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No - there is no UI way to delete builds

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I feel stupid saying this but...we *don't* have a way to delete builds through UI in Team Build. We only provide a command line option to do this as Hemant describes in his blog. Yes - we have a UI way to kick off a build, create a build type and even change build directory or build machine for a particular build, but no - we don't have a UI way to delete a build. Before you start rolling your eyes and handing out books on UI consistency, lemme try and explain why we did this.

1. Deleting builds is in no way as common an operation as the other operations we have listed. So there is really no compelling need to provide an easy UI way to do this. Perhaps, the build admin did kick off trial builds while configuring, but then, that is just an initial hiccup. You might argue that there are continuous integration scenarios where builds might be needed to be deleted at a stretch. I agree that is a valid scenario, but not a mainline scenario we would want to design for.

2. Deleting builds is a kind of power operation. You don't expect your developers and testers to do this everyday. Providing a delete feature in the UI only opens ways to inadvertently perform an undesirable operation perhaps by novice users who do not really intend to do that. I can almost hear you saying "Duh! Have you heard of something called permissions?" Yes - we can certainly restrict permissions to do that operation, but you would be amazed at the kind of usability feedback you get when some option is grayed out most of the time and it appears to be a really easy option ( I mean, how difficult would it be to delete a build 8-)

Now, you tell me - were we right in not providing a UI way to delete builds?

Comments

  • Anonymous
    December 01, 2005
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  • Anonymous
    December 01, 2005
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  • Anonymous
    December 01, 2005
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    December 01, 2005
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    December 01, 2005
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  • Anonymous
    December 02, 2005
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  • Anonymous
    December 13, 2005
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  • Anonymous
    December 13, 2005
    Hi Paul - you sound like one disgruntled user! :) Sorry about the installation issues though - we have seen a lot of them on the forum and we are working hard to address those and improve the setup experience. But both you and Chris seem to be unhappy with the entire TFS UI experience and not TB in particular. I'd be happy to work on your suggestions if you offer specific examples on what you'd like to see being better. Thanks for the feedback!