self Object

Represents the work item that triggered the rule and corresponds to the IWorkItemExposed interface.

Fields collection

You can access the Fields collection using either syntax:

self.Fields["field_name"]

Prefer using Reference names e.g. System.Title as they do not depend on localization and are more resilient to Process template changes.

To simply access a field value, you can use self["field_name"] as a shorthand for self.Fields["field_name"].Value

For numeric and dates you may prefer using

var num = self.GetField<int>("field_name", 42);

for other type of fields we suggest to use the following syntax

var str = self["field_name"]?.ToString();

The Aggregator Field exposes the following properties:

• Name
• ReferenceName
• Value
• Status
• OriginalValue
• DataType

Parent property

Helper property to navigate a work item's parent in the Parent-Child hierarchy. Applies to any work item object.

self.Parent["System.Title"]

Children property

Helper property to navigate a work item's children in the Parent-Child hierarchy.

foreach (var child in self.Children)
{
   if (child.TypeName == "Bug")
   {
      //...
   }
}

HasParent / HasChildren / HasRelation methods

Helper methods to avoid referencing null properties. Applies to any work item object.

if (self.HasParent()) {
   self.Parent["System.Title"] = "*** " + self.Parent["System.Title"];
}

Always prefer the Immutable name of the Link Type, e.g. System.LinkTypes.Hierarchy-Reverse instead of Parent in HasRelation. You can use the pre-defined WorkItemImplementationBase.ChildRelationship and WorkItemImplementationBase.ParentRelationship.

AddWorkItemLink methods

Add a link to another work item.

var parent = self;
if (!self.HasChildren())
{
    var child = store.MakeNewWorkItem((string)parent["System.TeamProject"], "Task");
    child["Title"] = "Task auto-generated for " + parent["Title"];
    child.AddWorkItemLink(parent, WorkItemImplementationBase.ParentRelationship);
}

You can use the pre-defined WorkItemImplementationBase.ChildRelationship and WorkItemImplementationBase.ParentRelationship.

AddHyperlink method

Add an hyperlink to an URL.

self.AddHyperlink("https://github.com/tfsaggregator/tfsaggregator", "Automatically added");

History and related properties

self offers the History RevisedDate and Revision properties.

In addition, the LastRevision property offers access to previous Fields values.

Miscellaneous properties

The IsValid method is important to check is you set some invalid field value on a work item.

You can get the Id and TypeName of a work item

Fluent Queries

You can get work items related using the utility methods to build a query. Applies to any work item object.

• WhereTypeIs filters on work item type
• AtMost depth of search, i.e. maximum number of links to follow
• FollowingLinks filters on link type

It is particularly useful for traversing many links.

Example

var tests = self.FollowingLinks("Tested-By").WhereTypeIs("Test Case");
foreach (var test in tests)
{
   if (test["Microsoft.VSTS.Common.Severity"] == "1 - Critical") {
      // do something
   }
}

Linq

You can use Linq queries on these collections:

• Children
• Fields

Example

Roll-up code

var totalEffort = self.Parent.Children.Where(child => child.TypeName == "Task").Sum(child => child.GetField("TaskEffort", 0));

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