Manage Process Configuration [witadmin]

Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2012

By customizing the process configuration, you can customize the layout and features available through the backlog and task board pages of Team Web Access. You can configure the work items that are listed, the order in which they are listed, and the fields that appear and are used to calculate burndown and capacity.

NoteNote

If you have customized your process template or team project, you may need to customize the process configuration. For more information, see Customize the Backlog and Board Pages Using Process Configuration.

You can manage the process configuration for a team project by using the following commands in the witadmin command-line tool:

  • exportagileprocessconfig:  Exports the process configuration definition that customizes the backlog pages to an XML file or the Command Prompt window.

  • exportcommonprocessconfig:  Exports the process configuration definition that is used in common to an XML file or the Command Prompt window.

  • importagileprocessconfig:  Imports the process configuration definition that customizes the backlog pages from an XML file.

  • importcommonprocessconfig:  Imports the process configuration definition that is used in common from an XML file.

To run the witadmin command-line tool, open a Command Prompt window where either Visual Studio or Team Explorer is installed and enter:

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cd %programfiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE

On a 64-bit edition of Windows, replace %programfiles% with %programfiles(x86)%.

Requirements

  • To export process configuration definitions, you must be a valid user of the team project or collection.

  • To import process configuration definitions, you must be a member of the following security groups: Team Foundation Administrators or Project Administrators.

  • To verify process configuration and access the Agile planning tools available only from Team Web Access, your Team Foundation Server administrator must grant you Web Access Permissions. Additional licensing requirements may apply. For more information, see Change access levels.

For more information, see Team Foundation Server Permissions and Team Foundation Server Default Groups, Permissions, and Roles.

NoteNote

Even if you log on with administrative permissions, you must open an elevated Command Prompt window to run the witadmin command on a server that is running Windows Server 2008. To open an elevated Command Prompt window, click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as Administrator. For more information, see the following page on the Microsoft website: User Access Control.

witadmin exportagileprocessconfig /collection:CollectionURL /p:ProjectName [/f:FileName] [/e:encoding]
witadmin exportcommonprocessconfig /collection:CollectionURL /p:ProjectName [/f:FileName] [/e:encoding] 
witadmin importagileprocessconfig /collection:CollectionURL [/p:ProjectName] /f:FileName [/e:encoding] [/v]
witadmin importcommonprocessconfig /collection:CollectionURL [/p:ProjectName] /f:FileName [/e:encoding] [/v]

Parameters

Parameter

Description

/collection:CollectionURL

Specifies the URL of the collection. You must specify the URI in the following format: http://ServerName:Port/VirtualDirectoryName/CollectionName

If you do not specify a virtual directory, you must specify the URI in the following format:

http://ServerName:Port/CollectionName.

/p:ProjectName

Required. The team project for which you want to export or import the process configuration. This team project must be defined in the collection that you specified by using the /collection parameter. You do not need to specify a team project when you specify the /v switch.

/f:FileName

The path and the name of the XML definition file for the process configuration to export or import.

NoteNote

If the client computer is running Windows Vista, you may not have permissions to certain folders. If you try to export the global list to a location where you do not have permissions, the registry virtualization technology automatically redirects the exported file and saves it to the virtual store. For more information, see the following pages on the Microsoft website: Registry Virtualization and Common file and registry virtualization issues in Windows Vista. To avoid this redirection, you can export the file to a location where you have permissions.

/e:Encoding

Optional. The name of a .NET Framework 2.0 encoding format. The specified encoding will be used to export or import the XML data. For example, /e utf-7 specifies Unicode (UTF-7) encoding. If you omit this parameter, witadmin attempts to detect the encoding and uses UTF-8 if detection fails.

/v

Optional. Validates the XML that defines the process configuration but does not import the definition file.

/? or help

Displays help about the command in the Command Prompt window.

Remarks

If you are updating an upgraded team project and importing process configuration files for the first time, you must import the definition file for CommonConfiguration first, and then import the definition file for AgileConfiguration. Also, the Categories file must contain the definitions for the categories referenced in the CommonConfiguration file. For more information, see Configure features after a TFS upgrade.

Examples

Unless otherwise specified, the following values apply in each example:

  • URL for the collection: http://AdventureWorksServer:8080/tfs/DefaultCollection

  • Team project: Contoso

  • Port number for the server website: 8080

Export the Agile Configuration Definition for a Team Project

The following example exports the process configuration for the team project backlog pages:

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witadmin exportagileprocessconfig /collection:http://AdventureWorksServer:8080/tfs/DefaultCollection /p:Contoso /f:C:AgileConfiguration.xml

Import the Agile Configuration Definition for a Team Project

The following example imports the process configuration for the backlog pages to the Contoso team project:

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witadmin importagileprocessconfig /collection:http://AdventureWorksServer:8080/tfs/DefaultCollection /p:Contoso /f:C:AgileConfiguration.xml 

See Also

Concepts

Configure features after a TFS upgrade
Customize the Backlog and Board Pages Using Process Configuration
Process Configuration XML Element Reference

Other Resources