T (Visual Studio Team System Glossary)

[Note: This topic is pre-release documentation and is subject to change in future releases. Blank topics are included as placeholders.]

This glossary defines key terms that are used in the Visual Studio Team System Help.

• tabular data stream (TDS)
  The internal protocol for transferring data between a client and a server that is running Microsoft SQL Server. TDS allows client and server products to communicate regardless of operating system, server release, or network transport.

• target
  The database on which an operation acts. The operation might or might not modify the target, depending on the type of operation. For example, if you compare your database project to the current deployment of that database with the intent of updating the deployment to match the project, the deployed database is considered the target for that operation.

• task
  A type of work item that records a development task or test task.

• Team Dev
  The part of Visual Studio Team System that specifically targets team members who are in the developer role.

• Team Explorer
  Used to access the team projects you are working on.

• Team Foundation Server
  A set of tools and technologies that enable a team to collaborate and coordinate their efforts for building a product or completing a project. The tools include source control, work item tracking, building, team project portal, reporting, and project management.

• team of peers
  An organizational work model that emphasizes the use of small, cohesive teams of role specialists who communicate on an equal basis in the accomplishment of their individual and group tasks. This work model contrasts to that of the traditional top-down, linear-structure work model, and has been functionally proven in a variety of different organizations, cultures, and project sizes.

• team project
  The named collection of work items, code, tests, work products, metrics, and so forth, used by a defined team with Visual Studio Team Foundation to track a common set of related work.

• team project portal
  The Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) site for each team project. A project portal allows team members to store and share documents, reports, and information related to a specific team project.

• Team Test
  The code assembly that is responsible for loading a particular type of test.

• test
  A program, a script (manual or automated), a specific set of steps, or general instructions that can be run repeatedly against software under test, and that will yield a test result such as pass, fail, or other results that resolve to pass or fail such as inconclusive.

• test adapter
  The code assembly that is responsible for loading a particular type of test.

• test agent
  A process that runs on a worker machine in a lab to which tests are distributed during the course of a remote run.

• test approach
  The test goals, coverage, techniques, and data for the project and each of the iterations.

• test case
  A specification that describes the goals of a test, the results that the test might produce, the circumstances in which it will be run, and how it should be implemented. 

• test class
  Any class that is marked with the TestClass attribute.

• test condition
  In a database unit test, a set of frequently used validation functions that test whether a unit test returns the expected results. A test condition analyzes the execution results of a unit test and determines, based on its parameters, whether the results met the criterion of the test condition.

• test deployment
  During test execution, tests and all dependant files noted by the user or the system get pulled from their default location (for example, bin/debug) and are copied either to a local or a remote execution directory.

• test developer
  A tester typically assigned authoring coded tests.

• Test Effectiveness
  A report that communicates the amount of code covered or exercised for a particular test run.

• test harness
  An application that loads test adapters and owns the process that executes tests.

• test list
  A list of tests that can be selected and managed from Test List Editor.

• Test List Editor
  The window in Visual Studio Team System that is used to manage, execute, and control large numbers of tests and test lists.

• test method
  Any method that is marked with the TestMethod attribute. You cannot run a unit test if its test method is not in a test class.

• test metric
  A unit of measure for the testing. For example, unit test coverage is a test metric for the development team.

• test metric threshold
  A goal for the project, measured using a test metric. For example, 70% unit test coverage is a test metric threshold for the development team.

• test mix
  Defines the probability of a virtual user running a given test in a load test scenario. For example: 20% run TestA and 80% run TestB. See: load test scenario

• test project
  A Visual Studio project created specifically to hold test types.

• test result
  The verdict from executing a test: pass, fail, or inconclusive.

• test run
  A set of tests that are executed at any given time.

• test script
  A defined requirement that is checked against a product and yields either a pass or a fail result. Pass indicates meeting the requirement and fail indicates not meeting the requirement.

• test task
  An assignment to create test cases and test a specific area of the product, usually in the context of a scenario or quality of service requirement.

• test type
  A set of functionality and/or a template to help expose parts of the underlying Visual Studio test framework.

• TestClass attribute
  The attribute put on a class element to indicate it contains coded tests.

• TestMethod attribute
  The attribute added to a method element to indicate it is a coded test.

• think profile
  A property that indicates whether think times are used or ignored in load tests. The think profile applies to an entire scenario in a load test. Its state are: On, Off, Normal Distribution.

• think time
  The elapsed time between the receipt of a reply to one request and the submission of the next request. For example, if it takes about 60 seconds for a user to enter all the information required for a Web-based time-entry form, 60 seconds is the think time for this scenario.

• threat
  How an adversary might try to affect an asset by using an entry point. A threat describes a goal of an adversary.

• trade-off matrix
  A tool for managing project trade-offs by portraying them in a matrix that reflects the three project variables (presented on the y axis) in the context of three decisions (presented on the x axis). The project variables are resources (people and money), schedule (time), and features (the product and its quality). These variables are sometimes presented as the trade-off triangle. The three decisions are whether to optimize, constrain, or accept a given variable. A change to one of the project variables requires that the team make a correction on one of the three sides to maintain project balance, including potentially the same side on which the change first occurred. For example, a decision to add a feature to a product may require that other features be removed if sufficient time and resources are unavailable to support their development.

• transaction
  A change-management mechanism in which each group of changes that you make to a model can be committed or rolled back in one operation. You can make changes either by using the Domain-Specific Language Designer or by writing custom code.

• triage
  The process that is used to review newly reported or reopened bugs and assign a priority and iteration for working on them.

• triage team
  The team that performs the process of reviewing newly reported or reopened bugs and assign a priority and iteration for working on them.

• trust level
  A characterization of an external entity, often based on how it is authenticated and what privileges it has. Trust levels can be associated with entry points, personas, assets, or other protected resources.