I have a PowerShell script that I want to re-use across multiple build pipelines. My question is, is there a way I can "store" or "save" my PowerShell script at the project or organization scope so that I can use it in my other build pipelines? If so, how? I can't seem to find a way to do this. It would be super handy though.
It is now possible to check out multiple repositories in one YAML pipeline. You could place your script in one repository and check it out in a pipeline of any other repository. You could then reference the script directly on the pipeline workspace.
More info here.
Depending on how big theese scripts are you can create Taskgroups that contain powershell-tasks with the script as inline-powershell. But this only works on project-scope..
Another attempt i'd try would be to create a repo containing your powershell-scripts, add this repo as submodule in the repository you are trying to build and then call the scripts from the submodule-folder. But this only works when using git-repos.
Or you could create a custom build-task that contains your script.
From what I have seen, no.
A few different options I have explored are:
If using a non-hosted agent, saving the file onto the build server. Admittedly this doesn't scale well, but it is better than copy/pasting the script all over. I was able to put these scripts into version control and deploy them via their own pipeline so that might be an solution for scaling (if necessary)
Cloning another repository that has these shared scripts during the process.
I've been asking for this feature for a bit, but it seems the Azure DevOps team has higher priorities.
How about putting the powershell in a nuget package and install that in depending projects?
I just discovered YAML templates (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/process/templates?view=azdevops#step-re-use).
I think it may help you in this case (depending how large it is your file), you can put an inline powershell script in that template yaml, and reuse it on your main yaml.
Documentation is pretty straightforward.
Related
I source multiple artifacts in a release pipeline and do multiple transformation before publishing the files to SF Cluster. Is there a way to look/Debug the content just before publishing so I understand my transformation are working correctly. I am thinking to connect to azure storage and publish those file to have a look. Is there a better way to look through the content before publishing?
Also, is there a way to look at locked (secured) variable content?
Add a command line / shell script step and run whatever commands you want to investigate the file system.
How to get the path to a script (not procedure) in Azure DevOps build?
I'm trying to get the path to either my solution or project file to use in Visual Studio database project PostDeployment.
Works locally
In the Script.PostDeployment.sql file in a Visual Studio Database project I have the following code
SELECT #solutionDir = REPLACE('$(SolutionPath)','MySoulution.sln','');
SET #File = #solutionDir + 'myScript.sql'
-- and here I can use the #File
When I do a local publish/or build I can use the variable/macro $(SolutionPath) where I get the full local path to the solution.
With that I can point to the script I need to access.
Fails in AzureDevops
But Azure DevOps build doesn´t have the $(SolutionPath) macro and I get the following error
SCRIPT.POSTDEPLOYMENT.SQL(17,32,17,32): Build error SQL72008: Variable SolutionPath is not defined.
So I need a way (in AzureDevops) in the build step to get the path to the scripts.
What I have tried
I have tried all kinds of macros that just don't seem to work.
I have tried to work with predefined variables
I tried to use SqlCommandVariableOverride but it seems to have gone missing from the database project some time ago.
Questions
How can I add $(SolutionPath) (or something else) to my build step so this works both locally and in Azure DevOps build?
Is there another way to get a solution or project url to the postdeployment SQLCMD file?
Is MSBuild Extension Pack something I should look at? I will if it is my only option.
p.s
I also created a ticket for this in Azure Pipelines Tasks since they don´t seem to be that active in answering and I can't wait.
e.s
I asked the same question at developercommunity.visualstudio.com. Lets hope somebody there will be able to answer the question. If so I will update this question with an answer.
So first double check that your build is publishing the artifacts. there should be a blue button in the top right corner of your build that says "artifacts". To have access to the artifact you need to do an archive task after you do the build and point it at
$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)
Then I would recommend not using SQL to make direct references to the filesystem for the build server. If this is absolutely necessary then you should use environment variables.
I would recommend setting up a release pipeline for deployment of the SQL script. Release pipelines are really designed for deployment, whereas builds are for compilation.
To configure the release, point it to the artifact and then you can access that artifact by $(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)/**/*.zip then run whatever commands you want to do to process that.
My company creates a lot of projects in Azure DevOps, and they all have the same structure -- same members, same permissions. Each project has different Git repositories within it, but that's the only thing (other than the name) that differs between them. It would be helpful to have a template so that everything is set up correctly each time we need a new one.
I don't see a way to do this through the web interface. I have the sense that I could probably do it with a script, but I don't know where to begin with that (including which tool to use). Where should I start?
It looks like there is now a way to do this without the Azure DevOps CLI (as long as your project that you want to template is one of the supported types (Agile, Scrum and Basic)). There is a tool available here that will step you through the process.
There is also an excellent blog post here that gives you an overview.
Yes, you can accomplish most of the configuration by script. For the beginning you might take a look at the Azure Devops CLI, which allows you to perform several actions on Azure Devops, like:
Create projects, Users and configure security
Create repositories, pipelines and set branch permissions
Create and manage work items
...
I'm new to Azure DevOps and I'm trying to understand how to package a release of a PowerShell script project I'm working on.
I'm previously familiar with GitHub and the manual process for drafting a new release of my project repo. I'm now experimenting with Azure DevOps and what I want to achieve is a similar output to GitHub where my repo of PowerShell scripts are packaged into a zip file which I can publish for release.
I'm not familiar with the pipeline process in Azure DevOps or YAML as a newbie to proper release cycle tools. Previously I've just created scripts and shared them simply as they are or dropped them into a GitHub repo and manually packaged a release. I'm not likely to be turning out large numbers of builds and so have never had to come at this from an automated standpoint which seems to be the way Azure is driving me unless I'm missing something?
It's pretty simple. I prefer to do this using the old-fashing GUI (hint: there is a link when starting a new Build Pipeline that says Use the classic editor), and then convert to YAML after I get my Build Pipeline working.
1) Create your standard Build Pipeline.
2) Add the step to ZIP your files
3) Add properties to that Archive step. Specify the source to zip and target where you want the zip file to end up at.
4) Lastly, convert that single step to a YAML step by clicking in the upper-right corner on the link View YAML.
There are a lot of steps I am leaving out, but I hope this leads you into the right direction.
We are using VSTS for CI and CD in my team, we got over 40 repositories which are separated projects. but all of them have to run the same PowerShell script in one of their Build steps.
the PowerShell file is bigger too big to be kept as the inline script, so we need to save it inside a file. obviously, I got a copy of the PowerShell file in each repository.
Problem:
Now whenever I need to update the script, then I end up to update it in every repository, which is over 40 at the moment.
I think there should be a better approach. Is there any way that I can put my script in one single repo (a repo dedicated to holding the script) then I use it within each build, therefore we I need to update it I only need to update it once.
There are a few options.
My general recommendation is to publish the script as a package (NuGet or otherwise) and restore it during your application builds. This allows consumers to stay "pinned" to a known-good, known-working version, and update on a schedule that works for them.
Another option is to add a submodule to each repository that requires the script dependency, then initialize the submodule during the build process.
A third option is to turn the shared script into a VSTS build task or extension. This is extensively documented and easily located so I won't belabor the point by including instructions for doing that here.
You can add a git repository to store your powershell file.
Then add a build step to get you file from that repository during build and use it.