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Regionalising a TFS Process Template (Pt 2)

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In my previous post, I described how to create a new SharePoint global template with the correct settings for your region. For those already familiar with SharePoint, this is probably nothing new. The next step however is to link the new SharePoint template to a TFS process template.

Continuing on with the Agile example, use the following steps to perform the linkage:

  1. Use Process Template Manager to download the "MSF for Agile Software Development - v4.0" process template to disk. For the uninitiated, "Process Template Manager" can be accessed using the following steps:
    1. Launch Team Explorer and connect to your TFS box
    2. Using the context menu of the server node (right-click on the root node in Team Explorer), expand Team Foundation Server Settings
    3. Select Process Template Manager
  2. Locate the directory containing the downloaded process template and open the .\Windows SharePoint Services\WssTasks.XML file using your favourite XML editor - Visual Notepad perhaps ;-).
  3. Look for the "template" attribute in the "site" element near the top of the file. For the MSF Agile template, this should have the value "VSTS_MSFAgile". This is the value that we're going to change. At the moment, this indicates that when creating an MSF Agile team project, TFS should use the "VSTS_MSFAgile" SharePoint template to create the SharePoint component.
  4. Now change the value of the "template" attribute to the name of your previously regionalised SharePoint template. In my case, this is "en_AU_MSFAgile".
  5. Save the WssTasks.XML file.
  6. Before uploading the modified process template, we should change its name so that it is distinguishable from the original MSF Agile template. To do this, first open the .\ProcessTemplate.xml file with your editor.
  7. Change the value of the "name" element near the top of the file to something new. I'm going to use "MSF for Agile Software Development - v4.0 (en-AU)".
  8. Save the ProcessTemplate.xml file.
  9. Use Process Template Manager to upload the modified set of files.

If that succeeds, you should be ready to create a new Team Project based on the regionalised template. The SharePoint sites based on this new process template should now show dates etc in the format that is used by your region.

Give it a go.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    August 10, 2006
    Excellent post, Andrew. Just out of curiosity: WHERE do you get this kind of information? I was trying to create a custom process template and coudn't get rid of the default doc libraries on the sharepoint site TFS creates. The customization process you described allowed me to do that and much more. But I couldn't figure it out until I read your post...

    Thanks a lot!!!
  • Anonymous
    August 23, 2006
    The comment has been removed