TFS work item change reason without state change

Question

I am looking for a way to change workitem's reason field without changing work item state.

Reason field acts something like a "sub-state" field. I am adding some new values to this list but it is field recognized by TFS itself and it will not allow me to change the value of the reason field without changing state.

Naturally switching to another state and switching back just for changing the reason field is not cool.

Is there a way to do this?

Answer 1

Reason is set up in the work item definition to be a documentation for "why" the state changed. That's why you can't edit it without changing state. If you really wanted to change this, you could edit the work item definition to remove the state-change logic, but I wouldn't recommend this unless you are totally sure what you're doing.

If you find yourself needing to change this value without a state change on a regular basis, you may be trying to use the field incorrectly. You might want to consider setting up a different field with appropriate "reason" codes so that you can change them as necessary without worrying about state.