Link Controls, Restrictions, and Field Reference

This topic describes the controls and data fields that are associated with creating links and hyperlinks. You create relationships between work items through the Implementation, Links, All Links and Test Cases tabs on the forms for work items.

For more information about how to use links, see Choose Link Types to Effectively Track Your Project. For more information about how to create links, see Link work items and objects to support traceability.

Link toolbar buttons

Each tab provides a toolbar, which contains the buttons that the following illustration shows. The links control toolbar for Team Web Access provides a subset of these controls.

Links control toolbar (Team Explorer)

The following buttons become available only after you perform a specific action:

• The button to create a work item that is linked to the open work item () becomes available only after you save the open work item.

• The buttons to open the list of work items in a query () and Open in Microsoft Office become available only when at least one work item is listed in the links control tab.

• The buttons to open a work item (), edit a link (), and delete a link () become available only after you click one or more work items listed in the links control tab.

The Storyboards links control restricts users to add links only to storyboards or network shared files. With this control, you can add a new link, open a linked item, and delete a link. Also, only the Team Web Access version displays the Start Storyboarding link within the toolbar.

Storyboards links control (Team Web Access)

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Link controls and restrictions

All tabs that support creating links between work items are implemented by using the LinksControl element on the work item form. This element controls filtering and restricting the types of work items to which you can link, the types of links that you can create, and whether you can link to work items in another team project. For more information about how to restrict links, see LinksControlOptions Elements.

Scrum process template

The following table summarizes the link control restrictions defined for the Scrum process template. For descriptions of the work item types, see Scrum Process Template for Visual Studio ALM.

Tab name	Work item type	Link restrictions
All Links	Feedback Request Feedback Response	No restrictions.
Links	Product Backlog Item Bug Impediment Shared steps Task Test Case	No restrictions.
Links	Code Review Request	Allows only Parent and Child links to Code Review Response work items. Excludes links to work items in other team projects.
Stories	Feedback Response	Allows only Related links. Allows links to Bug and Product Backlog Items. Excludes links to work items in other team projects.
Storyboards	Product Backlog Item	Allows only Storyboard links.
Tasks	Product Backlog Item	Allows only Child links to Tasks. Excludes links to work items in other team projects.
Test Cases	Product Backlog Item Bug	Allows only Tested By links. Allows links only to test cases. Excludes links to work items in other team projects.
Tested Backlog Items	Test case	Allows only Tests links. Allows links to Bug and Product Backlog Items. Excludes links to work items in other team projects.

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Agile process template

The following table summarizes the link control restrictions defined for Agile process template. For descriptions of the work item types, see Work Items and Workflow (Agile).

Tab name	Work item type	Link restrictions
All Links	User story Bug Feedback Request Task Test Case	No restrictions.
Implementation	User story Task	Allows only Parent and Child links between user stories and tasks. Excludes links to work items in other team projects.
Links	Issue Shared steps	No restrictions.
Links	Code Review Request	Allows only Parent and Child links to Code Review Response work items. Excludes links to work items in other team projects.
Stories	Feedback Response	Allows only Related links to user stories. Excludes links to work items in other team projects.
Storyboards	User Story	Allows only Storyboard links.
Test Cases	User story Bug	Allows only Tested By links. Allows links only to test cases. Excludes links to work items in other team projects.
Tested User Stories	Test case	Allows only Tests links. Allows links only to user stories. Excludes links to work items in other team projects.

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CMMI process template

The following table summarizes the link control restrictions defined for the CMMI process template. For descriptions of the work item types, see Work Items and Workflow (CMMI).

Tab name	Work item type	Link restrictions
All Links	Requirement Bug Change Request Feedback Request Issue Review Risk Shared Steps Task Test Case	No restrictions.
Implementation	Task	Allows only Parent and Child links between requirements and tasks. Excludes links to work items in other team projects.
Links	Code Review Request	Allows only Parent and Child links to Code Review Response work items. Excludes links to work items in other team projects.
Stories	Feedback Response	Allows only Related links to requirements. Excludes links to work items in other team projects.
Storyboards	Requirement	Allows only Storyboard links.
Test Cases	Requirement Bug	Allows only Tested By links. Allows links only to test cases. Excludes links to work items in other team projects.
Tested Requirements	Test case	Allows only Tests links. Allows links only to requirements. Excludes links to work items in other team projects.

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Default data fields in lists of links

All lists of links display the following data fields:

• Work item ID

• Work Item Type

• Title

• Assigned to

• State

• [Link Comment]

You can add or remove columns from the list of links, and you can customize the default columns and the column order. For more information, see LinksControlOptions Elements.

For more information about these fields, see Titles, IDs, Descriptions, and History Field Reference and Assignments and Workflow Field Reference.

The following table describes the [Link Comment] data field. For information about data types and default field values, see Working with Work Item Fields.

Field Name	Description	Reference Name	Data Type	Default Value for the Reportable Type Attribute	Default Value for the Index Attribute
Link Comment	Contains comments from the team member who created the link. You can configure this attribute field to appear as a column in a list of links on a work item form.	System.Links.Comment	PlainText	None	False

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Additional fields that support query and Reporting

The following table lists fields that do not appear on the work item forms but that are tracked for each type of work item when you link them. You can use these fields to filter queries and create reports.

Field Name	Description	Reference Name	Data Type	Default Value for the Reportable Type Attribute	Default Value for the Index Attribute
External Link Count	The number of links from the work item to artifacts that are not work items and that are registered through the Team Foundation Linking Service. For more information, see this topic on the Microsoft Web site: Linking Service.	System.ExternalLinkCount	Integer	None	False
Hyperlink Count	The number of hyperlinks that are defined for the work item.	System.HyperLinkCount	Integer	None	False
Related Link Count	The number of links from the work item to other work items.	System.RelatedLinkCount	Integer	None	False
Link Description	Contains the work item type, ID, and title of the work item that is the target of the link. You can configure this link attribute field to appear as a column in a list of links on a work item form.	System.Links.Description	PlainText	None	False

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Reports that require links between work items

The following table lists the reports defined within the default process templates that TFS provides that require you to create links between specific work items.

Process template	Report	Link requirements
Agile	Stories Overview Report (Agile) Stories Progress Report (Agile)	You must create links between user stories and tasks and between user stories and test cases.
CMMI	Requirements Overview Report (CMMI) Requirements Progress Report (CMMI)	You must create links between requirements and tasks and between requirements and test cases.

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See Also

Reference

LinksControlOptions Elements

Concepts

Work Item Field Reference for Visual Studio ALM

Other Resources

Define a Custom Link Type