You can have the best coders in the world working in your teams, but if your project management isn’t up to scratch, your project is almost certain to be delayed, to come in over budget, and in some cases to fail entirely. By taking precise control of your application development process, you can make changes, both large and small, throughout your project’s life cycle that will lead to better–quality finished products that are consistently delivered on time and within budget. Application lifecycle management (ALM) is an area of rapidly growing interest within the development community. Because its techniques allow you to deal with the process of developing applications across many areas of responsibility and across many different disciplines, its effects on your project can be wide ranging and pronounced. It is a project management tool that has practical implications for the whole team—from architects to designers, from developers to testers. Pro Application Lifecycle Management with Visual Studio 2012 focuses on the most powerful ALM tool available for the Microsoft .NET Framework: Visual Studio Team Foundation Server. It demonstrates the key concepts and techniques of ALM at first with a guide to the overall methodology, and then delves into architecture and testing--illustrating all of the concepts, tips and tricks using the tools TFS provides. The book serves as a complete guide to the ALM style--with no fluff and many relevant code samples and examples. After reading the book, you will understand how TFS can be used to generate continuous meaningful reporting on your project’s health for the decision makers on your team as well as for your project’s sponsors.

The authoritative and timely guide to ALM from Microsoft insiders and MVPs Focused on the latest release of Visual Studio, this edition shows you how to use the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) capabilities of Visual Studio 2012 to streamline software design, development, and testing. Divided into six main parts, this timely and authoritative title covers Team Foundation Server, stakeholder engagement, project management, architecture, software development, and testing. Whether serving as a step-by-step guide or a reference for designing software solutions, this book offers a nuts-and-bolts approach to using Microsoft's flagship development tools to solve real-world challenges throughout the application lifecycle. Coverage includes: INTRODUCTION TO APPLICATION LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT WITH VISUAL STUDIO INTRODUCTION TO TEAM FOUNDATION SERVER TEAM FOUNDATION VERSION CONTROL TEAM FOUNDATION BUILD COMMON TEAM FOUNDATION SERVER INTRODUCTION TO BUILDING STORYBOARDING CAPTURING STAKEHOLDER FEEDBACK AGILE PLANNING AND TRACKING INTRODUCTION TO SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE TOP-DOWN DESIGN WITH USE CASE ANALYZING APPLICATIONS USING USING LAYER DIAGRAMS TO MODEL INTRODUCTION TO SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT UNIT TESTING CODE ANALYSIS, CODE METRICS PROFILING AND PERFORMANCE DEBUGGING WITH INTELLITRACE INTRODUCTION TO SOFTWARE TESTING MANUAL TESTING CODED USER INTERFACE TESTING WEB PERFORMANCE AND LOAD TESTING LAB MANAGEMENT Professional Application Lifecycle Management with Visual Studio 2012 offers a thoroughly revised and updated edition of the leading reference book on ALM.

Ramp up your software development with this comprehensive resource Microsoft's Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) makes software development easier and now features support for iOS, MacOS, Android, and Java development. If you are an application developer, some of the important factors you undoubtedly consider in selecting development frameworks and tools include agility, seamless collaboration capabilities, flexibility, and ease of use. Microsoft's ALM suite of productivity tools includes new functionality and extensibility that are sure to grab your attention. Professional Application Lifecycle Management with Visual Studio 2013 provides in-depth coverage of these new capabilities. Authors Mickey Gousset, Martin Hinshelwood, Brian A. Randell, Brian Keller, and Martin Woodward are Visual Studio and ALM experts, and their hands-on approach makes adopting new ALM functionality easy. Streamline software design and deployment with Microsoft tools and methodologies Gain a practical overview of ALM with step-by-step guides and reference material Case studies illustrate specific functionality and provide in-depth instruction Use new capabilities to support iOS, MacOS, Android and Java development Discover this comprehensive solution for modeling, designing, and coordinating enterprise software deployments Over 100 pages of new content, forward-compatible with new product releases Professional Application Lifecycle Management with Visual Studio 2013 provides a complete framework for using ALM to streamline software design and deployment processes using well-developed Microsoft tools and methodologies. Professional Application Lifecycle Management with Visual Studio 2013 is your guide to make use of newly-available ALM features to take your enterprise software development to the next level.

Beginning Application Lifecycle Management is a guide to an area of rapidly growing interest within the development community: managing the entire cycle of building software. ALM is an area that spans everything from requirements specifications to retirement of an IT-system or application. Because its techniques allow you to deal with the process of developing applications across many areas of responsibility and across many different disciplines, the benefits and effects of ALM techniques used on your project can be wide-ranging and pronounced. In this book, author Joachim Rossberg will show you what ALM is and why it matters. He will also show you how you can assess your current situation and how you can use this assessment to create the road ahead for improving or implementing your own ALM process across all of your team's development efforts. Beginning Application Lifecycle Management can be implemented on any platform. This book will use Microsoft Team Foundation Server as a foundation in many examples, but the key elements are platform independent and you'll find the book written in a platform agnostic way. In this book, you'll learn: What application lifecycle management is and why it matters. The steps necessary for implementing an ALM process. Tips and techniques you can use to gain control of your development efforts. How to implement an agile framework into your ALM process How to achieve traceability and visibility in your projects How to automate your ALM process

