Working with Check-in Policies and Notes
Check-in policies are a mechanism for enforcing development practices across your development team. Check-in notes are a communication mechanism for collecting data from team members during the check-in process. Both of these are customizable to meet the needs of a team. This section explains the purpose of these items and also describes how to configure them.
Check-in Policies
Check-in policies are used to enforce mandatory software development practices. Policy is enforced during the check-in process in the Check In and Pending Changes windows. If a user attempts to perform a check-in, in violation of a policy, their check-in is blocked. If necessary, these policies may be overridden. For more information, see How to: Override a Check-in Policy.
Policies are configured and established in the Source Control Settings window. A sample policy constraint is “You must associate your changes with one or more work items.” This policy prevents users from submitting changes without having a specific bug or feature they are working on.
When policies are violated, they are presented to the user during the source control check-in process in the Check In and Pending Changes window. For more information, see Using the Check In and Pending Changes Windows.
Check-in Notes
Check-in notes are used for capturing specific pieces of information during the check-in process by prompting the user for specific data. Check-in notes can be configured and made mandatory in the Source Control Settings window. The information archived in check-in notes can be vital when viewing the details of a Working with Source Control Changesets. For more information, see Viewing Historical Data.
Check-in notes are presented to the user during the source control check-in process in the Check In and Pending Changes windows. For more information, see Using the Check In and Pending Changes Windows.
In This Section
- How to: Add Check-in Policies
Describes how to create custom check-in policies associated with Team Foundation source control check-ins.
- How to: Edit Check-in Policies
Explains the procedures used to modify a check-in policy.
- How to: Remove Check-in Policies
Describes the steps required to delete a check-in policy.
- How to: Enable and Disable Check-in Policies
Explains the steps used to either enable or disable an existing check-in policy.
- How to: Configure Check-in Notes
Describes the steps used to configure custom check-in notes associated with Team Foundation source control check-ins.
See Also
Tasks
How to: Check In Pending Changes
Walkthrough: Exploring Team Foundation Source Control