--- title: "Managing team build files sucks a little less with Attrice SideKick for VSTS" url: "https://osherove.com/blog/2006/11/12/managing-team-build-files-sucks-a-little-less-with-attrice-s.md" canonical: "https://osherove.com/blog/2006/11/12/managing-team-build-files-sucks-a-little-less-with-attrice-s.html" published: "2006-11-12T23:54:10" updated: "2006-11-12T23:54:10" tags: ["Cool Tools", "Team System"] author: "Roy Osherove" description: "Oh, I could have seriously used the Team System Add-on from Attrice's SideKick project last week at TechEd when one of my Demos Broke. The add-in allows version control operations for selected build type to be performed…" usage: "Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page)." license: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" --- # Managing team build files sucks a little less with Attrice SideKick for VSTS By Roy Osherove November 12, 2006 In [Cool Tools](https://osherove.com/blog/category/cool-tools), [Team System](https://osherove.com/blog/category/team-system) **Historical article** · Originally published November 12, 2006; technical details may be outdated. Oh, I could have seriously used the [Team System Add-on from Attrice's SideKick project](http://www.attrice.info/cm/tfs/TeamBuildAddin.htm) last week at TechEd when one of my Demos Broke. > The add-in allows version control operations for selected build type to be performed in Team Explorer. It provides the following commands: > > - _Check out_ selected build type .proj file with single click > - _Edit_ checked out build type either in Visual Studio or in user's editor of choice > - _Check in_ modified build type files with single click > - _Undo_ check in on build type files > - _Configure_ what editor will be used for editing .proj files and additional add-in options I was showing how to create an automated build in VSTS, and I mistyped the address of the deployment location of the final binaries. The thing about VSTS right now is that it's still a 1.0 product - so it's a bit...  (crappy shell we say?) missing features in some places - such as to tell you when you mistyped locations, or even provide you with "browse" buttons to specify directories. Also, if you want to edit a build configuration file you need to first check it out from source control (which can be a very annoying task as it is not enabled by default in the source control explorer's selected workspace - you need to create a workspace specifically to edit a team build file!!##!), edit it, and check it in - and there is no menu context item to do that. I literally had to create a whole new build in the middle of a demo just because it would have taken longer to edit the existing one. That's what I mean by version 1.0 product. If I had Attrice's addin installed, I could have solved the issue in about 15 seconds - which, considering the fact that it is totally free, and you can download the source as well, is pretty cool. Thanks Attrice dudes! ## More in Cool Tools [All posts in Cool Tools](https://osherove.com/blog/category/cool-tools) - Nov 28, 2006 ### [Cool Promotion - Automise for $20 for 24h window](https://osherove.com/blog/2006/11/28/cool-promotion-automise-for-20-for-24h-window.html) - Nov 27, 2006 ### [TFS Permission Manager Tool](https://osherove.com/blog/2006/11/27/tfs-permission-manager-tool.html) - Nov 7, 2006 ### [SQL Refactor looks cool](https://osherove.com/blog/2006/11/7/sql-refactor-looks-cool.html) - Oct 15, 2006 ### [MassDataHandler: generate test data to help with data layer testing](https://osherove.com/blog/2006/10/15/massdatahandler-generate-test-data-to-help-with-data-layer-t.html) --- ## About the author **Roy Osherove**: Senior Solutions Architect at AWS working on AI for production and AI-driven development; author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership, with about 20 years of consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery. ### Sites - [RobotPaper](https://robotpaper.ai/): This blog: AI patterns and anti-patterns, AI and coding agents, and engineering leadership. - [osherove.com](https://osherove.com): Roy's personal site. Author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership; consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery, plus about 20 years of blog posts. - [The Art of Unit Testing](https://www.artofunittesting.com): The Art of Unit Testing, 3rd Edition (Manning): readable, maintainable, trustworthy unit tests, plus TDD workshops in C#, JavaScript, Java and Kotlin. - [5whys.com](https://www.5whys.com): Roy's writing on software team leadership: self-organizing teams, surviving chaos, learning mode and the Elastic Leadership model. - [Pipeline Driven](https://pipelinedriven.org): Continuous delivery and DevOps practices: build patterns, pipeline-friendly testing, DevOps metrics and enterprise DevOps. - [Elastic Leadership](https://www.elasticleadership.com): Elastic Leadership, Roy's framework for software team leaders (survival, learning and self-organizing modes). ### Social - X: https://x.com/royosherove - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/osherove/ ### Contact - Contact form: https://forms.gle/jQSx5KoXvrVA1JCK7 ### License Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page). License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/