TFS 2010 Gated Checkin - Reconcile workspace after reboot

Normally when you checkin your changes with Gated Checkin enabled, once the files are checked in you see a "Team Foundation Build Notification" pop up to reconcile the workspace.
However, condiser you checkin something at the end of the day and go home thinking that you will reconcile the next day. In the mean time, your system got rebooted or went outside of network. The next day when you login to your system, you dont see the "Team Foundation Build Notification" pop up to reconcile the workspace.
You dont have to wait for the pop-up and can do the following:

• Open the Build result of your Gated Checkin by double clicking on the Gated Checkin Build Definition in Team Explorer->Team Project->Builds
• Click Reconcile Workspace

TFS 2010 - Lab Build Definition appends the configuration to build output path $(BuildLocation)

Consider you have two build definitions:

• DailyBuild - Uses DefaultTemplate.xaml
• CIBuild - Uses LabDefaultTemplate.xaml

If you do not specify any configurations explicitly in DailyBuild, the CIBuild would work fine and you will be able to run the Build-Deploy-Test workflow smoothly.

However, as soon as you explicitly specify a configuration in DailyBuild, the CIBuild would start failing because it wont be able to find the binaries in the build drop.
This is because it appends the configuration to build output path in $(BuildLocation)

The solution is to modify the LabDefaultTemplate.xaml
Before:
<If Condition="[LabWorkflowParameters.BuildDetails.IsTeamSystemBuild = True]" DisplayName="Compute build location needed" sap:VirtualizedContainerService.HintSize="858,201">

       <If.Then>

         <Assign DisplayName="Compute build path" sap:VirtualizedContainerService.HintSize="291,100">

           <Assign.To>

             <OutArgument x:TypeArguments="x:String">[BuildLocation]</OutArgument>

           </Assign.To>

           <Assign.Value>

             <InArgument x:TypeArguments="x:String">[If(LabWorkflowParameters.BuildDetails.Configuration Is Nothing, BuildLocation, If(LabWorkflowParameters.BuildDetails.Configuration.IsEmpty Or (SelectedBuildDetail.Information.GetNodesByType(Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Common.InformationTypes.ConfigurationSummary, True)).Count = 1, BuildLocation, If(LabWorkflowParameters.BuildDetails.Configuration.IsPlatformEmptyOrAnyCpu, BuildLocation + "\" + LabWorkflowParameters.BuildDetails.Configuration.Configuration, BuildLocation + "\" + LabWorkflowParameters.BuildDetails.Configuration.Platform + "\" + LabWorkflowParameters.BuildDetails.Configuration.Configuration)))]</InArgument>

           </Assign.Value>

         </Assign>

       </If.Then>

     </If>

 After:

 <If Condition="[LabWorkflowParameters.BuildDetails.IsTeamSystemBuild = True]" DisplayName="Compute build location needed" sap:VirtualizedContainerService.HintSize="858,201">

       <If.Then>

         <Assign DisplayName="Compute build path" sap:VirtualizedContainerService.HintSize="291,100">

           <Assign.To>

             <OutArgument x:TypeArguments="x:String">[BuildLocation]</OutArgument>

           </Assign.To>

           <Assign.Value>

             <InArgument x:TypeArguments="x:String">[BuildLocation]</InArgument>

           </Assign.Value>

         </Assign>

       </If.Then>

     </If>

Automated Build-Deploy-Test using TFS 2010

Here is my Microsoft MVP Award Program Blog http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mvpawardprogram/archive/2011/10/17/automated-build-deploy-test-using-tfs-2010.aspx

SQLCMD - QUOTED_IDENTIFIER is OFF

If you want to deploy the Differential script on a Database in an automated way, the most common way is to use SQLCMD. For example:

sqlcmd -S Server-d Database1 -U UserName -P Password -i DatabaseBuild-ProdDiff.sql

However, when you run this script, QUOTED_IDENTIFIER is set to OFF

When running the stored procedures, you might see errors like:
Message: UPDATE failed because the following SET options have incorrect settings: 'QUOTED_IDENTIFIER'.

The reason for this is that QUOTED_IDENTIFIER is not set to ON
To set it to ON, you should pass the -I argument, For example:
sqlcmd -I -S Server-d Database1 -U UserName -P Password -i DatabaseBuild-ProdDiff.sql

Windows Azure Tools 1.4 - Error: Certificate: ‘CertName’ with Thumbprint: xxx for Role: RoleName has not been uploaded to the hosted service: ServiceName.

Consider your Windows Azure role has a configuation like:

<Certificates>
  <Certificate name="CertName" thumbprint="xxx" thumbprintAlgorithm="sha1" />
</Certificates>

When you try to deploy to cloud from Visual Studio by right clicking the Windows Azure project and selecting Publish, you might see a log like this:
5:20:37 PM - Preparing...
5:20:37 PM - Connecting...
5:20:38 PM - Error: Certificate: ‘CertName’ with Thumbprint: xxx for Role: RoleName has not been uploaded to the hosted service: ServiceName.

The reason for this error could be that the Certificate Thumbprint which is displayed on the Windows Azure Portal is in UpperCase and the one specified in your configuration is in LowerCase or vice versa.

The fix for this is to copy the Thumbprint from Windows Azure Portal  and paste it in your configuration so that the case match at both places.

Deploying SQL Azure Report on an On-Premise SQL Server Reporting Service

Here is my TechNet article http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/4744.aspx

TFS 2010 - There was no endpoint listening at http://buildagent:9191/Build/v3.0/Services/Controller/1 that could accept the message

Sometimes the build agent stops working all of a sudden and you see the error:
There was no endpoint listening at http://buildagent:9191/Build/v3.0/Services/Controller/1 that could accept the message

This could occur because of incorrect proxy being set. If you uncheck the below checkbox or correct the proxy, it should fix the issue.

The other fix for this is to unregister the Build Services and Register it again. Below are the steps:

• Open Team Foundation Administration console
• Go to Build Configuration
• Click "Unregister" link on the build service
• Click "Register" link on the build service
• Specify the "Team Project Collection" and "Credentials" and Save