Create TFS work item with PowerShell - powershell

Question

I'm working on a TFS build with a pre-build PowerShell script that (in addition to building my app) automatically checks out a file where we maintain version, increments the build number, then checks the file in.
I have been able to do this, except that I get an error from the script which results in a partially successful build (orange). I need to have a fully successful (green) build.
Here's the check-in line (using TFS Power Tools for VS 2013):
New-TfsChangeset -Item $versionFile -Override "Automated" -Notes "Code Reviewer=tfs" -Comment "Automated"
The error I receive is that the changeset is not associated with a work item, but the -Override should handle that. The funny thing is that it checks in anyway.
Running locally on my machine instead of the build server, I get the same thing, except that I also see a line that says The policies have been overridden. This tells me that the override is working, but it still outputs the error.
I've tried adding -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue, but it has no effect.
I need one of three options:
A way to suppress output of the checkin error,
A way to create a work item and associate it to the checkin, or
Some other third option that will result in a green build.
Any ideas?

Answer 1

Credit goes to Eddie - MSFT for leading me the right direction, but I wanted to consolidate everything here.
WARNING This will check in all pending changes in the workspace.
Creating a new work item (source)
I did modify it quite a bit to support automation. It connects to TFS and generates a new work item.
function New-WorkItem()
{
# These *should* be registered in the GAC.
# The version numbers will likely have to change as new versions of Visual Studio are installed on the server.
Add-Type -Assembly "Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"
Add-Type -Assembly "Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Client, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"
$server = "http://YOURTFSSERVER:8080/tfs"
$tfs = [Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client.TeamFoundationServerFactory]::GetServer($server)
$type = [Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Client.WorkItemStore]
$store = [Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Client.WorkItemStore] $tfs.GetService($type)
$workItem = New-Object Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Client.WorkItem($store.Projects[0].WorkItemTypes[0])
$workItem.Title = "Automated work item"
$workItem
}
Associating the work item and checking in
Slight modifications to the code from the link given by Eddie, we get the following:
function CheckIn()
{
param([Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Client.WorkItem] $workItem)
$col = Get-TfsCollection("http://YOURTFSSERVER:8080/tfs/YOURCOLLECTION")
$vcs = Get-TfsVersionControlServer($col)
$ws = $vcs.GetWorkspace([System.IO.Path]::GetDirectoryName($anyPathInWorkspace))
$pc = $ws.GetPendingChanges()
$wici = Get-TfsWorkItemCheckinInfo($workItem)
$changeset = $ws.CheckIn($pc, "Automated check in", $null, $wici, $null)
}
That post doesn't tell you that Get-TfsCollection, Get-TfsVersionControlServer, and Get-TfsWorkItemCheckinInfo aren't defined. I had to find them.
I found the first two on http://nkdagility.com/powershell-tfs-2013-api-1-get-tfscollection-and-tfs-services/. I didn't have to change anything.
function Get-TfsCollection
{
param([string] $CollectionUrl)
if ($CollectionUrl -ne "")
{
#if collection is passed then use it and select all projects
$tfs = [Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client.TfsTeamProjectCollectionFactory]::GetTeamProjectCollection($CollectionUrl)
}
else
{
#if no collection specified, open project picker to select it via gui
$picker = New-Object Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client.TeamProjectPicker([Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client.TeamProjectPickerMode]::NoProject, $false)
$dialogResult = $picker.ShowDialog()
if ($dialogResult -ne "OK")
{
#exit
}
$tfs = $picker.SelectedTeamProjectCollection
}
$tfs
}
function Get-TfsVersionControlServer
{
param([Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client.TfsTeamProjectCollection] $TfsCollection)
$TfsCollection.GetService("Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Client.VersionControlServer")
}
But I couldn't find Get-TfsWorkItemCheckinInfo. The only Google hit was the kinook link from Eddie (and soon probably this answer). Here's what I came up with:
function Get-TfsWorkItemCheckinInfo
{
param([Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Client.WorkItem] $workItem)
$wi = New-Object Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Client.WorkItemCheckinInfo($workItem, [Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Client.WorkItemCheckinAction]::Resolve)
$wi
}
Now we can use it
CheckIn (New-WorkItem)
That's it!

Answer 2

You can create a work item from PowerShell by following this article: http://halanstevens.com/blog/powershell-script-to-create-a-workitem/
Quote the code here for reference:
$key = Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\8.0
$dir = [string] (Get-ItemProperty $key.InstallDir)
$dir += "PrivateAssemblies\"
$lib = $dir + "Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Client.dll"
[Reflection.Assembly]::LoadFrom($lib)
$lib = $dir + "Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client.dll"
[Reflection.Assembly]::LoadFrom($lib)
"Please enter your Team Foundation Server Name:"
$server = [Console]::ReadLine()
$server = $server.Trim()
"Connecting to " + $server + "..."
$tfs = [Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client.TeamFoundationServerFactory]::GetServer($server)
$type = [Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Client.WorkItemStore]
$store = [Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Client.WorkItemStore] $tfs.GetService($type)
$workItem = new-object Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Client.WorkItem($store.Projects[0].WorkItemTypes[0])
"Created a new work item of type " + $workItem.Type.Name
$workItem.Title = "Created by Windows PowerShell!"
$workItem.Save()
And then refer to this article to associate the work item to changeset: http://www.kinook.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=4502