NuGet Packager with version using build number, adding -beta - azure-devops

Question

My goal is to deploy NuGet packages (to in-house Nuget server) that auto-increment the version based on date and last Rev, and include a -beta tag.
I am using VSTS to build and package using cake, with a build number format of $(BuildDefinitionName)_2.0.$(Date:yyMMdd)$(Rev:.r).
I have a .nuspec manifest file that specifies: $version$, and a NuGet Packager as such:
This works great. But now, I want to have the option of a NuGet packager that produces a package that is tagged as beta, and therefor show in VS NuGet Package Manager as pre-release. I can do this if I hard code the version number with "-beta" appended in the NuGet Packager:
But how can I include the -beta tag AND the the build number? I think I need to include a variable in NuGet Arguments that will return $(BuildDefinitionName)_2.0.$(Date:yyMMdd)$(Rev:.r) plus "-beta", but I'm not sure how.
I tried creating a variable (under the Variables tab) with the Build Number Format as the value, then referencing the variable in NuGet Arguments (-Version theVariable), but received as error that the variable is not supported.
I may be going about this all wrong, however my searches have not turned up any hints on how to auto-increment versions from the date, and include a -beta tag.

Answer 1

NuGet Packager with version using build number, adding -beta
I could reproduce your scenario on my side. In my opinion, Nuget pack task with build number doesn't support character or numbers. You may check this task:
case "byBuildNumber":
tl.debug("Getting version number from build number")
if(tl.getVariable("SYSTEM_HOSTTYPE") === "release")
{
tl.setResult(tl.TaskResult.Failed, tl.loc("Error_AutomaticallyVersionReleases"));
return;
}
let buildNumber: string = tl.getVariable("BUILD_BUILDNUMBER");
tl.debug(`Build number: ${buildNumber}`);
let versionRegex = /\d+\.\d+\.\d+(?:\.\d+)?/;
let versionMatches = buildNumber.match(versionRegex);
if (!versionMatches)
{
tl.setResult(tl.TaskResult.Failed, tl.loc("Error_NoVersionFoundInBuildNumber"));
return;
}
if (versionMatches.length > 1)
{
tl.warning(tl.loc("Warning_MoreThanOneVersionInBuildNumber"))
}
version = versionMatches[0];
break;
That is the reason why the field $(BuildDefinitionName) and beta could not appear in our package version when we use them in our build number.
If we specify the nuget version in the nuget arguments, but this argument could not parsing predefined variables, like $(Rev:.r).
The limitations of these two situations have caused your current issue.
The workaround to resolve this issue, is using nuget custom task with parameter -version $(Build.BuildNumber) and move the field $(BuildDefinitionName) from our Build number format, otherwise, we still receive the error the version is invalid.
So, you nuget custom looks like:
And the Build number format:
Now, you can see it works fine:
Note:
You said you using VSTS to build and package using cake, but the images you posted shows that you are using NuGet Packagertask in TFS 2015. If you are sure using TFS 2015, I am afraid above workaround will not work for you. Because the custom nuget task is not support for TFS 2015.
Hope this helps.