Performing a rebuild

When you perform a build, you gather all completed tasks for the Integration Testing project grouping and build them for integration and testing. When you perform a rebuild, you manually add a task to or exclude a task from the Integration Testing project grouping. Then you rebuild just that change.

You might rebuild your application for one of the following reasons.

  • The requirements for the build changed and you must add a feature.
  • The requirements for the build changed and you must remove a feature.
  • A testing team found a problem during testing and they need a new build.
  • A task that is necessary to the build was not included (for example, it was not completed in time or its release was set incorrectly).
  • An object associated with a task is breaking the build and must be removed.
  • A developer completed a fix task to fix a task that was not working properly, and you are ready to add the fix task to your build.

Regardless of why the build is broken, you must rebuild. The timing of the rebuild can occur at any point in your process. A broken build can happen at any milestone. Likewise, a situation where your requirements changed can happen any time. Because you are building the Integration Testing projects, which change frequently and are built often (unlike the System Testing projects, which are more stable), you might rebuild often. Your workflow would be similar to the following:

  • Keep the baseline and tasks in the Integration Testing project grouping from changing during an update.
  • Manually add, remove, or exclude tasks in the Integration Testing project grouping.

    You might add one or several tasks, add and remove tasks, exclude a task, or any combination. You might complete these tasks quickly or over several days.

  • Update the Integration Testing project grouping.
  • Show and resolve membership conflicts.

    You might resolve conflicts yourself or have team members resolve the conflicts. Therefore, you might resolve conflicts quickly or over several days.

  • Rebuild your product.

    If you are building a small product with one or two added or removed tasks, the build might go quickly. Your smoke test might be immediately successful. However, if you cannot get your product to build, regardless of its size, see Rebuilding without a baseline.

  • Create a baseline.
  • Allow the baseline and tasks in the Integration Testing project grouping to change during an update.

This topic shows you how to add a task to a build and remove a task from a build.

Add a task to a build

You can add a task to a build.

Procedure

  1. Right-click over the appropriate Integration Testing project grouping, and select Properties.
  2. In the Properties dialog box, clear the Auto Update check box, and click Apply.

    This option keeps the baseline and tasks from changing during an update operation. For more details, see Keeping the baseline and tasks from changing during an update.

  3. Click the Tasks tab.

    This tab shows the tasks that you have manually added to the project grouping, either in this dialog box or by using the Add to Project Grouping option from the Tasks context menu.

    For a detailed description of the various ways tasks are added to a project grouping, see "Add Tasks" in Changing the update properties for a project.

  4. Click the Add Task button.

    The Select Task dialog box appears. Use it to find the tasks to add to the project grouping.

  5. Choose a task and click OK.

    You can choose one or more tasks.

  6. Right-click over the Integration Testing project grouping, point to Update, and select All Projects.

    The update operation brings in the changes from the new tasks.

  7. Show and resolve conflicts. (See Resolving membership conflicts in a project or project grouping for details.)

    Once you have added a task, you might have conflicts as a result of broken dependencies. For example, the task you added has other tasks that it depends on that were not added. Work through these dependencies to decide on the best way to resolve conflicts.

  8. Rebuild your product.

    After a successful rebuild, test what you have built by running through a series of basic operations to ensure the integrity of the build. For example, start the application, perform a few often-used operations, and exit from the application.

  9. Create a snapshot of a build.

    If you are creating a test baseline for a team to perform further testing, do not publish or release the baseline for use.

    If you want to make the Integration Testing build available to developers right away, set the Publish check box when you create the baseline.

  10. In the Properties dialog box for the Integration Testing project grouping, click the Properties tab, select the Auto Update check box.

    Now the baseline and tasks can change during the next update operation.

Remove a task from a build

You can remove a task from a build.

Procedure

  1. Right-click over the appropriate Integration Testing project grouping, and select Properties.
  2. In the Properties dialog box, clear the Auto Update check box, and click Apply.

    This option keeps the baseline and tasks from changing during an update operation. For more details, see Keeping the baseline and tasks from changing during an update.

  3. Remove tasks. See Changing the update properties for a project.
  4. Optionally, you can exclude a task.
  5. Right-click over the Integration Testing project grouping, point to Update, and select All Projects.

    The update operation brings in the changes from the new tasks.

  6. Show and resolve membership conflicts. (See Resolving membership conflicts in a project or project grouping for details.)

    After you have added a task, you might have conflicts as a result of broken dependencies. For example, the task you added has other tasks that it depends on that were not added. Work through these dependencies to decide on the best way to resolve conflicts.

  7. Rebuild your product.

    After a successful rebuild, test what you have built by running through a series of basic operations to ensure the integrity of the build. Start the application, perform a few often-used operations, and exit from the application.

  8. Create a snapshot of a build.

    If you are creating a test baseline for a team to perform further testing, do not publish or release the baseline for use.

    If you want to make the Integration Testing build available to developers right away, set the Publish check box when you create the baseline.

  9. In the Properties dialog box for the Integration Testing project grouping, click the Properties tab, then select the Auto Update check box.

    Now the baseline and tasks can change during the next update operation.

    Note: After you have created and published a baseline with the changes from a bad task, marking the task for exclusion has no effect on your build. This is because the objects associated with the task are still be in your baseline. Create a fix task and new versions of the bad objects to back out the changes from the bad task. Create and publish another baseline to make the changes available to developers.

    If backing out or fixing changes is not easy, mark the baseline for deletion. The baseline is not picked up, and the previous baseline is used.


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