Visual Studio 2008 Team System Path Length

Here's a quick tip about file path lengths in Visual Studio 2008, Team System. I have been tweaking the process templates for our rollout of this system and came across a file path length limitation.

My default project location for VSTS was the typical location under My Documents/Visual Studio 2008/Projects. Well, if you keep that location, add one or two folders for organization, then you'll bump into this issue.

This is particularly annoying when attempting to upload a new process template. All the images, etc., are pathed in the XML...and that path then exceeds the length that VSTS can handle. When that happens, the upload fails and you have to scour the logs to figure out why.

So, if you are just starting out with Visual Studio 2008, be sure to create a default location for your projects under a very short root path. I prefer to use c:\action. That keeps my projects at the top of the folder structure. They are easy to find and the path length is very short.

On a related note, let's say you've created a project and added it to source control, but now you want to change the local path (similar to setting the working folder in VSS). It's easy to do, but tucked away. You need to select File --> Source Control --> Workspaces. Edit the workspace you want to move. Easy enough, but not readily apparent.

If it's not static and it's not dynamic, it's...

We're in the process of creating/implementing a CMS system. There is a ton of planning that needs to go into this bad boy. In the pre-design, high-level requirements chit-chat phase, the technical team was discussing the types of content that would need to be supported. We had the static content - that which rarely changes. We had the dynamic content - that which changes frequently. We then discovered that we also had mixed content - content that was static yet had a dynamic component to it.

We kept calling this mixed content type "static-dynamic" or "dynamic-static". Neither of those seemed to fit, so I coined a new word. Feel free to use it with impunity in all of your meetings. The goal here is to get management to start using it like a new buzzword.

Here it is……"stynamic". That's right, stynamic. Don't you worry that the spellchecker chokes on the word. It's not a typo. It's bleeding edge language, baby.

Shout it to the mountains! STYNAMIC…..NAMic….namic…

Use it with confidence in meetings. "You know, Becky, the stynamic nature of our organization requires flexibility with the understanding that things will never really get better for you."

Sling it casually with friends. "Dude, we always just get together and drink beer. Let's be more stynamic. Let's drink beer AND whiskey!"

Sip wine while impressing those arrogant, highly opinionated, self-righteous acquaintances with whom you are forced to occasionally dine. "You know, Archibald, I've noticed the awkward growth of this community has a very stynamic feel." You sip wine while letting the word settle in Archibald's mind. "We continue to build out, yet what is it we build? Strip malls. We get new construction. New growth. Yet, what we're building - the very nature of our growth - is, well, static." You see the wheels turn in Archibald's mind and smile knowing that he'll use stynamic at least a dozen times before the night is through.

So, there it is. My gift to you and the world. Stynamic. Use it wisely. Use it often.