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Import and export categories

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You can import and export categories defined for a team project by using the following witadmin commands:

  • exportcategories:  Exports the XML definition of categories defined on a server that runs Team Foundation Server.

  • importcategories:  Imports a work item type XML definition file into a team project on a server that runs Team Foundation Server. 

    If a category with the same name already exists, this command overwrites the existing definition. If the work item type does not already exist, this command creates a new category.

To learn about the default categories and how they are used, go here.

To run the witadmin command-line tool, open a Command Prompt window where either Visual Studio or Team Explorer is installed and enter:

cd %programfiles(x86)%\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE

On a 32-bit edition of Windows, replace %programfiles(x86)% with %programfiles%.

Note

You can create and modify categories by using Process Editor, a power tool for Visual Studio. This power tool is not supported. For more information, see the following page on the Microsoft Web site: Team Foundation Server Power Tools.

Requirements

For the team project for which the categories are defined, you must have the following permissions set:

  • To export categories of work item types, you must have your View project-level information permission set to Allow.

  • To import categories of work item types, you must be a member of the Project Administrators security group or have the Edit project-level information permission set to Allow.

witadmin exportcategories /collection:CollectionURL /p:Project [/f:FileName] [/e:Encoding] 

witadmin importcategories /collection:CollectionURL /p:Project /f:FileName [/e:Encoding]

Parameters

Parameter

Description

/collection:CollectionURL

Specifies the URI of the team project collection. The format for the URI is the following: http://ServerName:Port/VirtualDirectoryName/CollectionName

If no virtual directory is used, then the format for the URI is the following:

http://ServerName:Port/CollectionName.

/p:Project

The name of the team project from which the categories are exported or to which the categories are imported.

/f:FileName

The path and file name of the XML definition file that contains the categories to be exported or imported. If you omit this parameter when you use the exportcategories command, the command lists the categories in the Command Prompt window.

/e:Encoding

The name of a .NET Framework 2.0 encoding format. The specified encoding will be used to export or import the XML data. For example, /e:utf-7 specifies Unicode (UTF-7) encoding. If you omit this parameter, witadmin attempts to detect the encoding, and if detection fails, witadmin uses UTF-8.

/? or help

Displays help about the command in the Command Prompt window.

Remarks

Importing a categories file creates the categories if they do not already exist. If categories already exist, the witadmin importcategories command will warn you that the current list will be overwritten. You can write your own program to update an existing set of categories, or you can update the categories yourself with new data.

Important

Changes you make to categories can impact process configuration. See Configure and customize Agile planning tools for a team project.

For information about the categories XML file structure, see Categories XML element reference.

Examples

Unless otherwise specified, the following values apply in each example:

  • URI for the team project collection: http://AdventureWorksServer:8080/tfs/DefaultCollection

  • Project name: AdventureWorks

  • Input or output file name: myCategories.xml

  • Default encoding: UTF-8

List categories

The following command lists the work item type categories defined for the AdventureWorks project.

witadmin exportcategories /collection:http://AdventureWorksServer:8080/tfs/DefaultCollection /p:AdventureWorks

Add a category to the Hidden Types categories

You add a category to the Hidden Types categories to remove support for users to create work item types in that category.

  1. Export the definition file for categories for your team project.

    witadmin exportcategories /collection:http://AdventureWorksServer:8080/tfs/DefaultCollection /p:AdventureWorks /f:myCategories.xml

  2. Open the Categories file in your preferred text editor, and locate the CATEGORY element for the "Hidden Types Category".

    <CATEGORY name="Hidden Types Category" refname="Microsoft.HiddenCategory">
   <DEFAULTWORKITEMTYPE name="Code Review Request" />
   <WORKITEMTYPE name="Code Review Response" />
   <WORKITEMTYPE name="Feedback Request" />
   <WORKITEMTYPE name="Feedback Response" />
   <WORKITEMTYPE name="Shared Steps" />
</CATEGORY>

  3. Add a WORKITEMTYPE element that specifies the friendly name of the work item type that you want to add.

    For example, the following syntax adds the custom work item type of "Integration Build" to the Hidden Types Category.

    <CATEGORY name="Hidden Types Category" refname="Microsoft.HiddenCategory">
   <DEFAULTWORKITEMTYPE name="Code Review Request" />
   <WORKITEMTYPE name="Code Review Response" />
   <WORKITEMTYPE name="Feedback Request" />
   <WORKITEMTYPE name="Feedback Response" />
   <WORKITEMTYPE name="Shared Steps" />
   <WORKITEMTYPE name="Integration Build" />
</CATEGORY>

  4. Import the definition file for categories to your team project.

    witadmin importcategories /collection:http://AdventureWorksServer:8080/tfs/DefaultCollection /p:AdventureWorks /f:myCategories.xml

See Also

Concepts

Configure and customize Agile planning tools for a team project

Other Resources

Use categories to group work item types