But it works on my PC or continuous integration to improve software quality

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But it works on my PCor continuous
integration to improve software quality

• Richard FennellEngineering Director
• Developer Day Scotland 10th May 2008

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Agenda

• Why do we need continuous integration?
• What have we done in the past?
• CruiseControl
• Team Foundation Server
• Going Further

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Why do we need continuous integration?

• Replication of development environments can be
  hard
• The project integration phase is hard
• It is usually attempted only at the end of the
  project
• It is prone to time overruns and often introduces
  bugs

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What is Continuous Integration?

• Based on automated builds
• The solution is built whenever the code is
  changed
• Should be started as soon as possible
• And repeated as often as possible
• A core part of most Agile processes

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Nightbuild - Batch Files

• _at_echo off
• Echo Start BLACKMT build
• SET ssdir\\wellington\data\sourcesafe
• echo Remove old files from DIR and create any
  directories required
• md \projects\blackmtx
• cd \projects\blackmtx
• \user\nightbuild\rm /f /x /r .
• echo Get the latest files from sourcesafe
• "C\Program Files\Microsoft Visual
  Studio\Common\VSS\win32\ss" get
  \scarlet\programs\blackmtx\. -R
  -Ynightbuild,nightbuild -I- -W
• Echo Build the product
• "C\Program Files\Microsoft Visual
  Studio\Common\MSDev98\Bin\MSDEV.EXE" blackmtx.dsw
  /MAKE "blackmtx - Win32 Release" /REBUILD /OUT
  build.txt
• Echo Sending log file via email
• c\user\nightbuild\ParserMailer VS6 wellington
  nightbuild_at_blackmarble.co.uk nightbuild_at_blackmarbl
  e.co.uk "Night Build of Scarlet BLACKMTX.OCX -
  Win32 Release" build.txt
• echo Build complete

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Nightbuild did it help?

• A good start
• Provided an automated build process
• Provided a check that we had not broken any
  associated projects
• Good for shared libraries
• Could be extended to integrate testing and
  deployment

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CruiseControl

• Originally a Java-based framework for a
  continuous build process
• Distributed under an open source BSD-style
  license and is free for use
• Ported to .NET by Thoughtworks and hosted on
  SourceForge as ccnet

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CruiseControl
Image Source - http//cruisecontrol.sourceforge.ne
t/overview.html
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demo
Using CruiseControl
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CruiseControl Tips

• If it fails check the timeouts
• If it still fails check temporary files
• Look at DevEnv tasks, usually these have already
  done the hard work
• Have a play to see if MSBuild, nAnt or individual
  tasks works best for you.
• Use the community - Google like mad for tips,
  samples and tasks!

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Visual Studio Team SystemApplication Life Cycle
Management (ALM) Solution
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TFS Build Automation
Drop Location
Team Foundation Client

• Create build type
• Start build
• View Reports

Application Tier

• Team Build Web
• Services

Build Machine
Data Tier

• Sources
• Work items
• Team Build data

Team Foundation warehouse
MSBuild
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demo
Using Team Build for CI
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TFS versus CruiseControl

• TFS provides
• Integration with the rest of the Team Server
• Unified access to all MSBuild tasks
• But at the cost of
• Cost
• Have to use nested MSBUILD files
• Less integration with third party tools

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Going Further

• Building deployment systems e.g. MSI
• Automated deployments to test or to ClickOnce
  servers.
• Automated provisioning of virtual test
  environments
• Automated functional testing as well as unit
  testing

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Summary

• Get an integration build going as soon as
  possible
• Extend it as you go along
• Make breaking the build a hanging offence
• Experiment to find out the best solution for your
  project consider CI even if only a one person
  team

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Good Resources

• http//blogs.msdn.com/robcaron/
• http//www.martinfowler.com
• http//weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/
• http//cruisecontrol.sourceforge.net/
• http//msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/teamsystem/
• http//www.nunit.org/

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For Further Information

• My random thoughts at
• http//blogs.blackmarble.co.uk/blogs/rfennell
• You can also get in touch via
• Email richard_at_blackmarble.co.uk
• Website www.blackmarble.co.uk