Compiling and Creating Documentation

There are many ways to customize the documentation on the project portal. In the XML file defining the files included on the team portal (WssTasks.xml), you can include your own custom HTML files documenting your entire process. All you need to do is include the physical HTML file in the Supporting Files folder, and reference it in WssTasks.xml.

Important

Note that there are a few filename dependencies to consider. For example, the main page of your document should be called ProcessGuidance.htm, in the folder path of Process Guidance/Supporting Files. (If you click Help⇨Team Project Process Guidance, you will automatically jump to the ProcessGuidance.htm file in the current project.) Another one you should watch out for is AboutWorkItems.htm, which is accessible by clicking Work Items⇨Team Project Process Guidance in any team project within Team Explorer.

Another approach is to use the built-in MSF process guidance and make modifications to the guidance using Microsoft FrontPage 2003. All you need to do is connect to your team project using FrontPage 2003 (by clicking File⇨Open Site) for your target team project. Expand the Supporting Documents node (within the Process Guidance folder). Double-click any of the .htm files (AboutRoles.htm for example) and make changes in the right pane. Once you are satisfied with the results, you can save the customized page on the server (or download a copy to your desktop to incorporate into a custom process template).

The MSF HTML Build Utility (MSFWinBuild) is an internal tool specifically designed by Microsoft to create the MSF process guidance. One of the challenges of MSF was representing the various links and dependencies between project artifacts. Just to give you an idea of the scale, MSF CMMI has approximately 13,000 pages of HTML and over 130,000 hyperlinks! The tool was designed to mitigate the load caused by the dynamic rendering of guidance pages, and reduce the complexity of building interconnected menus and hyperlinks. You can download the utility on the MSF Web site (http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/teamsystem/msf/) or on the GotDotNet workspace (gotdotnet.com/workspaces/workspace.aspx?id=).

All the process guidance content is stored in XML files. The MSFWinBuild utility uses a parameter file to denote the mapping and output directories of the process guidance. The utility will then incorporate the content and navigation. To run the utility, simply type the following:

 > MSFWinBuild.exe Parameters.xml 

Here is the structure of Parameters.xml, including the XML for navigation, mapping, and the Windows SharePoint Services tasks:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> <MSFWinBuild> <NavXml>Custom\Process Guidance\Supporting Files\XML\Nav.xml</NavXml> <MapXml>Custom\Process Guidance\Supporting Files\XML\ProcessGuidanceMap.xml</MapXml> <OutputXmlFile>Custom\Process Guidance\Supporting Files\XML\ProcessGuidance.xml</OutputXmlFile> <HtmlFile>C:\Custom\Process Guidance\Supporting  Files\ProcessGuidance.htm</HtmlFile> <OutputPath>Output\</OutputPath> <WssXslFile>WssTasks.xsl</WssXslFile> <WssOutputFile>WssTasks.XML</WssOutputFile> </MSFWinBuild> 

The MSFWinBuild utility allows the precise merging of XML files. The Map XML file uses the XInclude (w3.org/TR/2003/WD-xinclude-20031110/) standard.

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <?mso-infoPathSolution PIVersion="1.0.0.0" language="en-us" name="urn:schemas- microsoft-com:office:infopath:template:http---tempuri-org-XMLSchema-xsd" solutionVersion="1.0.0.138" productVersion="11.0.6353" href="file:///C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\v- brtrau\Desktop\msf\working\Build%2064\Build%2064\Build%2064\Supporting%20Files\XML\ template.xsn" ?> <?mso-application prog?><mstns:ProcessGuidance xmlns:mstns="http://tempuri.org/XMLSchema.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:my="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/infopath/2003/myXSD/2004-10-13T22:49: 49" xmlns:xd="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/infopath/2003" xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2003/XInclude"> <mstns:Content> <xi:include href="Roles.xml" xpointer="xpointer(/mstns:Content/mstns:ContentItem)"/> <xi:include href="WorkProduct.xml" xpointer="xpointer(/mstns:Content/mstns:ContentItem)"/> <xi:include href="WorkStream.xml" xpointer="xpointer(/mstns:Content/mstns:ContentItem)"/> <xi:include href="Activity.xml" xpointer="xpointer(/mstns:Content/mstns:ContentItem)"/> <xi:include href="Report.xml" xpointer="xpointer(/mstns:Content/mstns:ContentItem)"/> <xi:include href="Other.xml" xpointer="xpointer(/mstns:Content/mstns:ContentItem)"/> </mstns:Content> 

For more information about the MSFWinBuild utility, please refer to the following MSDN documentation (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms243790.aspx) and the Process Template portion of the Visual Studio 2005 SDK.

Important

Microsoft has released a series of articles on customizing the MSF process guidance using MSFWinBuild. You can view these articles at the following link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnvs05/html/MSF_customprocess.asp.