filter expression for that event.

There is one critical bug we are currently addressing.  Right now if your network interface drops out and you are assigned a new IP we orphan that event subscription in TFS and don't get a chance to clean it up.

So just what is TfsAlert?

TfsAlert is a .Net 3.0 smart client which monitors for subscribed TFS notifications and will display a balloon window in the Windows TaskBar Notification Area.  It is built on top of WCF where you can subscribe to any TFS event you feel fit.  It's initial focus is around Team Build management but will also include features around Work Item tracking.

How about that for an official party line!

I started TfsAlert back when TFS was in it's beta days.  I've used Cruise Control for many years and I just felt naked without the tray, so TfsAlert was born.  Yes I have copied some of the feature ideas.  So far it has been a great learning experience of not only .

Net 3.0 but TFS integration.  I am excited about the expanded development and communities response.

A few minutes ago the TfsAlert CodePlex how was created.  It's going to take me a few days just to get everything transferred over and get a build out, but it's high on my list. 

http://www.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?ProjectName=TfsAlert

 Wow, so its really been a long time since I posted any real content. This past year has just been a whirl wind of activities for both my wife and I. We had our first kid, built a new house, yaddaa yaddaa yaaddaa. Before you know it a whole 6 months slipped from your fingers.

So enough of the excuses, lets catch up.

1. This is my kid Ethan or "E" as we call him, he wanted to say hello! -->
2. New version of TFS Power Toys released. If you haven't installed them yet what are you waiting for? You don't have to install the SDK anymore.
3. Martin Woodward became an MVP! A big congratulations out to him.
4. TFS SP1 Beta was released.
5. Jeff Beehler started to blog again.

There is some exciting stuff coming so stayed tuned.

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If you are doing anything with .Net 2.0 chances are you have a set of MSBuild files supporting your application.  That means you already know MSBuild just rocks.  What better than MSBuild? MSBuild with a sweet task library to support it of course!  That task library would be the Enterprise Solutions Build Framework or Microsoft.SDC.Tasks as I like to call it.

Well they just released a new version!  The biggest change was the introduction of BizTalk 2006 tasks.  If BizTalk isn't your fancy then you will be pleased to also know there are some new TFS tasks also.

To find out more information visit http://www.gotdotnet.com/codegallery/codegallery.aspx?id=b4d6499f-0020-4771-a305-c156498db75e

These guys do a stellar job!  I have been using this library for about a year now and it goes everywhere I go.

Been catching up on the ole blogs when I ran across a post from Scott Guthrie about a new ASP .Net 2.0 feature with a file called App_Offline.htm. 

"One of the new features I talked about was the "App_Offline.htm" feature in ASP.NET 2.0, which provides a super convenient way to bring down an ASP.NET application while you make changes to it (for example: updating a lot of content or making big changes to the site where you want to ensure that no users are accessing the application until all changes are done)."

From: Scott Guthrie, App_Offline.htm and working around the "IE Friendly Errors" feature

I must admit thats pretty awesome and very welcomed.

I happen to work in the Financial Services vertical and it seems daily you hear someone talking about compliance.  This topic is usually a mystery to most people except the lawyers.  Well the Microsoft Solutions for Security and Compliance (MSSC) team published the Regulatory Compliance Planning Guide, which is also available for download as a Word doc.

If you deal with any of the following you will want to read.

• Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)
• Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
• European Union Data Protection Directive (EUDPD)
• ISO 17799:2005 Code of Practice for Information Security

Thanks Rob Caron for the post.