AzureStaticWebApp#0 push from artifacts - azure-devops

Question

I've a CD pipeline that builds a project (multiple times for different environments) and publishes / saves the ./dist directories as one stage. I can download each environment and run locally as expected.
Each environment build is a stage that needs a manual approval. This is where I am getting lost. Each stage shows the correct artifact being pulled into the stage BUT the AzureStaticWebApp#0 -> app_location input results in a "Could not detect this directory." error.
To recap:
After building the project and saving as an artifact (I can manually download and verify) I am unable to push that built code to Azure Static Web App as it cannot be found. I've tried any number of combinations to no effect. Any advice?
I'm using templates, here is the Push Built Project to Azure Static Web Apps template
When this template runs, I can see jobs running and successfully pulling down the right artifact with this output:
Successfully downloaded artifacts to /home/vsts/work/1/
Finishing: Download Artifact
But the AzureStaticWebApp#0 task gives this error:
App Directory Location: '/home/vsts/work/1/DEV' is invalid. Could not detect this directory. Please verify your deployment configuration file reflects your repository structure.
parameters:
- name: environment
default: development
type: string
- name: variableGroup
default: development-variables-group
type: string
jobs:
- deployment:
displayName: 'Deploy to'
environment: ${{parameters.environment}}
variables:
- group: ${{parameters.variableGroup}}
pool:
vmImage: ubuntu-latest
strategy:
runOnce:
deploy:
steps:
- task: AzureStaticWebApp#0
inputs:
app_location: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)/DEV'
api_location: 'api'
output_location: 'dist'
skip_app_build: true
env:
azure_static_web_apps_api_token: $(deployment-token)
EDIT
Does the task AzureStaticWebApp not have access to anything outside the project?
- deployment:
displayName: 'Deploy to'
environment: ${{parameters.environment}}
variables:
- group: ${{parameters.variableGroup}}
pool:
vmImage: ubuntu-latest
strategy:
runOnce:
deploy:
steps:
- checkout: self
submodules: true
# This step pulls down a complied site. E.g DEV/index.htm, ./images, staticwebapp.config.json
# That has an output like:
# Downloading DEV/index.html to /home/vsts/work/1/DEV/index.html
# Successfully downloaded artifacts to /home/vsts/work/1/
- download: current
artifact: DEV
- task: AzureStaticWebApp#0
inputs:
# I've tried many different values for app_location but all return back not found error
app_location: '/DEV'
api_location: 'api'
output_location: 'dist'
skip_app_build: true
env:
azure_static_web_apps_api_token: $(deploymenttoken)

Answer 1

Solved --- well found a way to make it work.
The build step created 'app/dist' directory and content
The 'app/dist' folder only is published as an
artifact
When downloading the artifact you need to 'put it back'
into the project. In this case DEV/ -> app/dist.
- task: DownloadPipelineArtifact#2
inputs:
artifact: DEV
path: ./app/dist # Put build artifact back into the project
displayName: "Download artifacts"
- task: AzureStaticWebApp#0
inputs:
app_location: 'app/dist'
api_location: 'api'
output_location: 'dist'
skip_app_build: true
env:
azure_static_web_apps_api_token: $(deploymenttoken)

Answer 2

app_location specifies the root of your application code. The property should point to a location in your repo.
Check the documentation here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/static-web-apps/publish-devops
Also, https://github.com/Azure/static-web-apps/issues/5#issuecomment-855309544

Answer 3

There are two other solutions described in #552 that do not require adding the DownloadPipelineArtifact#2 step.
The solution that worked for me was to set the workingDirectory to the pipeline's artifact location. Then set the app_location value relative to the workingDirectory
For example, if your artifact was downloaded to $(Pipeline.Workspace)/MyBuild/drop
Your properties would be:
app_location: /drop
workingDirectory: $(Pipeline.Workspace)/MyBuild
yml snippet:
- task: AzureStaticWebApp#0
displayName: Publish Static Web App
inputs:
app_location: /drop # The name of your artifact
output_location: "" # Leave this empty
skip_app_build: true
azure_static_web_apps_api_token: $(deployment-token)
# The path where your artifact was downloaded
workingDirectory: $(Pipeline.Workspace)/MyBuild
This is really confusing because every other pipeline task accepts absolute paths but AzureStaticWebApp#0 requires a relative path for app_location.