All posts tagged Development

AGILE Software Development and TFS 2010

While researching ways to use TFS 2010 with the AGILE method of Software Development, I created a quick but efficient outline that is useful when proposing the process for developer and business use. I also added a few links that could assist new users to Team Foundation Server, with details on how to complete certain task within TFS. It would be great to read suggestions from others that may be using TFS in a different manner to broaden my knowledge base.

The Development outline while working with TFS 2010 is as follows.

1. User Stories are entered in TFS with Estimates.
2. Tasks are created and linked to the User Stories.
3. Test Cases are created in TFS and linked to User Stories.
4. Bugs are filed and linked to the User Story.
5. Once all Tasks,Test Cases, and Bugs are completed the User Stories are mark as resolved.
6. Reports are created to ensure all items are resolved and the Project is complete before release.

Work Items and Workflow (Agile)

• Defining User Stories, Tasks, and Other Work Items
• Creating a User Story, a Task, or Another Type of Work Item
• Creating Many User Stories, Tasks, or Other Work Items at One Time
• Creating a Work Item that Automatically Links to Another Work Item
• Creating Test Cases and Test Plans By Using Test and Lab Manager
• Opening and Tracking Bugs By Using Test Runner and Test and Lab Manager
• Viewing Work Items Assigned to You
• Customizing Work Item Types and Related Tasks

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd997897(v=VS.100).aspx#CreatingManyWorkItems

Working with User Stories

• Defining a User Story
• Adding and Linking Tasks to a User Story
• Adding and Linking Test Cases to a User Story
• Adding a Bug to a User Story
• Adding an Issue to a User Story
• Adding Details, Attachments, or Hyperlinks to a User Stories
• Resolving and Closing a User Story

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd380634(VS.100).aspx#LinkBug

Working with Tasks

• Defining a Task
• Linking a Task to a User Story
• Linking a Task to a Bug
• Adding Details, Attachments, or Hyperlinks to a Task
• Closing Completed Tasks

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd380700(v=VS.100).aspx

Complete Process with Details on All Reports

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd997796(v=VS.100).aspx#TrackTheProject

Product Planning Workbook (Reports)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd380682(v=VS.100).aspx

MSF for Agile Software Development v5.0

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd380647(VS.100).aspx

My Developer Toolkit

Here’s a list of tools, tips, and sites that I find very valuable when it comes to developing and learning. A large amount of this list came from my Web Programming  professor Les Lusk. Hopefully this list will become useful to someone other than myself if not it will still serve as a good reference when setting up development images for friends to use. As I continue to grow I am sure this list will do the same.

Browsers

Opera – The forgotten of the top three browsers. Now available for free! This is the number one browser for cell phone users!

Firefox – Firefox is the best all around browser for Web development. It is also the fastest growing and second-most popular.

Safari – You already have this if you are a Mac user, but now Window’s users can also download for free!

FireFox -Add-ons

All of these utilities work from within the FireFox browser:

• ColorZilla – A collection of tools, including a Color Picker similar to the one found in Photoshop
• Edit Cookies – add, edit and delete session and saved cookies
• FireBug – Firebug integrates with Firefox to put a wealth of development tools at your fingertips while you browse. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any Web page – a must have.
• FireShot – a Firefox extension that creates screenshots of Web pages.
• HTML Validator – Adds HTML and XHTML validation to your browser
• IE View – adds “View this page in IE” to your FireFox Menus
• JS View - allows you to view the source code of external files.(Javascripts/CSS)
• Opera View – adds “View this page in Opera” to your FireFox Menus
• Safari View – adds “View this page in Safari” to your FireFox Menus
• Link Checker – Checks for valid links on any given page
• MeasureIt – a ruler to measure height/width for any page element
• Web Developer – assorted Web Developer tools for your browser – a must have.

XHTML authoring

HTML-Kit – Free full functioned editor with XHTML conversion utility/split screen viewing and the ability to load external plug-in utilities.

Jedit – A cross platform programmer’s text editor written in Java that is customizable with plugins (requires Java to be installed on your machine). Make sure to download the “stable version” not the “latest version” for best results.

HTML Validator Lite – The free lightweight version of the HTML Validator software.

TopStyle Lite – Free CSS editor

FTP

FileZilla – FileZilla is a fast and reliable FTP client with a “Windows Explorer” type of interface, lots of useful features, the ability to resume downloads and the SSH/SFTP.

FireFTP – a plug-in for FireFox which gives you instant access to FTP from within your browser.

Online Resources

Net Mechanic – Check HTML coding/load time (up to 20 pages with registration)

Net Tuts+ – Web Developer and Design Tutorials (Great Resource to have)

pForm - Quick and easy form creation. (This will save you a lot of time)

SitePoint - Fresh Thinking for Web Developers and Designers (Books and Useful Articles)

TAW (Web Accessibility Test) – A tool for the analysis of Web sites, based on the W3C – Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0).

WDVL – The Open Source Reference Library – JavaScript, Perl, HTML, PHP, Perl, Python Ruby, Rails, Soap and more!

Web Pages That Suck – Learn good web design by looking at bad web design

Server-side Downloads

Windows/Mac Users – install MySQL/PHP at once:

• XAMPP – XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is really very easy to install and to use – just download, extract and start.
• AMPstart – You can use this with XAMPP to allow your environment to run on a USB key!

Windows Users – install the entire package at once:

• WampServer – WampServer is a Windows Web development environment. It allows you to create Web applications with Apache, PHP and the MySQL database. It also comes with PHPMyAdmin and SQLiteManager to easily manage your databases. WampServer installs automatically (installer), and its usage is very intuitive. You will be able to tune your server without even touching the setting files.

or install all of the services separately:

• Apache HTTP server – The number one Web server in the world. (open source)
• MySQL – MySQL database server.
• PHP – PHP programming language.
• PHPmyAdmin – Web Interface for MySQL. Eliminates the need to do command line administration.

Utilities

Zone Alarm – Personal firewall software. If you don’t have a firewall on your machine – you should!

Font Lister – Free font viewing and printing utility. You can view the fonts on your machine both installed or in a folder

Cliptrak – Multiple Clipboard Utility

CPUID – Is a freeware  app that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system. (Must Have)

WinDirStat - WinDirStat is a disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup tool for Microsoft Windows (all current variants). “Great Way to identify what’s eating up your disk space.”