Manage Build Information and Control Verbosity

You can systematically control information verbosity when you develop your build process. When you create or edit a build definition that is based on the Default Template or the Upgrade Template, display the Process tab. In the Basic node, you can select a value in the Logging Verbosity list to specify this build process parameter.

In cases where the built-in templates do not meet your needs, you can develop a custom build process template. When you create this kind of template, you should carefully write build information. For more information, see Use Minimal Verbosity When Designing a Custom Build Process Template.

You can manually override the Logging Verbosity setting when you queue a build definition that is based on the Default Template or the Upgrade Template. In the Queue Build dialog box, choose the Parameters tab, expand the Basic node, and then select a value in the Logging Verbosity list to specify this build process parameter. This value is applied to a single run of the build.

The build system passes the value of the Verbosity build process parameter to Verbosity. This property is used to filter the build information that is logged and stored on your Team Foundation Server via Information from the following sources:

• Workflow activities: Several workflow activities generate a message when an operation succeeds or a warning or error when an operation fails. For example, the SyncWorkspace activity generates Low importance messages when it downloads source code and other files from the server to the build agent. This activity generates errors when it fails to download the files. As another example, the OpenWorkItem activity generates a warning when it fails to create a work item.

  You can use other workflow activities to directly write your own build information. For more information, see Design a Custom Build Process Template that Writes Information with the Minimal Necessary Verbosity.

• Compile code: The build process uses the MSBuild activity to leverage MSBuild to compile the binaries and perform other vital tasks. The Verbosity property of this activity controls the verbosity of the information that this process generates and publishes to the following locations:

  • Your Team Foundation Server stores compilation results, errors, and warnings.

  • A log in the drop folder stores the same information as your Team Foundation Server along with all other messages that MSBuild produces.

• Test code: The build process uses the RunTests or the MSTest activity to run tests. All messages that these activities log are classified with an importance value of High if the build controller is on-premises, or Low if you are using the Hosted Build Controller..

While the build is running and after it is completed, you can retrieve both summary and detailed information from the build results window. You can copy this information from the window onto the Clipboard. You can also link directly to the drop folder to retrieve logs, binaries, and other data.

When you are running a build, you should generally follow the best practice of using the lowest verbosity setting that still provides the information that you need to accomplish your goal.

Users of your build process rely on verbosity filtering to reduce information overload. You can help make this filtering more effective by taking the following measures:

• Make sure that you select the most appropriate activity to write a message: WriteBuildMessage, WriteBuildWarning, WriteBuildError, or WriteBuildTestError.

• When you use the WriteBuildMessage activity to log information, apply an intentional and consistent approach to setting the Importance property. When you use a higher importance value for your message, be aware that you are potentially increasing the amount of data that is stored and presented to your team members.

Note
The impact of such decisions can be especially dramatic if you use these activities inside a loop structure such as DoWhile, ForEach<T>, or While.