Automating Work Item Creation in TFS 2010 with PowerShell, Continued

In a previous post, Automating Task Creation in Team Foundation Server with PowerShell, I demonstrated how to automate the creation of TFS Task-type Work Items using PowerShell. After writing that post, I decided to go back and further automate my own processes. I combined two separate scripts that I use on a regular basis, one that creates the initial Change Request (CR) Work Item, and a second that creates the Task Work Items associated with the CR. Since I usually run both scripts successively and both share many of the same variables, combining the scripts made sense. I now have a single PowerShell script that will create the parent Change Request and the associated Tasks in TFS. The script reduces my overall time to create the Work Items by a few minutes for each new CR. The script also greatly reduces the risk of input errors from typing the same information multiple times in Visual Studio. The only remaining manual step is to link the Tasks to the Change Request in TFS.

The Script

Similar to the previous post, for simplicity sake, I have presented a basic PowerShell script. The script could easily be optimized by wrapping the logic into a function with input parameters, further automating the process. I’ve placed a lot of comments in the script to explain what each part does, and help make customization easier. The script explicitly declares all variables, adhering to PowerShell’s Strict Mode (Set-StrictMode -Version 2.0). I feel this makes the script easier to understand and reduces the possibility of runtime errors.

#############################################################
#
# Description: Automatically creates
# (1) Change Request-type Work Item and
# (5) Task-type Work Items in TFS.
#
# Author: Gary A. Stafford
# Created: 07/18/2012
# Modified: 07/18/2012
#
#############################################################

# Clear Output Pane
clear

# Loads Windows PowerShell snap-in if not already loaded
if ( (Get-PSSnapin -Name Microsoft.TeamFoundation.PowerShell -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -eq $null )
{
	Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.TeamFoundation.PowerShell
}

# Set Strict Mode - optional
Set-StrictMode -Version 2.0

#############################################################

# Usually remains constant
[string] $tfsServerString = "http://[YourServerNameGoesHere]/[PathToCollection]"
[string] $areaPath = "Development\PowerShell"
[string] $workItemType = "Development\Change Request"
[string] $description = "Create Task Automation PowerShell Script"

# Usually changes for each Sprint - both specific to your environment
[string] $iterationPath = "PowerShell\TFS2010"

# Usually changes for each CR and Tasks
[string] $requestName = "Name of CR from Service Manager"
[string] $crId = "000000"
[string] $priority = "1"
[string] $totalEstimate = "10" # Total of $taskEstimateArray
[string] $assignee = "Doe, John"
[string] $testType = "Unit Test"

# Task values represent units of work, often 'man-hours'
[decimal[]] $taskEstimateArray = @(2,3,10,3,.5)
[string[]] $taskNameArray = @("Analysis", "Design", "Coding", "Unit Testing", "Resolve Tasks")
[string[]] $taskDisciplineArray = @("Analysis", "Development", "Development", "Test", $null)

#############################################################

Write-Host `n`r**** Create CR started...`n`r

# Build string of field parameters (key/value pairs)
[string] $fields = "Title=$($requestName);Description=$($description);CR Id=$($crId);"
$fields += "Estimate=$($totalEstimate);Assigned To=$($assignee);Test Type=$($testType);"
$fields += "Area Path=$($areaPath);Iteration Path=$($iterationPath);Priority=$($priority);"

#For debugging - optional console output
Write-Host `n`r $fields

# Create the CR (Work Item)
tfpt workitem /new $workItemType /collection:$tfsServerString /fields:$fields

Write-Host `n`r**** Create CR completed...`n`r

#############################################################

# Loop and create of eack of the (5) Tasks in prioritized order
[int] $i = 0

Write-Host `n`r**** Create Tasks started...`n`r

# Usually remains constant
$workItemType = "Development\Task"

while ($i -le 4) {
	# Concatenate name of task with CR name for Title and Description fields
	$taskTitle = $taskNameArray[$i] + " - " + $requestName

	 # Build string of field parameters (key/value pairs)
	 [string] $fields = "Title=$($taskTitle);Description=$($taskTitle);Assigned To=$($assignee);"
	 $fields += "Area Path=$($areaPath);Iteration Path=$($iterationPath);Discipline=$($taskDisciplineArray[$i]);Priority=$($i+1);"
	 $fields += "Estimate=$($taskEstimateArray[$i]);Remaining Work=$($taskEstimateArray[$i]);Completed Work=0"

	 #For debugging - optional console output
	 Write-Host `n`r $fields

	 # Create the Task (Work Item)
	 tfpt workitem /new $workItemType /collection:$tfsServerString /fields:$fields

	 $i++
}

Write-Host `n`r**** Create Tasks completed...`n`r

Deleting Work Items with PowerShell

Team Foundation Server Administrators know there is no delete button for Work Items in TFS. So, how do you delete (destroy, as TFS calls it) a Work Item? One way is from the command line, as demonstrated in the previous post. You can also use PowerShell, calling the witAdmin command-line tool, but this time from within PowerShell, as follows:

[string] $tfsServerString = "http://[YourServerNameGoesHere]/[PathToCollection]"
[string] $tfsWorkIemId = "00000"
$env:path += ";C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE"
witadmin destroywi /collection:$tfsServerString /id:$tfsWorkIemId /noprompt

First, use PowerShell to set your path environmental variable to include your local path to witadmin.exe. Then set your TFS Server path and the TFS Work Item ID of the Work Item you want to delete. Or, you can call witAdmin, including the full file path, avoiding setting the path environmental variable. True, you could simplify the above to a single line of code, but I feel using variables is easier to understand for readers then one long line of code.