34

We used to set up our dev machines to receive build notifications in the task bar.

However, the process we've followed - as per this description - doesn't apply any more with Visual Studio 2015 as the Build Notification app is no longer part of the package?

Any ideas what happened to it? Replacements? Work-arounds?


Update 4/2016:
Nothing appears to have changed with Update 2 - new build definitions still don't show up..

cacau
  • 3,606
  • 3
  • 21
  • 42
  • You can vote for this feature here: https://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/330519-team-services/suggestions/11081358-build-notifications-for-build-vnext – Yaakov Shoham Jun 22 '17 at 09:35
  • 1
    Related: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9299267/does-tfs-have-anything-like-cctray-for-build-notifications – CJBS Jan 18 '18 at 17:36

1 Answers1

33

The BuildNotificationApp is still a part of the VS 2015 and can be found here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\BuildNotificationApp.exe. However, it looks like only XAML build definitions are visible to this tool.

The new vNext features can be accessed via the new REST API. I failed to find the explicit confirmation from the official source, but most likely the app was not made compliant with this new approach.

Basically, you have the mail notifications as the only option. Make sure the mail server settings are configured properly for the application tier, and create the appropriate email alert.

Yan Sklyarenko
  • 31,557
  • 24
  • 104
  • 139
  • The least they could have done was open the browser window as a tab within Visual Studio. At least then you wouldn't have to be searching through all the open browser windows to find it, or ending up with 20 of them open by the end of the day... – Steve In CO Mar 24 '16 at 22:09
  • I am an unhappy customer.. where can I complain to M$? – Damian Oct 26 '16 at 13:16
  • 4
    As an alternative, you can use Catlight to get build notifications. Works with both XAML and Scriptable builds: https://catlight.io/ – Karanvir Kang May 30 '17 at 14:22
  • @Damian: Vote here: https://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/330519-team-services/suggestions/11081358-build-notifications-for-build-vnext – Yaakov Shoham Jun 22 '17 at 09:39
  • 1
    I've just started playing with [AnyStatus](https://www.anystat.us) and it's working well so far with on-premise TFS 2017. – wolfyuk Mar 02 '18 at 13:13