High-Level Structure of a Work Item Type

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A small number of XML elements appear between <WORKITEMTYPE> tags at the highest levels of the work item type definition. You start defining a work item type by providing a name and a description. You also use certain standard XML tags to wrap the work item type definition. The following sample shows the high-level structure of a work item type:

<WITD application="work item type editor" version="1.0">
    <WORKITEMTYPE name="bug">
        <DESCRIPTION>Bug work item types are used to track defects in the code.</DESCRIPTION>
        <GLOBALLISTS>
        </GLOBALLISTS>
        <FIELDS>
        </FIELDS>
        <WORKFLOW>
        </WORKFLOW>
        <FORM>
        </FORM>
    </WORKITEMTYPE>
</WITD>

The structural elements used in the previous example are described here:

  • <WITD application="work item type editor" version="1.0">

    The complete work item type definition is wrapped by the tag <WITD>. You can use any name for the application name. The version identifies the schema of the work item type that changes from one release to the next. Use "1.0."

  • <WORKITEMTYPE name="Bug">

    Work item type names must be unique in a specific team project. This name is used at run time. For example, the name can appear as a menu option. In this case, a user would be able to click Bug on the New Work Item menu. For more information, see WORKITEMTYPE Element (Work Item Type Definition Schema).

  • <DESCRIPTION>

    The description is Help text that can be used at run time when an overview of the work item type in a project is needed. For example, the Help text can explain to a user the difference between a risk and an issue. For more information, see DESCRIPTION Element (Work Item Type Definition Schema).

Note

The description is only viewable in the XML definition. The description is not visible anywhere in the user interface and has no relationship to the field System.Definition.

Additional topics discuss <GLOBALLISTS>, <FIELDS>, <WORKFLOW>, and <FORM> sections in detail. For more information, see GLOBALLISTS Element (Work Item Type Definition Schema), FIELDS Element (WORKITEMTYPE Element), WORKFLOW Element (Work Item Type Definition Schema), and FORM Element (Work Item Type Definition Schema).

See Also

Concepts

Global Lists

Other Resources

Defining Work Item Type Fields
Defining Work Item Workflow
Defining the Work Item Form
Work Item Type Schema Reference