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Welcome to Project BHAL

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QuickStart Guide

Click here for the QuickStart Guide on developing for BHAL.

CodePlex

For the Codeplex project website click here.

Briefing

This project aims at being a customizable orchestrator for managing Teams with the aid of Team Foundation Server.

Please help add some value to the project by commenting on the vision statement document.

Project BHAL is an effort towards a few goals:

1. Evaluating the new .Net 3.0 tools - Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Workflow Foundation
2. Creating a tool that helps project managers in the task of managing teams using Team Foundation Server
3. Creating a tool that helps companies track developer times by activities without disrupting (much) of the developers work.

When I first checked TFS I saw the workflow feature in the workitem type definition, so I thought: "Cool I can do workflows of workitems". But you can´t.

The need for this project came because the current version of Team Foundation Server does not support orchestration of workitems, in the sense of a workitem change causing the creation of another workitem, for instance.

When asked about this, the VSTS team replied that this is a fairly common request, but even so they only intend to implement it in future releases.

Let's get an example so you can understand more about this project.

Let's suppose that in my company I have two workitem types: support ticket and bug. I want to enable the following workflow in my projects:

(In case you can´t see the workflow it´s basically a flow of a support ticket that if it´s reproduced generates a bug, that is a different workflow, and if not reproduced, sends e-mails to some people)

To enable this workflow I need some kind of integration between TFS Workitem Store and Windows Workflow Foundation (the technology this workflow was built on). And even more, I need an UI that will help me track this information.

This need is what drives this project.

Here are the basics of the project:

• An activity library for the Windows Workflow Foundation that includes custom activities for creating, updating, closing and retrieving workitems.
• A website for managing the workflow instances and retrieving reports of the current flows. The website will include an "inbox" module that is aimed at helping "non-developers" keep the workflow "flowing".
• A Messenger-like style for notifications on flow change and time tracking.
• A Windows Communication Foundation service for servicing the workflow for the website and for the msn-like application.

Features

Don´t forget to check our Requirements and Iterations pages as they provide a lot of information on the project. Please also check out the Features page as it gives a more general idea on what the project will do (at each iteration). If you require some information on a feature or module of the project please use the table of contents on the sidebar to get to it.

Contribution

Contribution is most welcome! You can do it in the format of comments in the wiki pages! Please if you do like some feature, contribute! And if you don´t like help us improve!

Bernardo Heynemann

BHAL Coordinator