Since mid June, Mike Azocar has been running a team system gadget contest. Leaving it right up to the last minute, I have just submitted my entry, TFS Working On.

TFS Working is a simple system tray utility that makes it easier to record your time spent on TFS Work Items.

Immediately after installing, TFS Working On is ready to help you track your time. Simple specify your server and project, then search for your Work Item and you are tracking your time.

This will record your time in the history of the work item whenever you stop working on the item.

You can also specify your estimates against a work item so that you can record how you are going.

With some very simple configuration the estimates can be mapped to the TFS Work Item fields, per work item type, per project. This can be performed by one member of the team, most likely the one responsible for setting up the project, and then stored on the network share for all team members to reference.

This will now allow the estimates to automatically update the work item fields, making it easier to record time spent to help with TFS reporting and evidence based scheduling.

I will be putting the code up soon on CodePlex. This is just version 1, and I have many features I wish to add.

• Activity monitoring - automatically stop recording when computer is inactive for given period of time.
• Visual Studio integration - possibly to the extent that you cannot check out code for editing if you have not specified the work item you are working. This is for very strict scheduling scenarios.
• Check that you are the assigned user for the selected work item
• Bluetooth device linking - link to a Bluetooth device, like a phone, so that when you walk away recording stops (already got the code for this :) )
• Mapping Start and Finish dates
• Possibly allow working on multiple items at once

Update: Project now on CodePlex: http://www.codeplex.com/TFSWorkingOn

Last night I was fortunate enough to participate in the Queensland State Finals for the Demos Happen {Here} competition. Congratulations to David Apelt who did an excellent demo and will be representing Queensland at the national finals at Tech Ed in Sydney. I would also like to thank Andrew Coates and Roger Lawrence for running the competition and hosting the night.

Queensland VSTS User Group ran it's demo fest last Friday. I participated. Here is my demo's abstract:

Taking Command of Visual Studio

Visual Studio 2008 has become one very sharp tool. With all tools learning how and when to use it correctly can make life easier. In this demo I will be showing you how to increase efficiency and maximize productivity by utilizing Visual Studio 2008. I will be covering Tips & Tricks around File Management, Navigation, using the Editor, Debugging and Customisation. This will include a vast array of short cut keys which are worth learning and commands you didn't know existed that will save you time. Going further onto customisation I will demonstrate Visual Studio Extensibility (VSX) with Microsoft PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2008 and other very useful extensions.

Below is the video that was taken on the day. This is also available from the Demo's Happen Here site.

I've talked about PowerCommands before, and here is where to get RockScroll.

Anthony posted the results of the mornings sessions. Of course I was a little disappointed to be one point behind winning. But the result is also encouraging and I did have a lot of fun. I hope to do some more presentations soon at some upcoming user groups.

Thank you to Anthony Borton for putting the morning together, and use of his laptop for my presentation. Thank you to John O'Brien for recording the video.

Recently, Steve Nagy nominated me to continue on with the circle of interest started by Paul Stovell stating the technology areas where I will be focusing my efforts. So here it is:

Core - Green
This area consists of things which I already know fairly well, but I know I can learn a whole lot more. They also fall directly what I am working on at the moment, so I have a good opportunity to make good on doing these things better.

Non-Core - Blue
I am quite interested in these and will get to use them this year, but I will not get a deep level of understanding, or a great deal of experience, as I will with the core items.

No More Time - Red
I'm overly curious. I like technology. But with the whole point of the circle, is to ensure I'm not a jack of all trades, and master of none. These items just get pushed out.

There are things that I didn't fit on my list, like Expression Studio, Windows Home Server and Windows Media Center. These are things I tinker with, but it is something that I won't get much time, but I like to be able to get by. For example, I used Expression Design to draw the circle. Other technologies, like Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, IIS 7, and other environmental and system administration tasks I am able to get familiar with, due to my work in WiX, MSI and deployment. But I need to utilise others expertise in these areas, because I don't have time to learn it all myself, but again, like to be able to get by.

Another interesting thing, is that putting the items in a graphic, just made things so much easier to see. When I began drafting, I wrote the items in lists, and it just was not clear. I guess that is a testament to Mind Maps...

PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2008. Install it. Nothing else really needs to be said, but I want to highlight a few things.

This is a free Microsoft built VSX (Visual Studio Extensibility) extension. It adds extremely useful yet simple menu commands that are integrated as if Visual Studio shipped with them already there. I will not go into the detail of the commands there is a comprehensive yet brief document here for that. It is definitely worth the installation and Visual Studio just does not feel the same without it anymore.

I have been using version 1 for a couple of months now and have just found version 1.1 was released a month ago which adds a host of new handy features. It gets better, the source code is available. This provides a great example on how to code seamless add-ins to Visual Studio. Before you can build the source you need to install the Visual Studio SDK. I have a list of simple refactoring commands that I intend to write as a learning exercise that will also make common coding tasks easier.

If PowerCommands has convinced you that free first party VSX extensions are a good thing, be sure to check out other releases from Microsoft on the Visual Studio Gallery. The Resource Refactoring Tool is another very good must have.