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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics AX (Archived) / TFS integration with D...
Microsoft Dynamics AX (Archived)

TFS integration with Dynamics AX2012 R2 CU7

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Posted on by Pradeep Itnal 3,248

hi all,

We are starting with the new project and have decided to use TFS as a source control. i have some doubts.

We have one development server which will be probably shared by about 5   developers, and shared topology has not been recommended by Microsoft as per the white paper "Change management and TFS integration for multi-developer projects".

Adding more to the situation , we work in onsite-offshore model, so some developers about 2 of them(by default windows server 2008 R2 provides two remote logins) may login to the development server using remote desktop services, others will login using the client(using*.axc file for example). We may have another development server in future, where in other developers may login, probably from offshore.

Given the above situation , what recommendations will you give, for TFS integration.

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  • Martin Dráb Profile Picture
    Martin Dráb 237,965 Most Valuable Professional on at

    In general, development in a shared environment is discouraged because some things can't be done concurrently (e.g. CIL debugging on AOS). In addition to sources from Microsoft, it's been discussed in and below my article Shared vs. isolated Dynamics AX environments.

    TFS integration is not prepared well for this scenario either - especially there is no concept like separate TFS workspaces for individual AX users. (TFS workspaces in AX2012 describes a solution that I built for a team using a single terminal server.)

    Nobody says it can't be used (it is, actually), but you should plan a solution for known issues and test the solution before starting developing. You can use Visual Studio Online as your TFS server, configure one AX instance to use it and immediately start playing.

  • Verified answer
    Joris dG Profile Picture
    Joris dG 17,775 on at

    Shared development environments are not for the faint of heart. We use it constantly to support dozens of environments a about a dozen developers. However, we have heavily customized AX and its TFS integration to make it more robust. But that still presents challenges for X++ in IL etc.

    I would recommend a virtual machine for each developer (either on a server or running locally on Windows8), or a local AX instance on each developer's laptop. You can run the AOS comfortably on a 8GB machine, and connect it to a SQL server somewhere. Even running SQL locally with an AOS works great on 8GB (however if you don't have MSDN you may have a licensing issue to have SQL installed everywhere).

  • Paul1 Profile Picture
    Paul1 1,200 on at

    Hi Joris, I hope you can also share how did you make the customizations. Can it accommodate 1 workspace per developer?

  • Paul1 Profile Picture
    Paul1 1,200 on at

    Hi Martin, in your blog "TFS workspaces in AX2012", can you please explain a little more detail the functionality, limitations, and issues your trying to solve? Thanks.

  • Martin Dráb Profile Picture
    Martin Dráb 237,965 Most Valuable Professional on at

    I thought I did. Is there anything specific that you miss in my article?

  • Paul1 Profile Picture
    Paul1 1,200 on at

    I'm quite confused in this part - "Every user should have his own (private) workspace, but because common code is used in shared environments, workspaces need to use the same code as well".

    * The term (private) workspace, you're referring to TFS workspace right? Not on the local repository?

    * Is my understanding right that the solution you've created can have developers used their own private TFS workspaces? Upon check-in of codes, will it reflect in TFS the actual developer who check-in the code?

    * In TFS, how users create the private workspaces? I mean where to point the location?

    * In your example in Version control settings (Repository folder: C:\TFS\TestRepository), does it mean for example for user P1 with TFS workspace W1 and user P2 with TFS workspace W2 to point to the same location C:\TFS\TestRepository? Or to Shared folder? Or C:\TFS\TestRepository is a public workspace?

    * What's the account used to run AOS service?

    Sorry Martin, I can't understand how the Shared folder comes into picture, how the symbolic link was used, where to point location for TFS workspaces, etc. Thanks.

  • Martin Dráb Profile Picture
    Martin Dráb 237,965 Most Valuable Professional on at

    1. Yes, it's all about TFS workspaces. If you're not familiar with them, look at Team Foundation Version Control - Workspaces.
    2. Yes.
    3. AX create workspaces automatically. That's not changed by my tool, it only forces AX to create a workspace for individual users and not just a single workspace as in the standard AX.
    4. As I wrote in the article, "The path to the workspace is automatically assembled from the repository path (defined in version control setup) and user’s Alias". See images in the article for examples.
    5. I'm not sure how it's related, nevertheless AOS is a Windows service and it must have an account (to configure permissions). You choose the account when installing AOS.

  • Paul1 Profile Picture
    Paul1 1,200 on at

    Wow! This is exactly what I need. The only difference is that I'm planning to implement your solution in AX 2009. Another pain on my side. But I'm gonna enjoy this. I would greatly appreciate if you have solution for AX 2009.

    Another thing, in your answer '3. AX create workspaces automatically. That's not changed by my tool, it only forces AX to create a workspace for individual users and not just a single workspace as in the standard AX.'.

    * I haven't encountered this in AX 2009, is this functionality for AX 2012 only?

    * What do you mean by 'AX create workspaces automatically.'? You mean AX access the TFS server then create the TFS workspace?

    * How does it know the specific path in TFS? By TfsBranch and AppRoot fields? I'm not quite knowledgeable about this fields since they're not in AX 2009. :)

  • Martin Dráb Profile Picture
    Martin Dráb 237,965 Most Valuable Professional on at

    It should be very similar in AX2009; I'm also quite sure that the TFS workspace is created automatically even by AX 2009. By creating a workspace, I do mean creating a TFS workspace. The workspace has the following properties:

    • It's a private workspace for the user running AX.
    • The local folder is the repository Repository folder configured in AX (in Version control parameters in the standard AX or in User repository form in my tool).
    • TFS server and project as per Version control parameters
    • Branch and Root folder modify the server path. I think AX2009 simply uses the root of the team project repository.

    The best think you can do is just to try it and check workspaces in Team Explorer.

  • Paul1 Profile Picture
    Paul1 1,200 on at

    Thanks Martin. It helps a lot.

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