How does TFS use the Affects & Affected By link types?

Question

When creating new bugs & tasks, I frequently find myself wishing I had a "caused by" link type that expresses a causal relationship between some work and the new ticket. This particular wording is missing, but in its absence I always consider using Affects & Affected By. However, I can't find any guidance about how these link types are to be used, and if the system utilizes them for any particular purposes, like reports or queries or something.

To that end, I have two questions:

• How should I express this causal relationship? The nondescript, directionless "related to" from 2005/2008?
• What are Affects & Affected By actually used for?

Answer 1

These are the main work item link types, depending if the link is between a WorkItem and another WorkItem or between a WorkItem and a Test Case.

WorkItem -> WorkItem

• Parent/Child
• Predecessor/Successor
• Related

WorkItem -> Test Case

• Tests/Tested By
• Affects/Affected By
• Shared Step/Test Case

You can also create custom link types!

Ref: Link work items and objects to support traceability