Linking Work Items (Agile)

You create relationships between user stories, tasks, test cases, and other work items through the Implementation, Links, All Links and Test Cases tabs on the forms for those work items. This topic describes the controls and data fields that are associated with creating links and hyperlinks.

For more information about how to use links, see Choosing Link Types to Effectively Track Your Project. For more information about how to create links, see Creating Relationships Between Work Items and Other Resources.

Note

A few reports provided in the process template for MSF for Agile Software Development v5.0 require that you create links between specific work items. Specifically, the Stories Overview and Stories Progress report require that you create links between user stories and tasks and between user stories and test cases. For more information, see Stories Overview Report (Agile) and Stories Progress Report (Agile).

In this topic

• Link Toolbar Buttons

• Link Controls and Restrictions

• Default Link List Data Fields

• Additional Link Related Fields that Support Query and Reporting

Link Toolbar Buttons

Each tab provides a toolbar, which contains the buttons that the following illustration summarizes:

The following buttons become available only after you perform a specific action:

• The button to create a work item that is linked to the open work item () becomes available only after you save the open work item.

• The buttons to open the list of work items in a query () and in a Microsoft Office client () become available only when at least one work item is listed in the links control tab.

• The buttons to open a work item (), edit a link (), and delete a link () become available only after you click one or more work items listed in the links control tab.

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Link Controls and Restrictions

All tabs that support creating links between work items are implemented by using the LinksControl element on the work item form. This element controls filtering and restricting the types of work items to which you can link, the types of links that you can create, and whether you can link to work items in another team project. For more information about how to restrict links, see LinksControlOptions Elements.

The following table summarizes the restrictions for all types of work items.

Work item type	Tab name	Link restrictions
User story	Implementation	Allows only Parent and Child links. Excludes links to work items in other team projects.
User story	Test Cases	Allows only Tested By links. Allows links only to test cases. Excludes links to work items in other team projects.
User story Task Test Case Bug	All Links	No restrictions.
Task	Implementation	Allows only Parent and Child links. Excludes links to work items in other team projects.
Test case	Tested User Stories	Allows only Tests links. Allows links to any work item type. Excludes links to work items in other team projects.
Issue Shared steps	Links	No restrictions.
Bug	Test Cases	Allows only Tested By links. Allows links only to test cases. Excludes links to work items in other team projects.

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Default Data Fields in Lists of Links

All lists of links display the following data fields:

• Work item ID

• Work Item Type

• Title

• Assigned to

• State

• [Link Comment]

You can add or remove columns from the list of links, and you can customize the default columns and the column order. For more information, see LinksControlOptions Elements.

For more information about these fields, see Titles, IDs, Descriptions, and History (Agile) and Assignments and Workflow (Agile).

The following table describes the [Link Comment] data field. For information about data types and default field values, see Working with Work Item Fields.

Field Name	Description	Reference Name	Data Type	Default Value for the Reportable Type Attribute	Default Value for the Index Attribute
Link Comment	Contains comments from the team member who created the link. You can configure this attribute field to appear as a column in a list of links on a work item form.	System.Links.Comment	PlainText	None	False

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Additional Fields and Support Query and Reporting

The following table lists fields that do not appear on the work item forms but that are tracked for each type of work item when you link them. You can use these fields to filter queries and create reports.

Field Name	Description	Reference Name	Data Type	Default Value for the Reportable Type Attribute	Default Value for the Index Attribute
External Link Count	The number of links from the work item to artifacts that are not work items and that are registered through the Team Foundation Linking Service. For more information, see this topic on the Microsoft Web site: Linking Service.	System.ExternalLinkCount	Integer	None	False
Hyper Link Count	The number of hyperlinks that are defined for the work item.	System.HyperLinkCount	Integer	None	False
Related Link Count	The number of links from the work item to other work items.	System.RelatedLinkCount	Integer	None	False
Link Description	Contains the work item type, ID, and title of the work item that is the target of the link. You can configure this link attribute field to appear as a column in a list of links on a work item form.	System.Links.Description	PlainText	None	False

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See Also

Reference

LinksControlOptions Elements

Concepts

Using System Fields and Fields Defined by the MSF Process Templates

Other Resources

Customizing How Work Items are Related through Link Types

Work Items and Workflow (Agile)

Work Item Fields (Agile)