Version 1.2.2 of Team Foundation Sidekicks is released and available for download here.
The version contains several bug fixes and addresses major issue with the application performance in TFS environment with large number of users. It was reported that in such environments the time elapsed before any Sidekick screen is opened may be very significant (up to several minutes).
In version 1.2.2, Sidekicks application makes available three users retrieval options (available through "Tools->Options" menu):
- "Retrieve users list upon login" - the users list is retrieved right after authentication
- "Do not retrieve users list" - user may type in user names manually and use all search features; the application will not attempt to retreive and fill users list
- "Retrieve users list in the background" - the operation is initiated upon login; before list is retrieved the application behaves as in "do not retrieve users list" mode; once the list is filled it becomes available
We recommend that when time required to get all users list is significant, the option "Get users list in the background" should be set (this is default option upon installation). In that manner the application may be used while the users list is being filled.
While the list of users is retrieved, the indication is displayed in the status bar (as shown on the screenshot below):
Other than users list retrieval mechanism, version 1.2.2 contains same functionality as previous (1.2) release. If you encountered the performance issue it is recommended to upgrade; otherwise the versions are very similar.
Special thanks go to Thomas Edstrom for assistance in identifying the issue.