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Useful Tip: Exporting Test Cases in TFS 2013

I've been using TFS for a few years now at a job. I know many will go with GitHub and other tools but when you're working in a Microsoft shop, you push them to use as many of the available tools as possible.

In this job, we're working for the main Development group who provides services to internal clients. Recently we showed these internal clients how we were doing full sanity tests prior to each iteration being marked as Complete (we do a three week iteration - more on that in a future post). When we showed the client the Test Cases and the steps, the client immediately wanted them. They were hiring new testers for their own testing and were worried about the time it would take to get them up to speed.

Note: while we've been using the automated tests, there are some aspects of the software that aren't supported under CUIT. In addition, test cases with steps help junior testers become more familiar with the actual application.

Short Answer: Use the Export approach

Long Answer
At first, I figured I would use SSRS to build a useful report. However, there is no easy way to get to the data. The post here suggested the following SQL:
use tfs_defaultcollection
declare @fldIdSteps int = (Select top 1 fldid from Fields where ReferenceName = 'Microsoft.VSTS.TCM.Steps')
select *
from WorkItemLongTexts
where FldID = @fldIdSteps and id=6514

This works except that you then see that the actual steps are stored as XML.


Then I come upon this link. While Microsoft is certainly pushing people to use VS Online to get the most current features, I was happy to see that this was also available in TFS 2013 Online.

Simple steps:
1. Find your Test Suite.
2. Switch to Grid Layout.


3. Now you can cut and paste it into Excel for nicer formatting.

But there is a better way - THIS one.

Just right-click on the Test Suite and Export for Email.

I then took the email and cleaned it up in Excel. Fast and easy and now the client is super happy!





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