In order to use the Tasktop planning tools you must already have tasks in your Task List that belong to releases you want to plan with. The Tasktop Planner will scan your Task List to find the list of releases available for planning and let you choose which ones you’re interested in planning with. The planner can then query for all the tasks related to a release and allow you to manage them in the context of sprints and a backlog.
If you don’t have any tasks in your Task List yet, first ensure that Tasktop is connected to the repository containing the stories and tasks you want to plan. For more help connecting to a task repository, see Task Repositories.
Next, you will need to create a query on this task repository. For help creating a query, see Creating new Queries. The details of the query are not important, as long as it brings at least one task from the repository into your task list. If you already have a previously created query for this repository in your task list, there is no need to create a new one.
Now you can select which releases you want to plan with. This is done by creating a special query in your Task List that contains your plans. This query is created in the usual way, by selecting “New Query...” from the Task List toolbar, and when prompted for a task repository select “Tasktop Planner.” Click “Next” and the Tasktop Planner query dialog will open.
You will see a list of all the releases and sprints found in your task list, grouped by task repository. If a particular plan is missing, click “Refresh from Task List” to refresh this list. Enter a title for the query, select the plans you are interested in and click “Finish”. Tasktop Planner will create a query based on the releases you select to download all the tasks for that release.
Tip: You can quickly select all plans with summaries containing a given word by using the filter and then checking the corresponding repository. For example, if you type “connector” in the filter box to show all plans with “connector” in their summary, and then check the repository, the “connector” plans will all be checked, but the checked state of other plans will not be changed.
You will now find a Tasktop Planner query in your task list. Open any of the plans under the query to access the Release Planner and Task Board.
You can edit a Tasktop Planner query at any time by right-clicking on it and selecting “Properties”. This will bring up the Tasktop Planner query dialog shown above, so you can add or remove plans from your query.