TFS Synchronisation - techtalk/SpecLog-Resources GitHub Wiki

Required Permissions for Synchronising with TFS

The TFS user assigned to the plugin is used to synchronise data with TFS, and requires the following permissions (group memberships) in TFS:

Member of the tfs service accounts group
In order to impersonate other users (so that the correct user name appears in the history), the account requires the Make requests on behalf of others permission (granted by default to users in the tfs service accounts group)
An access level (e.g. "Basic") that allows access to the Code area in order to link feature files

If you are experiencing problems relating to permissions, we recommend first verifying whether you can access the TFS project with your user account. If so, enter your account details in the plugin's settings and test the synchronisation. Provided you can access the TFS project, the synchornisation service should also be able to synchronise requirements from SpecLog to TFS using your account (although impersonation may not work).

Synchronisation

Resolving Synchronisation Conflicts

If conflicting changes are made in both SpecLog and TFS, the changes in SpecLog take precedence, and those made in TFS are discarded. There is no merge function.

Synchronisation Schedule

Since SpecLog continuously saves user input as update commands (implicit save), and TFS requires changes to a work item to be saved explicitly, the synchronisation plugin synchronises batches of changes in SpecLog with TFS at regular intervals.

Changing this interval affects how quickly changes in SpecLog are synchronised with TFS, as well as the size of the work items' update history (shorter update intervals mean a longer history).

You can configure the synchronisation schedule in the PluginSynchronizationSettings section of SpecLog.server.exe.config.

Manual Synchronisation

When using V3 of the TFS synchronisation plugin, you can manually synchronise SpecLog with all linked TFS work items. To do so:

Select Manage repositories from the menu.
Connect to your server.
Click on the small right arrow next to the repository you want to synchronise and select Configure plugins.
Locate the TFS V3 plugin in the list. Click on the small right arrow to access the menu and select Sync all requirements to TFS.
The requirements in the repository are synchronised with TFS. This may take a while to complete!

Note: Even if no changes are made to the contents of work items in TFS, SpecLog makes a minor change to ensure that the history is updated to include this synchronisation.

Synchronisation Issues

If the V3 plugin's status changes from "Busy" (synchronising) to "Running", but not all requirements have been synchronised, check the server logs for information on any errors. No explicit error messages are displayed in the application itself.

Fields

Fields in requirements in SpecLog (i.e. header, goal, title, actor) are transferred to TFS as follows:

The field defined as the Header in the requirement card template is synchronised with the Title field in TFS.
All fields in the requirement card are synchronised with the Description field in TFS, including any field prefixes.

Acceptance Criteria

Acceptance criteria and attachments are written to the Acceptance Criteria field in TFS, and attachments are also listed on the Attachments tab.
Note: You can only delete attachments in SpecLog. If you delete an attachment in TFS but keep the attachment in SpecLog, the attachment will be restored in TFS the next time the requirement is synchronised.

Reordering acceptance criteria in SpecLog does not count as a change and thus will not trigger the synchronisation with TFS. You need to make a manual change to the content to force synchronisation in this case.

Warning: Do not edit acceptance criteria in TFS! Changes made to acceptance criteria in TFS cannot be synchronised with SpecLog even if back-synchronisation is enabled. Changes made in TFS will be overwritten by the contents in your SpecLog repository.