Visual Studio Team Services and Blue Canvas

With this article, learn about Microsoft's embrace of open source tooling and how their Visual Studio Code and Visual Studio Team Services can be used for Salesforce development. Additionally, you will learn about how Blue Canvas simplifies the process of linking VSTS and Salesforce code.

Here are our 5 Key Takeaways:

- Microsoft's Visual Studio Code is a highly regarded and responsive IDE for Salesforce development.

- Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) is a full-service CI option that supports open source options like Linux for builds.

- Blue Canvas simplifies the process of linking VSTS and Salesforce code by automatically syncing all Salesforce code in Git continuously.

- Blue Canvas can easily be connected to other services like GitHub, Bitbucket, and VSTS.

- New documentation is available for linking VSTS and Blue Canvas for bug and issue tracking while ensuring Force.com code is safely stored in version control.

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Microsoft has made some big changes over the past few years, embracing open source tooling and making some highly regarded and lightweight developer tools. Their text editor Visual Studio Code is actually a very snappy and responsive IDE for Salesforce development that even has lifelong Vim developers switching over. In 2015, they rebranded Team Foundation Server (TFS) as Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS), a continuous integration tool that competes with open source options like Jenkins. VSTS is a full service CI option and, unlike previous generations of Microsoft products, actually supports open source options like Linux for builds.

Blue Canvas makes linking your Visual Studio Team Services and Salesforce code very simple. You don’t need to use any fancy scripting. You can just create a build step that pulls from your Blue Canvas repo using Git.

When you use Blue Canvas, all of your Salesforce code is automatically synced in Git continuously. Blue Canvas automatically detects declarative and Apex changes and commits them into a standard Git repo. Each org is connected as a branch on that repo and the branch for that repo always reflects what has happened in that org at the present moment, as well as the history of how it got there.

Because Blue Canvas is based on open Git standards, it’s very easy to connect it to other services like GitHub, Bitbucket and Visual Studio Team Services. You can schedule VSTS to sync with Blue Canvas on a regular basis or on every git commit.

We’re proud to announce new documentation for how to get your VSTS repo to mirror your Blue Canvas repo so you can use the VSTS user interface for bug and issue tracking while you use Blue Canvas for ensuring that your Force.com code is always safely stored in version control. To learn more visit our documentation for linking Visual Studio Team Services to Salesforce.

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