Work item tracking: Index to XML element definitions

  • Article

By using the index of elements in this topic, you can look up the syntax structure and find examples of how to use each element of the schema type definition for work item tracking. Elements are organized alphabetically and by the following four major groups:

  • WITD: The root element of the definition schema for types of work items.

  • FIELD (Definition): You use this element and its child elements to define a work item field and to specify the rules and conditions that apply to it. See Modify or add a field to support queries, reports, and workflow. To access descriptions for all fields defined within the default process templates, including system fields, see Work item field reference for Visual Studio ALM.

  • WORKFLOW: You use this element and its child elements to define the states, transitions, and reasons that compose the workflow of a type of work item. In addition to the following elements, you can use most of the elements listed under FIELD Definition Elements later in this topic to reference a field and apply conditions to it when a user changes its state. For more information, see Change the workflow for a work item type.

    Note

    Changes you make to the workflow can affect the operation of the Agile planning tools, the backlog and task board pages, and other tools. You might need to customize the process configuration. See Configure and customize Agile planning tools for a team project.

  • FORM: You use this element and its child elements to specify the fields that appear on the work item form and the layout or design of the form. For more information, see Design the work item form.

Alphabetical Index

Note

The schema definition for work item tracking defines all child elements of the FORM element as camel-case and all other elements as all capitalized. If you encounter errors when validating your type definition files, check the case structure of your elements. Also, the case structure of opening and closing tags must match according to the rules for XML syntax.

Many of the XML tags used to define the process configuration for the backlog and task board pages in Team Web Access share the same names but have different syntax structure. For more information, see Customizing Backlog and Task Board Pages and Process configuration XML element reference.

WITD, FIELD, WORKFLOW, and FORM Index of Elements

The following table provides an index to the reference topics for all child elements of the parent container element. Also, you can access the topic that provides detailed information and examples for each child element.

WITD

FIELD

WORKFLOW

FORM

All WITD XML elements reference

All FIELD XML elements reference

All WORKFLOW XML elements reference

All FORM XML elements reference

See Also

Concepts

Localization and globalization of WITD child elements

All WITD XML elements reference

Customize work tracking objects to support your team's processes