CODEWITHSUNDEEP
tfshyperlinkreportrequirements
JonN
JonN

Reputation: 2568

Can I create hierarchial Requirements document using TFS query or TFS Report

I am exploring feasibility of using TFS for software process on our next project. One need is to be able to create a requirements document from individual linked requirements within TFS. I've currently got mock-up projects in both Agile and CMMI with a set of requirements linked with parent child relationships. I can query these requirements in both Agile and CMMI but the result doesn't show the hierarchy. With CMMI I can run the report "Project Management::Requirements Progress" which shows requirement titles with indention based on hierarchy. It doesn't however show the detailed descriptions

What I'd like is to auto generate a Word document with hierarchical headings based on TFS requirement work items and their parent/child relationships.

Also to generate rich text and drawings from the TFS requirement Work Item descriptions. So a secondary question is how to change the description field in the Requirements Work Item to support rich text so that the reports can use it. If I try to edit the Task Work Item Description field it warns me that continuing to save may make file unloadable.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 1132

Answers (1)

e-mre
e-mre

Reputation: 3373

To support RichText in your work items you need to edit your work item definition by Work Item Editor wihch can be found in the TFS Power Tools thingy. You should add a new custom rich text field and use that field for your descriptions. (The downside is, Excel plug-in does not support editing richtext fields.They are read-only in Excel)

For printing work items, I had to improvise solution and worked pretty well for me. I used the "Mail Merge" functionality of MS Word and designed a word document. After that I prepared a SQL query that takes the needed field values from TFS Warehouse. Rest is done by MS Word. Mail Merge prepares a single document for each work item record. They are separate documents but it does the trick I suppose.

For creating a hierarchy I think you need to go a little deeper. Since TFS supports parent/child relationships but does not follow any particular sort order, I suppose another custom field is needed. You can either use the field to give hierarchy tokens manually (1.1, 1.2, etc.) or you can develop a little custom command line utility to traverse the work item tree and autoset values for the mentioned custom field.

Upvotes: 1

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