Inside the Microsoft® Build Engine: Using MSBuild and Team Foundation Build

Creating a Build Definition

Now that the necessary infrastructure is in place, you can create your first build definition. Build definitions define the information required to execute a build, such as what should be built, what triggers a build, and how long these builds should be retained.

To create a new build definition:

1. Open Microsoft Visual Studio 2008.

2. Open Team Explorer.

3. Expand the Team Project.

4. Right-click Builds, and click New Build Definition.

General

The General tab shown in Figure 10-4 allows you to name the build definition and optionally describe it. The description is displayed when a developer queues the build, so this can be useful to communicate additional information about what the build definition is for.

Figure 10-4. Build Definition: ...