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Monitor Progress of a Running Build

  • Article

There are many situations when you want to monitor the progress of a build. Some examples include:

  • You could be a developer waiting for the outcome of a gated check-in.

  • You could be a tester waiting for a build to be completed so that you can begin testing the application.

There are several ways to monitor a build:

Monitor Build Progress in the Build Results Window

You can view a detailed data about an ongoing build, including which tasks have been completed and the outcome of those tasks. The build progress information in the window is refreshed automatically during the build process.

Required Permissions

To perform this procedure, you must have the Team Foundation Server View Build permission set to Allow. For more information, see Team Foundation Server Permissions.

To monitor build progress in the build results window

  1. In Team Explorer, in the team project that you are working in, right-click the Builds folder and click View Builds.

    Build Explorer appears.

    Tip

    To view completed or queued builds for only one build definition, in Team Explorer, open the Builds folder, right-click the build definition name, and then click View Builds.

  2. Click the Queued tab.

    Important

    If you do not see a build that you expect to see in the list, check the values in the filter menus located at the top of the Build Explorer window.

  3. Right-click the build that you want to view and click Open.

    The build results window appears.

    Note

    You cannot use the build results window to view a build whose status is Queued Queued Build.

Monitor Build Progress by Using the Build Notifications Application

  • You can use the Build Notifications Application to receive alerts from your system tray when the build is completed.

To Use the Build Notifications Application

  1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, click Team Foundation Server Tools, and then click Build Notifications.

  2. In the Windows system tray, right-click the Team Foundation Build Notification Team Foundation Build Notification icon icon and then click Options.

    The Build Notifications Options window appears.

  3. Select the team project collections, team projects, or build definitions about which you want to be notified.

  4. Under Show notifications for builds triggered or queued by, select either Me - <Name of Your User Account> or Anyone.

  5. Under Show notifications when builds are, select one or more of the following options: Queued, Started, Finished.

See Also

Concepts

Run and Monitor Builds

Manage and View Completed Builds

Queue a Build

Other Resources

Team Foundation Build Commands