Had a strange issue today while editing our standard TFS 2013 XAML build process template to add an optional post drop script block to allow a Release Management pipeline to be triggered via REST. Our standard template includes a block for enabling and disabling Typemock, after editing our template to add the new …

If you came to our re:Build and re:Ignite events last week and want more information on the subjects we covered, remember that all the sessions from both the Microsoft Build and Ignite events are available at http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2015 and http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015. On these sites you …

Did you miss content from Microsoft Build and Ignite events? Well you can catch up on Channel9, but we at Black Marble are running free round up events on the 20th May in Leeds. Why not come and talk to Black Marble and Microsoft staff who attended the events? To register go to the Black Marble events site.

Recently whilst at a clients one of our consultants came across an interesting issue; the client was using Selenium to write web tests, they wanted to trigger them both from Microsoft Test Manager (MTM) as local automated tests, and also run them using BrowserStack for multi browser regression testing. The problem was …

If you are using a parameters.xml file to set value with MSDeploy I have just found a gotcha. You need some value in the web.config file, not just an empty XML tag, else the replacement fails. So to explain… I had the following parameters.xml file, and use Release Management to replace the TAG values at deployment …

When you using MSdeploy you should create a parameters.xml file that exposes your web.config settings at the time of installation. This enables good deployment habits, build the product one and then set system specific values using deployment tools. The problem is that this parameters.xml file is a pain to write, it is …

Mid May is a busy time for me presenting-wise: On the 12th/13th I am presenting at Techorama in Belgium And on the 14th I will be presenting at a Microsoft/GreyMatter event at Microsoft’s Reading office. And after that there are also the Black Marble Re:Build and Re:Ignite events. I am sure I will be involved at those, …

All my active personal projects are now stored on Github You can find specific projects in the following locations (including legacy ones). Azure DevOps Extensions I have a number of extensiions for Azure DevOps, the most popular are detailed. They can be installed on Azure DevOps via the Azure DevOps Marketplace Title …

I have worn a Polar s610 heart rate monitor as my watch for years (probably 15+), as I write it needs another battery swap, which means sending it to Polar, something I have done a couple of times in the past for servicing The batteries in the watch last 5 years or so, in the associated heart rate monitor strap maybe a …

Updated 6 Feb 2016 - See the newer post about the new vNext build task I have written to do the same job Virtually any automated build will require some customisation beyond a basic compile. So as part of my upcoming Techorama session on TFS 2015 vNext build I need a demo of using a custom script as part of the build …