Azure DevOps Schedule Work Item Query

Introduction

The Goal of this extension was to keep as much functionality as possible inside Azure DevOps / Team Foundation Server. We have opted to realize this by using a standard Build Pipeline in Azure DevOps / Team Foundation Server as our "Scheduling" Engine.

The actual functionality is realized as a Build Pipeline Task called "Scheduled Work Item Query". This task executes a query that is saved in either the "My Queries" or "Shared Queries" folders, and sends the results by e-mail using either SendGrid or standard SMTP.

Setup

Introduction

Setup of the Task should be straight forward. You should probably create a new Build Pipeline, and then add as many "Scheduled Work Item Query" Tasks as needed. Each Task is able to send a single Query to multiple people. The Build Pipeline does not have to live in the same Project as the Query.

You should then add a Schedule Trigger to the Build Pipline, that it gets executed automatically whenever you need it to.

Endpoints

SendGrid Endpoint

The SendGrid endpoint can be used if you want to send e-mails using SendGrid. All you need is a SendGrid API Token with the permissions to send e-mails. For Documentation about this, see here

SMTP Endpoint

The SMTP endpoint can be used to send e-mails using standard SMTP interfaces. It supports common TLS configurations as well as authentication.

Azure Repos / Team Foundation Server Endpoint

This Endpoint is needed when you want to send a query that exists only in someone's "My Queries" folder. It is not needed if you want to send out queries living in the "Shared Queries" folder.

Task

Shared Queries

Shared queries can be scheduled without any other authentication, it uses the authentication/authorization of the Agent to connect to Azure DevOps Service / Azure DevOps Server.

Personal (My) Queries

"My Queries" requires a personal access token or username/password from the person which owns the query. You need to configure an Azure DevOps Endpoint for this to work. Note: We recommend generating a Personal Access Token with minimal rights (e.g. only work_item.read scope), and to limit the created Endpoint to a specific pipeline. Make sure you don't expose the endpoint for others to use, as this might be a security risk.

Release Notes

2020-02-14

• Initial support for Work Items with direct links queries

2020-02-13

• Support ordering of the query (defined in the query) (#10)

2020-02-12

• Support more than 200 results from query (#5)

2019-05-21

• Add ability to skip sending e-mail when there are no work items in the query

2019-04-03

• Initial Release