Google Website Translator Gadget

Monday, 04 April 2011

Pragma Software Development: Check-in Procedure

When working together in a software development team it is important to have a common definition for when something is DONE.  An important aspect of getting things DONE is a well-defined check-in procedure that all developers follow to commit something into the source control repository.  Here is the procedure that we use at Pragma for committing changes into our Team Foundation Source Control repository:

  1. Code has been integrated with a recent version of the code in the TFS repository – at least a version of the TFS repository on the same day.
  2. Code has been formatted according to our ReSharper Pragma Full Cleanup profile.  This automatically formats all code to follow the same formatting and layout standards.
  3. Code compiles without any compiler warnings.
  4. Code adheres to our coding standards - I’ll write more about this in a future post.  We try to automate the application of our coding standards (where possible) using tools like ReSharper.  Alternatively, use a code review checklist to quickly identify areas of concern. 
  5. No ReSharper code analysis Error or Warning violations (i.e. green square in scrollbar). Any violation needs to be identified and agreed upon. Suggestions and Hints can be ignored if deemed unnecessary.
  6. No FxCop violations. Any violation needs to be identified, agreed upon and justified using the in-code SuppressMessage attribute.
  7. New functionality has been covered by tests and the code coverage has been verified using NCover.
  8. Bugs have been covered by tests and verified using NCover.
  9. Code adherers to the Logging strategy and the developer has inspected the usefulness of the log statements using Log4View.
  10. Code adheres to the Exception handling strategy for managing exceptions.
  11. Error Messages and translations have been added to the resource files.
  12. The associated TFS work item (development ticket/task) has been updated to reflect the effort involved (actual hours, comments etc.)

Once the code satisfies the above mentioned criteria, the developer runs a gated check-in using the TeamCity Visual Studio Plug-in.  This ensures that all the unit and integration tests are executed by the TeamCity build server after integrating the local changes with the latest TFS repository changeset.  Only if all the tests pass will TeamCity commit the changes onto the Mainline.   The observant reader may have noticed that we don’t do an upfront code review.  As we work from home for 2-3 days a week, we conduct our code reviews on the checked-in artefacts.  I’ll write more about the code review procedure in a future blog posting. 

Lastly, for service pack development, the developer needs to consider whether the change needs to be merged across to the Mainline for the next major version and merge the changes across if required.

7 comments:

  1. Hi,
    Do you have an example of what Resharper settings/template you are using at Pragma. I would like to implement the auto code cleanup where I work but I am not sure where to begin...reviewing what works for someone else might help.

    Regards
    Colin

    ReplyDelete
  2. Colin,

    You can download a copy of our latest settings from here.

    https://sites.google.com/site/fromthedevtrenches/downloads/Shared.RSettings?attredirects=0&d=1

    Please note that we are using the Agent Smith and R# Settings Manager plugins to manage these settings. I leave it up to you to Google on how these tools work and how to integrate the settings into your work environment. Have fun :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry for the delay in replying, just checked back....thanks ever so much for the file. I will take a look. I have been picking up an existing code base from developers who never used Resharper and I am taking great pleasure in getting that little square box green. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nice knowledge gaining article. This post is really the best on this valuable topic.
    Desarrollo de software

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is my first time visit here. From the tons of comments on your articles,I guess I am not only one having all the enjoyment right here!
    Desarrollo de software

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great post i must say and thanks for the information. Education is definitely a sticky subject. However, is still among the leading topics of our time. I appreciate your post and look forward to more. magento eshop

    ReplyDelete