Team Foundation Server Clients
Visual Studio Team System has five primary client applications: Visual Studio Team System Architecture Edition, Visual Studio Team System Development Edition, Visual Studio Team System Test Edition, Visual Studio Team System Database Edition, and the Visual Studio Team Suite, which includes the Team Explorer client and has features of all role-based editions.
When you use them with Team Foundation Server, Visual Studio Team System clients provide additional Visual Studio user interfaces to capabilities such as version control, work item tracking, team Web sites, reporting, process guidance, build management, and distributed test execution.
Note
You can install multiple Visual Studio Team System clients on one computer. In this case, Visual Studio Team System unites the capabilities of the clients that have been installed. For example, if you install Architecture Edition and Test Edition, you have both Architecture Edition and Test Edition functionality when you run devenv.exe.
In This Section
Visual Studio Team System provides the following client features.
Architecture Edition
A Visual Studio Team System client application focused on the software architect role. A developer using Architecture Edition uses work item tracking and source code control. These features are the primary requirements that you must consider in your Team Foundation Server planning. If you have prepared the server appropriately for the work item tracking and source code control requirements of your team, you do not need any additional server planning to support Architecture Edition.
For more information, see Architecture Edition.
Development Edition
A Visual Studio Team System client application focused on the enterprise developer role. A developer using Development Edition uses work item tracking, build, and source code control. These are the primary demands that must be considered in your Team Foundation Server planning. If you have prepared the server appropriately for the work item tracking and source code control needs of your team, you do not need any additional server planning to support Development Edition.
For more information, see Development Edition.
Test Edition
A Visual Studio Team System client application focused on the tester role. A tester using Test Edition uses the work item tracking functionality of Team Foundation. These are the primary demands that you must consider in your Team Foundation Server planning. If you have prepared the server appropriately for the work item tracking and source code control needs of your team, you do not need any additional server planning to support Test Edition.
For more information about the client application, see Test Edition.
However, a server administrator might play a role in setting up a rig. A rig is a group of computers that consists of a controller and agents. For more information, see About Controllers, Agents, and Rigs. For more setup information, see the installguide.htm on the Team Test Load Agent Installation disk.
Load test results are stored in a set of tables in SQL database. Depending on the amount of load data that is routinely stored, a server administrator might have to plan to set up and maintain the Load Test Results Store. For more information, see About the Load Test Results Repository.
Database Edition
A Visual Studio Team System client application focused on the database developer and administrator roles. A developer who uses Database Edition uses work item tracking, build, and source code control. As you plan for Team Foundation Server, you must consider these primary demands for members of the database teams in your organization. If you have prepared the server appropriately for the work item tracking and source code control needs of your other teams, you do not need any additional server planning to support Database Edition.
Team Explorer
A Visual Studio based client application for software project management and analysis. Team Explorer is a client application for users who do not need Visual Studio Team System role-based clients such as Test Edition installed, but who do want access to Team Foundation Server capabilities.
Team Explorer gives you an organized view of your team projects. For example, a team project created by using the MSF for Agile Software Development process templates displays the following nodes:
Work Items This node provides access to work items, where users can view, add, and modify work items as well as create and view queries against the work item database.
Documents This node provides access to documents such as functional specifications and risk assessments that are stored on the project portal.
Reports This node provides access to reports that contain metrics for the team project.
Team Builds This node provides access to the public builds of your team project.
Source Control This node provides access to the team project source control management hierarchy.
For more information, see Using Team Explorer.
See Also
Concepts
Clients for Team Foundation Server