We are using the agile template for TFS 2010 and I am trying to set up a hierarchy of iterations that is different from the default one (with “Iteration 1”, “Iteration 2” and “Iteration 3”).
I have two questions about the Excel file for the iteration backlog. The problem most people encounter is that the Excel sheets which are generated by default do not work and cannot even be changed when they refer to queries/iterations that do not exist anymore. I solved this problem by following the suggestions given in this stackoverflow question (also described here) by downloading the original file from the template, linking it to our server and then uploading it to the shared documents folder.
Everything is working fine (the Excel file correctly lists the work items of the query and such), except for the second sheet of the file, called “Settings”. This sheet has two cells for entering the area and the iteration on which to filter.
First question (out of curiosity): what is the purpose of this filter, given that the area and iteration are already filtered in the query on which the file is based.
Second question (here is the real problem): any value I enter into these fields is refused with Excel telling me that “The value you entered is not valid”. There is a dropdown list for each cell, and it appears that these lists contain the only possible values for the cells. The dropdown list for the area cell is empty and the one for the iteration cell lists one iteration, called “Iteration 1”. This is confusing, since there is no such iteration in my project. It sounds as if this is a remnant of the default setup. So how do I correct this?
I did not find much on this subject online (except for one guy in the comments of this post who describes exactly the problem I’m having but without a solution). I hope somebody here has an idea.
To answer my first question: the filter on the settings tab allows one to filter for areas/sub-iterations within the iterations. Makes sense since the query on which the list is based generally includes all areas/iterations under a certain area/iteration.
I did find a workaround for the problem described in my second question, but no real solution. The thing is: do not follow the instructions given in the solution to the mentioned question (and related post). Rather, follow the alternate answer starting with “At the time the Team Project..”, which consists in altering the files that were created with the project before deleting the iterations and queries that were created by default. This is somewhat more tricky because you have to be absolutely sure that everything is changed and working before you delete the default iterations.