How to attach a file to work item in TFS without physical file path?

Question

I have an object of type Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.Attachment and I want to attach it to a TFS work item ( Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Client.Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Client )

Unfortunately I found just one way to add attachment to Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Client.Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Client that needs physical path of file. But in my case, I have a file in memory (of type Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.Attachment ).

How I can attach my file to TFS work item?

Attention: This code is not answer of my question:

workItem.Attachments.Add(new Attachment("PATH OF MY ATTACHMENT", "COMMENT ABOUT ATTACHMENT"));

because I haven't any path. Also I don't want to save my file into hard disk because this way has very bad performance.

Answer 1

You can do it using Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Proxy.WorkItemServer object (see the code below). It requires a little bit more work than when using regular TFS WIT object model but allows you to use Stream object for attachments instead of using physical file path.

using Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WorkItemTracking.Proxy;

var tpc = new TfsTeamProjectCollection(new Uri("<collection URL>"));
var store = tpc.GetService<WorkItemStore>();
var teamProject = store.Projects["<project name>"];
var server = tpc.GetService<WorkItemServer>();

FileAttachment attachment = new FileAttachment();
attachment.LocalFile = stream; /*this is the stream object with attachment contents*/
attachment.AreaNodeUri = teamProject.AreaRootNodes[0].Uri.ToString();
attachment.FileNameGUID = Guid.NewGuid(); /*just random guid*/
attachment.ProjectUri = teamProject.Uri.ToString();

server.UploadFile(attachment); /*upload the file to TFS*/

/*Time to attach the TFS file to the work item. We need to use Update() method directly*/
const string c_UpdatePackage = 
                @"<Package AttachmentUrl=""{7}/WorkItemTracking/v1.0/AttachFileHandler.ashx"" xmlns="""">
                   <UpdateWorkItem ObjectType=""WorkItem"" ClientCapabilities=""0"" WorkItemID = ""{0}"" Revision=""{1}"">
                     <InsertFile FieldName=""System.AttachedFiles"" OriginalName=""{2}"" FileName=""{3}"" CreationDate=""{4}"" LastWriteDate=""{4}"" FileSize=""{5}"" />
                       <Columns>
                         <Column Column=""System.ChangedBy"" Type=""String"">
                           <Value>{6}</Value>
                         </Column>
                       </Columns>
                       <ComputedColumns>
                         <ComputedColumn Column=""System.PersonId"" />
                         <ComputedColumn Column=""System.RevisedDate"" />
                         <ComputedColumn Column=""System.ChangedDate"" />
                         <ComputedColumn Column=""System.AuthorizedDate"" />
                         <ComputedColumn Column=""System.Watermark"" />
                       </ComputedColumns>
                    </UpdateWorkItem>
                   </Package>";

XmlDocument updatePackage = new XmlDocument();
updatePackage.LoadXml(string.Format(c_UpdatePackage, 
                1 /*work item ID*/, 
                2 /*work item latest revision*/, 
                "<file name you want, it will show up in the work item attachment tab>", 
                attachment.FileNameGUID,
                DateTime.Now.ToUniversalTime().ToString("yyyy'-'MM'-'dd'T'HH':'mm':'ss'.'fff'Z'"),
                fileContent.Length, 
                "<display name of the TFS user making the change, e.g. John Smith>",
                "<collection url, e.g. http://localhost:8080/tfs/defaultcollection>"));

            XmlElement outputPackage; /*this can be ignored*/
            string dbStamp; /*this can be ignored*/
            IMetadataRowSets metadata; /*this can be ignored*/
            server.Update(Guid.NewGuid().ToString(),
                updatePackage.DocumentElement,
                out outputPackage,
                null,
                out dbStamp,
                out metadata);