Maintain backlog hierarchy when filtering

With this update, we included multiple updates to Azure Boards. In backlogs, we've added the option for you to maintain the hierarchy when filtering. In addition, you can now copy the URL for a work item attachment so you can cut and paste in the description and discussion sections of the work item.

Check out the release notes for details.

General

• Create personal access tokens to deploy to the Marketplace

Azure Boards

• Option to maintain hierarchy with filters
• Copy work item attachment URL

Azure Pipelines

• Pipeline Agent supports Group Managed Service Accounts as service account

Reporting

• Show Parent in Query Results Widget

General

Create personal access tokens to deploy to the Marketplace

We have resolved a known issue regarding publishing extensions to the Visual Studio Marketplace. If you’ve run into the error message: Your ability to create global personal access tokens (PATs) is restricted by your organization., this is likely because your administrator has enabled a policy to restrict the creation of global personal access tokens (PATs).

Previously, a global PAT was necessary to publish an extension to the Visual Studio Marketplace using the Cross-platform CLI for Azure DevOps (tfx-cli). We have now redesigned the extensions publishing process to accept any PATs with a Marketplace Publish scope.

Moving forward, any personal access token with a Marketplace “Publish” scope can be used to publish Azure DevOps and Visual Studio extensions in the Visual Studio Marketplace. This is the case even if the administrator has disabled the creation of global personal access tokens (PATs) policy.

Azure Boards

Option to maintain hierarchy with filters

When filtering on the backlog, your hierarchy gets flattened out in the results and you see just one long list of items. This is a painful experience for folks who want to filter and continue to see the hierarchy. In this sprint, we are releasing a new option for you to maintain the hierarchy when filtering on the backlog. When the filter is applied, we start at the bottom of the hierarchy and work our way back up. If there is match, the work item is highlighted (bold) and you can then see the parent chain above. We are excited to release this feature and looking forward to your feedback.

Community suggestion

Copy work item attachment URL

We have added the ability to copy the URL for a work item attachment so that it can be cut and pasted in the description and discussions. When you click on the link, it will download the attachment.

Community suggestion

Azure Pipelines

Pipeline Agent supports Group Managed Service Accounts as service account

The Azure Pipelines agent now supports Group Managed Service Accounts on Self-hosted agents on Windows.

Group Managed Service Accounts provide centralized password management for domain accounts that act as service accounts. The Azure Pipelines Agent can recognize this type of account so a password is not required during configuration:

.\config.cmd --url https://dev.azure.com/<Organization> `
             --auth pat --token <PAT> `
             --pool <AgentPool> `
             --agent <AgentName> --replace `
             --runAsService `
             --windowsLogonAccount <DOMAIN>\<gMSA>

Reporting

Show Parent in Query Results Widget

The Query Results Widget now support the parent's name and a direct link to that parent.

Next steps

Head over to Azure DevOps and take a look.

How to provide feedback

We would love to hear what you think about these features. Use the help menu to report a problem or provide a suggestion.

You can also get advice and your questions answered by the community on Stack Overflow.

Thanks,

Aaron Hallberg