Powertools Alert editor doesn't show alerts created by other users

Question

Recently I discovered a strange "feature" : when some user creates a new alert with Alert editor (it saved and works for sure- everybody receives their mails), another user on another PC can't edit/delete this alert, even he's capable to create his own.
I realize that is quite unusual scenario that several people deals with alert administration, but this is the case..
Does this mean that alerts info stored on per creator basis and nobody can change it except the author? 

Answer 1

Hi Michane,

Yes, user can only view/edit the alerts created by himself.

TFS Admin have right to access Database [TfsIntegration].[dbo].[tbl_subscription] to edit all subscriptions.

Best Regards,
Ruiz

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Ruiz Yi MSDN Subscriber Support in Forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact msdnmg @ microsoft.com Best regards, Ruiz

Answer 2

Hi Ruiz,
 Thanks for reply.
 With all the respect, it looks like a workaround rather than a real solution- I don't think that any trivial administration action should be done directly with DB.
Are there any improvements in TFS2010 (when 2010 powertools will be released, if any) ?

Best regards,
Michael

Answer 3

I actually wouldn't recommend editing alerts by directly editing the table in the database.  That's a sure way to get yourself into corrupting the TFS databases.

 

You're right - the per-user alert model is really unfortunate for people managing the TFS server.  Rest assured that admin-specified alerts is a feature that the team knows about and has been captured on their backlog.  It's something I personally hope to see in future releases.  Alternatively, you could create a custom eventing system by creating WCF/Web Services to handle events and then send out e-mails according to your own rules.  You can even create a custom application that your users can run to auto-create alerts for themselves by using the TFS SDK.  Plenty of options are available in the mean time!

 

The TFS 2010 power tools have been released in a pre-release format to work with TFS 2010 Beta 2.  You can download them here:  http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/en -us/0e69a28f-020c-488b-80b3-f4c89a20621d.  I would imagine the first official power tools release will happen shortly after TFS 2010 RTM has been made available.  There is usually some lag time so I would expect the same with the 2010 release as well.

 

The only thing I have noticed that was different in the 2010 version of the Alerts Editor is that a "Save" button was added in the toolbar.  I don't know of any other changes that have been included in the latest power tools release.

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Ed Blankenship
Microsoft MVP (Team System, TFS, and ALM)

Answer 4

I've got the TFS 2010 Power Tools and I still can't view other users alerts.   This is almost 1 year old and pretty critical for TFS administration I have no means to see the alerts others have created in case they make a mistake or give someone else a subscription and correct it without going to the database which is already discouraged. 

It's one year old.  Can we please get an ETA when something will be available?

Answer 5

I've got a similar problem.  We upgraded our TFS server (and also moved it to a new domain) and the new server is sending out alerts for people that haven't been on the project team for over a year.  Since they don't even have AD accounts on this new domain, we have no way of going in and stopping them from receiving alerts any time we re-assign tasks that were formerly assigned to them.  It'd be REALLY nice to be able to have a central admin console to modify all alerts in the system...

Answer 6

Does anyone know if there is a defect on Microsoft Connect for this?  If there is I'd gladly vote it up to get this resolved in the near future.

Answer 7

We have a similar problem of several users receiving alerts they have not set up.  We recently upgraded from TFS 2008 to 2010 servers.  Is there a safe way to fix this yet?  I would love to be able to list all alert settings of all users regardless of who set them.  I would then love to be able to delete the alert settings that people do not want.  Right now I feel blind.  I have had users look in their own alert settings and they only have their own email addresses in there.  Unfortunately they are receiving email alerts for work items they have nothing to with.

This thread was originally opened over two years ago.  Does any one have a link to some unofficial software somewhere if Microsoft does not have an official solution yet?  Something like Sidekicks?