A comprehensive guide to using Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2012 Team Foundation Server has become the leading Microsoft productivity tool for software management, and this book covers what developers need to know to use it effectively. Fully revised for the new features of TFS 2012, it provides developers and software project managers with step-by-step instructions and even assists those who are studying for the TFS 2012 certification exam. You'll find a broad overview of TFS, thorough coverage of core functions, a look at extensibility options, and more, written by Microsoft insiders and MVPs. An update of the leading Wrox book on Team Foundation Server, written by an expert team of Microsoft insiders and MVPs Provides a broad overview of Team Foundation Server for developers, software project managers, testers, business analysts, and others wanting to learn how to use TFS Offers administrators the necessary tools to efficiently monitor and manage the TFS environment Covers core TFS functions including project management, work item tracking, version control, test case management, build automation, reporting, and how to write extensions for TFS 2012 Professional Team Foundation Server 2012 builds on the proven Wrox Professional formula to give you a solid background in this software management tool.

Take your expertise to the next level by unraveling various techniques to customize TFS 2015 About This Book Learn how to efficiently modify your TFS-specific dashboards for complex server plugins Find out the pros and cons of various extension points and customizations in TFS A fast-paced guide with highly concentrated information on TFS customizations Who This Book Is For This book is intended for anyone with experience with TFS, and in particular, those intermediate users who want to add more value to their organization by making its TFS users more productive. The book requires basic coding skills. What You Will Learn Customize TFS 2015 dashboard and administer various components Configure board cards, swim lanes, and columns Explore the types of changes that can be made on the TFS process templates Create your own custom control for the Web and client work item forms Build up new check-in policies Get to grips with your personal server plugins and their uses Customize both XAML builds and the new build system Schedule jobs for more complicated business rules to run on a schedule Extend your TFS possibilities with service hooks and VSO extensions In Detail Team Foundation Server is an efficacious collaboration tools that will allow you to share code, track records, software, all in a single package. Integrate it with your existing IDE or editor and let your team work in a flexible environment that adapts to projects of all shapes and sizes. Explore what gives you the edge over other developers by knowing the tips and quick fixes of customizing TFS. Effectively minimize the time users spend interacting with TFS so that they can be more productive. In this book you will quickly cover lots of TFS extension points, from the very basic task of customizing and configuring dashboards to customizing automated builds and check-in policies. You will learn how to create dashboards in TFS 2015, as well as add tiles, graphs, and more useful modifications. You'll perform customizations that make TFS work for you by streamlining your team's boards. You'll cast modifications to the process template and learn the tips and tricks required to make efficient and valuable uses of your team's board. From team-specific dashboards to complex server plugins, everything is covered in this concentrated guide to aid your knowledge. Delving deep, this book covers the pros and cons of check-in policies, as well as their proper debugging and deployment strategies. After that you will learn about advanced XAML builds and TFS jobs to further experiment with the activities of your jobs on your system. Finally, you will learn about service hooks and the amazing utility of .VSO extensions to help you create new extensions and explore new levels of customization. Style and approach This is an easy-to-follow guide with clearly explained and demonstrated examples.

Filled with practical, step-by-step instructions and clear explanations for the most important and useful tasks. Get the job done and learn as you go. A how-To book with practical recipes accompanied with rich screenshots for easy comprehension.The How-to style is a very practical book which will take the reader through the process of garnering a basic understanding of TFS and Project Server with practical tutorials and recipes.This book is for users who want to integrate TFS 2012 and Project Server 2010. Readers are expected to know some basic Windows Server commands and account management, and have administrative access to the servers being configured.

The ultimate developers' guide to Visual Studio 2012 This expert Wrox guide is what you need to get up and running quickly on Visual Studio 2012. Written by a Microsoft Visual C# MVP, it guides you through the integrated development environment (IDE), showing you how to maximize all new tools and improvements. Offers programmers a fast way to IDE-centric programming success Demonstrates new IDE features, including the new Metro style app project templates and Windows 8 app store features Explains each feature, then illustrates the context in which it will help you solve problems Covers timely and essential topics related to rich client app development, web applications, application services, file configuration, debugging and testing, and more Helps advanced users customize and extend Visual Studio through the Automation Model, writing macros, working with the Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF), and more Provides ample detail for programmers who are new to Visual Studio 2012, as well as for experienced programmers exploring the advanced capabilities of the IDE Professional Visual Studio 2012 uses a unique, IDE-centric approach to help you get up and running quickly on this exciting new release.

This book is intended for developers, testers, architects, and project managers who want to explore and make use of the reporting facilities of Team Foundation Server 2013. Although no previous experience of reporting is required, a basic understanding of the Team Foundation Components and project templates would be a plus.

Designed to help experienced programmers develop real-world, job-role-specific skills—this Training Guide focuses on creating applications with HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS3. Build hands-on expertise through a series of lessons, exercises, and suggested practices—and help maximize your performance on the job. Provides in-depth, hands-on training you take at your own pace Focuses on job-role-specific expertise for using HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS3 to begin building modern web and Windows 8 apps Features pragmatic lessons, exercises, and practices Creates a foundation of skills which, along with on-the-job experience, can be measured by Microsoft Certification exams such as 70-480 Coverage includes: creating HTML5 documents; implementing styles with CSS3; JavaScript in depth; using Microsoft developer tools; AJAX; multimedia support; drawing with Canvas and SVG; drag and drop functionality; location-aware apps; web storage; offline apps; writing your first simple Windows 8 apps; and other key topics