Continuous Integration for Team Build
Notion Solutions has released TeamCI, their answer to continuous integration for Team Foundation Server. For those of you who aren't familiar with CI, it effectively causes a build every time someone checks something into version control. Don't be confused; this isn't implying that a new build is pushed into production on check-in. Rather, the build is completed against the latest complete version of source code to verify that it builds and passes other basic build tests (e.g., Build Verification unit tests, static code analysis, ...). By compiling immediately after a check-in, developers can receive immediate feedback if they break something - as opposed to trying to troubleshoot the cause of a build break long after the offending check-in has occured. In agressive shops it is possible to actually deploy to an integration environment as part of the CI build process, but seems to be the exception and not the rule.
If you're already a CI follower and have been researching or have installed TFS, you're aware that there are other CI options. The most prevalent are the starter kits that can be downloaded. These samples were provided as examples of how to extend Team Foundation Server and Team Build. The samples are relatively easy to get up and running but are also very limited. They support only a single build type out of the box and require you to manually modify code and/or configuration to get them running against even a single build type.
I've had the opportunity to use pre-release versions of TeamCI with a couple of clients; in both cases, the experience has been positive. The install and (should you choose) uninstall is clean and easy. The solution seems to be very stable and well tested. One big different from the starter kits it that it is highly configurable and allows users to specify version control check-ins trigger which build types through an easy-to-use web interface.
If you're already using or investigating TFS and have any interest in Team Build and continuous integration, you owe it to yourself to "check out" TeamCI:
Enjoy!