Azure Pipeline - Build one project from solution with project dependencies - azure-devops

Question

I have a solution that has a few projects.
App.Client.Website
App.Client.WindowsService
App.Client.Database
App.Client.Connectors
App.Shared
The App.Client.Database and App.Client.Connectors are both dependencies of App.Client.Website and App.Client.WindowsService, and App.Shared is a dependency of all the projects.
I am wanting to create 2 pipelines: One for the website and one for the windows service.
The issue that I have is that when I set my solution to be App.Client.Website/*.csproj, it can't find any of my project references to build - which makes a lot of sense to me, but I would obviously like to have it build my project references as well.
I tried solving this by creating pipelines for each of the dependency projects that would pack a nuget package and then I would reference that nuget packages from the feed in my website and window service projects, but this stopped me from being able to debug the code and make changes in those project on the fly.
DevOps is something that I am only just starting to pick up. I have gotten to the point where I am needing to add build numbers to my website application and wanting to stop manually incrementing patch numbers. I am using YAML instead of the Classic pipeline builder.
Any and all help is appreciated.
YAML
Here is the YAML that I am using. It is just the basic YAML with the solution targeting my Website project.
# ASP.NET
# Build and test ASP.NET projects.
# Add steps that publish symbols, save build artifacts, deploy, and more:
# https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/devops/pipelines/apps/aspnet/build-aspnet-4
trigger:
- master
pool:
vmImage: 'windows-latest'
variables:
solution: '**/*.Client.Website/*.csproj'
buildPlatform: 'Any CPU'
buildConfiguration: 'Release'
steps:
- task: NuGetToolInstaller#1
- task: NuGetCommand#2
inputs:
command: 'restore'
restoreSolution: '$(solution)'
feedsToUse: 'config'
nugetConfigPath: 'Pipelines/nuget.config'
externalFeedCredentials: 'External Feed'
- task: VSBuild#1
inputs:
solution: '$(solution)'
msbuildArgs: '/p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:WebPublishMethod=Package /p:PackageAsSingleFile=true /p:SkipInvalidConfigurations=true /p:PackageLocation="$(build.artifactStagingDirectory)"'
platform: '$(buildPlatform)'
configuration: '$(buildConfiguration)'
- task: PublishBuildArtifacts#1
inputs:
PathtoPublish: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
ArtifactName: 'drop'
publishLocation: 'Container'
The repo folder structure has the project folders at the root of repo.
My project references in my Website cs project file are as follows:
<ItemGroup>
<ProjectReference Include="..\App.Client.Database\App.Client.Database.csproj" />
<ProjectReference Include="..\App.Client.Connectors\App.Client.Connectors.csproj" />
<ProjectReference Include="..\App.Shared\App.Shared.csproj" />
</ItemGroup>
Here is an error from the build task:
##[error]C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\3.1.403\Sdks\Microsoft.NET.Sdk\targets\Microsoft.PackageDependencyResolution.targets(241,5): Error NETSDK1004: Assets file 'D:\a\1\s\App.Shared\obj\project.assets.json' not found. Run a NuGet package restore to generate this file.

Answer 1

The issue is related to the NuGet Restore task, We could try to restore the .sln file to restore all NuGet packages, and then build the .csproj file. It should work.