From those of you that use the Workgroup edition of Team Foundation Server you might have notice that you cannot use the Build Notification Power Tool since you cannot authenticate to TFS.

Here is what I have done to work around the noted limitation:

"RunAs" to the rescue:

C:\Windows\System32>runas.exe /user:ROSCOE\jbm /netonly "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2008 Power Tools\BuildNotification.exe"

To automate, create yourself a little batch file for startup. Here is a VBS script to automate the entry of the password for RunAs:

dim WshShell,FSO

set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
set WshEnv = WshShell.Environment("Process")

set FSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

WshShell.Run("C:\Windows\System32\runas.exe /user:ROSCOE\jbm /netonly" & " {YourInstallPath}\BuildNotification.exe")

Wscript.Sleep 300 ' Wait for window to open

WshShell.AppActivate("C:\Windows\System32\runas.exe")
WshShell.SendKeys "{YourUserPassword}"
WshShell.SendKeys VBCRLF

set WshShell=Nothing
set WshEnv=Nothing
set FSO=Nothing

wscript.quit

[UPDATE]
You can "Connect As" from the GUI; Unfortunately, you will have to do this each time you restart.

Ed K.

I’ve been in the middle of a lot lately and completely forgot to mention Tulsa TechFest 2008!  This will be my third year speaking and interestingly I have the only Team System talk this year.  If you’re around the area be sure to come by to learn more about automating your build & packaging process using Team System.  I’m going to do my Team Build talk that I did earlier this year at the Dallas VSTS User Group but we won’t go into as much depth since we only have 1.5 hours.  Looks like another great year with almost.  Infragistics has been a proud & regular sponsor of this event and I’m honored to have been invited again!

[Update]

Wanted to be sure I posted my slides and then also made the link to the awesome build lifecycle poster done by our friends in South Africa.  Thanks for keeping me honest!

Ed B.