Printing Work Items in TFS

printingtfs

I am looking for a fancy way the print individual work items in TFS.
OK … maybe not the work item directly but I need to produce printable forms based on data on a work item. And by fancy I mean: header, footer, formatting, tables maybe … stuff like that.

No, I am not trying to print a list of work items, read carefully, I need an output based on a single work item.

For those who are wondering "Why on earth do you need that?" I should say:
We are keeping everything on TFS around here. (For now only software development stuff, but I am thinking bigger…) Sometimes somethings need to be on hard copy, to be signed for instance, and that is why I need printable forms.

Best Answer

I came up with a solution a little interesting from my point of view.

I used the "mail merge" function of MS Word to print work items. I prepared an SQL query that reads whatever fields are needed from TFS database and set the query as a datasource for mail marge.

Now I can design a word document of any kind and use TFS fields in the document. I just select the appropriate record by work item number and voila!! my printable work item is ready.

It is a little slow when selecting a work item if you use a query that returns all work items, but who is perfect? Right ?

Related Solutions

Css – How to hide an element when printing a web page

In your stylesheet add:

@media print
{    
    .no-print, .no-print *
    {
        display: none !important;
    }
}

Then add class='no-print' (or add the no-print class to an existing class statement) in your HTML that you don't want to appear in the printed version, such as your button.

Work item access for non visual-studio users

The are a number of choices (most costing money):

Team System Web Access
Team System Web Access (formerly known as TeamPlain) is a Web interface to Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server. Team System Web Access is available as a free download for existing Team Foundation Server users, and will be incorporated into a future release of Visual Studio Team System.
Work Item Only View
Team System Web Access provides a work item only view that restricts functionality so that you can create and view only your own work items. This view is designed to facilitate working with Team Foundation Server when you do not have a client access license (CAL). You do not need a CAL to create new work items or to view and update work items that you created. The work item only view restricts functionality so that you are in compliance with this aspect of the Team Foundation Server end user license agreement. For more information, see Visual Studio Team System 2008 Licensing White Paper.
Outlook integration (from Brian Harry's blog)
Integration of Team Foundation Server work items into the Outlook user experience continues to be a popular area for innovation. Just recently an author sent me mail about a new one called Wit-It! that enables work item forms to be easily opened from TFS work item change notifications. It's not entirely unlike configuring links to Team System Web Access from event notifications but it uses local rich client UI that some will like better.

There are several other Outlook extension offerings out there with varying levels of completeness. If it's an area that iterests you, you can also check out:

TeamExpand

TeamLook

TeamCompanion

And I appologize if I left any out. As I say, clearly there is a lot of interest here and some creative people.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Css – How to hide an element when printing a web page

Work item access for non visual-studio users

Related Topic