Loop through variables in variable group in Azure Pipelines - azure-devops

Question

In an azure-pipelines.yml file, how do I enumerate all variables defined in a "Variable Group" created in the UI?
I'd like to do this so I can write these variables to a .env file in the pipeline build stage.

Answer 1

There is no difference at pipeline level between variables set in pipeline and those from variable group. But you can use Azure DevOps CLI to achieve your goal.
Please check az pipelines variable-group variable list.
And this is the way how you can call CLI from pipeline - Azure DevOps CLI in Azure Pipeline YAML
Example for LINUX
steps:
# Updating the python version available on the linux agent
- task: UsePythonVersion#0
inputs:
versionSpec: '3.x'
architecture: 'x64'
# Updating pip to latest
- script: python -m pip install --upgrade pip
displayName: 'Upgrade pip'
# Updating to latest Azure CLI version.
- script: pip install --pre azure-cli --extra-index-url https://azurecliprod.blob.core.windows.net/edge
displayName: 'upgrade azure cli'
- script: az --version
displayName: 'Show Azure CLI version'
- script: az extension add -n azure-devops
displayName: 'Install Azure DevOps Extension'
- script: echo ${AZURE_DEVOPS_CLI_PAT} | az devops login
env:
AZURE_DEVOPS_CLI_PAT: $(System.AccessToken)
displayName: 'Login Azure DevOps Extension'
- script: az devops configure --defaults organization=https://dev.azure.com/{OrganizationName} project="Movie Search Web App" --use-git-aliases true
displayName: 'Set default Azure DevOps organization and project'
- script: |
az pipelines variable-group variable list --group-id 45
displayName: 'Show variable group variables'

Answer 2

We could use REST API and power shell script to loop the variable group
Create PAT token, save it to pipeline variable and set it to secret, then add task power shell and enter below script
Power shell script:
$connectionToken="$(pat)"
$base64AuthInfo= [System.Convert]::ToBase64String([System.Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetBytes(":$($connectionToken)"))
$URL = "https://dev.azure.com/{Org name}/{Project name}/_apis/distributedtask/variablegroups?groupIds={Variable group ID}&api-version=6.0-preview.2"
$Result = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $URL -Headers #{authorization = "Basic $base64AuthInfo"} -Method Get
$Variable = $Result.value.variables | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 100
Write-Host $Variable
Result:

Answer 3

You can use Variable Group Formatter extension. In outputFormat you can specify desired format like CLI or JSON
- task: VariableGroupFormatter#0
name: variableGroup
displayName: "Format variables"
inputs:
variableGroupID: '6'
outputFormat: 'JSON'
- script: echo $(variableGroup.formattedVariables)
Result:
Example