Receive build notifications

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

• You are a developer waiting for the outcome of a continuous integration or gated check-in build.

• You are a tester waiting for a build to be completed (including results from some automated test runs) so that you can begin manually testing the application.

You can monitor your builds by enabling email alerts, or by setting Team Foundation Server build notifications that are displayed on your notification area.

• Enable build notification email alerts

• Monitor build progress by using the Build Notifications application

Tip

You can also stay informed about your builds if you open the Builds page in a new window. Press Ctrl + 0, B and undock it from Team Explorer.

Enable build notification email alerts

You can register one or more email addresses to receive email alerts when the following Team Foundation events occur in a given team project:

• A build queued by you has been completed.

• Any build has been completed.

• The quality rating of any build changes.

To enable build notification e-mail alerts

1. In Team Explorer:

   • If you are not already connected to the team project that you want to work in, then connect to the team project.

   • Choose Home, and then choose Settings.

   • On the Settings page, under Team Project, choose Project Alerts.

2. Select one or more alert events.

3. In the Send My Alerts To box, choose Edit and enter the email address of each person who should receive the alerts. Use semicolons to separate multiple email addresses.

Monitor build progress by using the Build Notifications application

You can use the Build Notifications application to receive alerts from your notification area when the build is complete.

To use the Build Notifications application

1. From Windows Start, run Build Notifications.

2. In the Windows notification area, open the context menu for Team Foundation Build Notification, and then choose Options.

3. In the Build Notifications Options window, select the team project collections, team projects, or build definitions about which you want to be notified.

   Tip

   If you want to add or remove a server from this list, open Visual Studio and then open the Connect page (Keyboard: Press Ctrl + 0, C).

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.