10 December 2007

Build Type Settings Changes

I've fielded a couple of questions lately about where some of the settings for build types in TFS 2008 are stored.  In the new version of TFS (2008) some of the build type settings have been moved from the TFSBuild.proj file to the TFS databases (mostly the TfsBuild database).  So, even though you see the settings within the XML file (TFSBuild.proj) the XML settings have no effect on builds within TFS 2008.  However, if you still have VS 2005 (or other "version 1") clients accessing your TFS 2008 build types, you should keep the XML settings in sync with the TFS 2008 database settings.

The settings that have been moved to the database include:

  • Description - the build type's description.
  • Build Machine - the default build agent.
  • Team Project - the Team Project the build type belongs to.
  • Build Directory - the directory where the files involved in the build are built.
  • Drop Location - the network location where the build files are "dropped".

If you create a new build type, you will see comments within the XML file noting the change in settings location.  For example:

<!--  DESCRIPTION
This property is included only for backwards compatibility. The description of a build definition
is now stored in the database. For compatibility with V1 clients, keep this property in sync with
the value in the database.
-->
<Description>This is my build type's description.</Description>

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