Associate Work Items to a Build

Work Items are linked with project build (hence with project version) and then are tracked through deployments to various environments. There are few different options to link work items with project build. The recommended approach for linking work items with project build is by including them in commit message, which will automatically link the work item to any builds of that commit.

Work items are linked to project build only if they are found to be valid based on project’s issue tracking configurations.

Work item number syntax to be used with FlexDeploy depends on underlying issue tracking integration. See Out-of-the-Box Issue Tracking System Configuration for details.

Link by Commit Messages

Work items are captured and linked to a project build from the source control change logs. The change logs are parsed based on either the Work Item Pattern provided in the project issue tracking configuration or with # prefix. You can define a single pattern or multiple patterns separated by comma.

Note that issue tracking configurations are inherited by sub-folder and projects. This is very easy to view and manage on project issue tracking page.

In the below pictures, GLORY- is the work item pattern setup for the project. If a commit message contains GLORY-60, which matches pattern GLORY-, it will be considered as linked work item for build.

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The recommended option is to specify work item number(s) in commit messages by prefixing by #. For example, you can use #701 to indicate Work Item 701, or #GLORY-10 to indicate Work Item GLORY-10. When using # prefix, there is no need to set up any work item ticket pattern on issue tracking configurations.

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Link by Manual Entry at Project Build Time

If the work item number wasn’t included in your commit message and you are building the project manually, you can enter work item numbers at build time.

Search and select the work items to link, or enter work item number(s) as per appropriate syntax and separate work items with a comma (,) or by pressing the Enter key. Work items will be displayed as shown in the image below.

Once a build is submitted, the build workflow execution will link the work items entered in request form. You can see the description and link to work items in the build and deploy execution rows, and in the Work Items section by clicking the Execution Id link. In addition, if there were more work items found as per change logs, those are linked as well.

Link to Project Packages

If you don’t put work item numbers in your commit message and you are working with a package-based project, you can associate work items with packages that will live through its build and deployment lifecycle. Go to the project and package which you wish to link a work item. Edit the package.

Add one or more work items by searching and selecting from the list or by typing the entire work item key.

Save. Now, all builds and deployments of this package will be linked to these work items.