Why Cant I enter start date and finish date on tasks work items?

By default, these fields are marked as Read-only and will be updated automatically when the task is created or closed. If you want to change the behavior, you can customize the process template to change the Readonly value.

For example in the task.xml file, change

<Control Type="FieldControl" FieldName="Microsoft.VSTS.Scheduling.StartDate" Label="Start Dat&amp;e:" LabelPosition="Left" ReadOnly="True"/>

To

<Control Type="FieldControl" FieldName="Microsoft.VSTS.Scheduling.StartDate" Label="Start Dat&amp;e:" LabelPosition="Left" ReadOnly="False"/>

Okay, here's a silly question. The only place I can find the task.xml file is on the server inside a zip file. Is that the one I'm supposed to edit? How does it get deployed?

Thanks,

You can use the witexport and witimport tools found in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE to make changes to individual work items. Type in the tool name at a command prompt and you would see their usage.

Hope this helps.

Rahul

(wannabe MSFT)