VSTS build agent can't download VSTS private packages - azure-devops

I am trying to add a build definition for a project that has private nuget packages hosted in VSTS. The local build works just fine but when I try to build it with an on premise build agent I get the following error:
The agent runs behind a proxy and in the build definition i have the following settings:
This is driving me mad please HELP !

The issue should related to your network environment on your build agent, such as firewall, proxy. You could also give a try with using the same Nuget task on an agent which has Visual Studio installed and in the same network environment, this will narrow down the error related to the proxy or not.
Workaround:
1) Copy nuget.exe to c:\nuget folder then added the folder to the PATH environment variable.
2) Copy nuget.exe to C:\B\1_tool\NuGet\4.0.0\x64 folder.
3) Create a dummy file called x64.complete in the {agent work folder}_tool\NuGet\4.0.0 folder and copy the nuget.exe file in the {agent work folder}_tool\NuGet\4.0.0\x64 folder.

Related

How to build Visual Studio Installer Project in Azure Pipelines in Self-Hosted Windows Agent

The image above shows my Hello World project structure. I am trying to build the Setup-HelloWorld-x86.vdproj in Azure Pipeline in Self-Hosted Windows Agent (which is nothing but my local machine) by using the command line script task like shown in below image.
But I get the following error.
Kindly help me to build this Setup-HelloWorld-x86.vdproj
If you want to run the project via cmd devenv, you can refer to this doc.
As a workaround, you can install the extension Build VS Installer and use the task DutchWorkz - Build VS Installer(s) to build Visual Studio Installer Project in Azure Pipelines.
You can specify to build .sln or .vdproj to generate .msi file(s) in Task-mode option.
Update1
Thanks Tharunavignesh J for sharing.
The solution was to run the azure agent under proper account. Earlier my azure agent was running under some Network Service account, then I change it to the local account, then this cmd worked properly.
This other stack overflow link helped me get my visual studio installer project compiled with Azure DevOps pipelines. It is using yaml configuration instead of classic, but same steps / commands apply to both:
YAML Script for building Visual Studio Installer Projects using Azure DevOps
Basically the steps are:
Setup your variables to point to the tools
Download Nuget packages for your solution
Disable Out Of Process Builds command executed
Script task with the command line arguments to build your solution

Azure DevOps - During the build pipeline run, what is the path where the Agent downloads the files locally?

We are using a Microsoft Hosted Agent to run a build pipeline for an automated test scenario for our application. What we would like to achieve is, having our automation procedure, to download a file (from a headless chrome browser), then navigate to the path where it is downloaded and open it.
How could I find the path where the files are being downloaded inside the Agent?
Quick compilation of list of pre-defined variables related to paths for the build on linux and windows self hosted agents from official doc link.
The one you are looking is Agent.BuildDirectory or Pipeline.Workspace.
List of predefined variables:
Variable type
Variable
Description
Example
Agent
Agent.BuildDirectory
The local path on the agent where all folders for a given build pipeline are created
D:\..\agent\_work\1
Agent
Agent.HomeDirectory
The directory the agent is installed into
C:\agent
Agent
Agent.TempDirectory
A temporary folder that is cleaned after each pipeline job
D:\..\agent\_work\_temp
Agent
Agent.ToolsDirectory
The directory used by tasks such as Node Tool Installer and Use Python Version to switch between multiple versions of a tool
D:\..\agent\_work\_tool
Agent
Agent.WorkFolder
The working directory for agent
c:\agent_work
Build
Build.SourcesDirectory
The local path on the agent where your source code files are downloaded.
c:\agent_work\1\s
Build
Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory
The local path on the agent where any artifacts are copied to before being pushed to their destination. A typical way to use this folder is to publish your build artifacts with the Copy files and Publish build artifacts tasks
c:\agent_work\1\a
Build
Build.StagingDirectory
The local path on the agent where any artifacts are copied to before being pushed to their destination.
c:\agent_work\1\a
Build
Build.BinariesDirectory
The local path on the agent you can use as an output folder for compiled binaries
c:\agent_work\1\b
Build
Build.Repository.LocalPath
The local path on the agent where your source code files are downloaded.
c:\agent_work\1\s
Build
Common.TestResultsDirectory
The local path on the agent where the test results are created.
c:\agent_work\1\TestResults
Pipeline
Pipeline.Workspace
The Workspace directory for a particular pipeline
/home/vsts/work/1
System
System.DefaultWorkingDirectory
The local path on the agent where your source code files are downloaded.
c:\agent_work\1\s
When you install the agent, you specify the work directory. In pipeline tasks, you can find out exactly where within that directory files are staged with variables like $(Agent.BuildDirectory). This might not be the exact location you need, but I think it is in the right direction.
For a complete list of predefined variables, see here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/build/variables?view=azure-devops&tabs=yaml
You can check this document:
So for Linux its default location /home/<username>/Downloads.
I do the test in Microsoft hosted agent-window2019 with test C# code(Hint from Daniel!) like:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string FILEURI = "https://www.nuget.org/api/v2/package/Cauldron.Newton/2.0.0";
System.Diagnostics.Process prozess = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
prozess.StartInfo.FileName = #"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe";
prozess.StartInfo.Arguments = "--download " + FILEURI;
prozess.Start();
Console.WriteLine("Test starts.");
}
And then I use command like dir c:\users\VssAdministrator\cauldron.newton.2.0.0.nupkg /s /b to find the location of downloaded file: cauldron.newton.2.0.0.nupkg.
Then i confirmed the default download location of Chrome is still C:/Users/{user}/Downloads, same as using self-agent or downloading locally. (VssAdministrator is user when run windows hosted agent)
So I think Linux hosted agent should have similar behavior. You can try to find your file from /home/<username>/Downloads folder. Hope it helps.

Build is successful on my local but not on vsts azure DevOps

I can successfully build my project on local. When I do via VSTS then build is not successful. I get an error message that a dll cannot be found in my sub project. And it is Rapportage.Logic. The missing dll is used by Rapportage.Logic
Does anyone know the reason?
Most of the time this type of error comes down to:
files present/edited on developer machine but not commited (usually the .csproj file)
subtle differences between Visual Studio build and MSBuild.
I would try the following:
copy the MSBuild command from Azure DevOps logs (the line containing MSBuild.exe)
change the paths in the command to match your dev environment (e.g d:\a\1\s to c:\code\myproject)
run this command
If this command fails with the same error as the build you the problem is a difference between MSbuild and Visaul Studio.
If it succeeds, you most likely have missed a commit.
Build is successful on my local but not on vsts azure DevOps
It depends on how you add ReportViewer references.
If you add the ReportViewer reference manually, you need add the ReportViewer reference to the solution/project folder, then add the reference from that folder. In this case, the path of references are not hard-coded paths. Besides, you need add those/this ReportViewer reference to the source control and submit to the Azure devops repos.
If you add the ReportViewer reference by nuget, you need add the nuget restore task to restore those nuget packages. I could see you are using nuget restore task from your build log (The second image.), but on the build definition, I did not see you have add that task (The 3rd, 4th images.). So, make sure you have restore those packages when you build on the Azure devops, and you could check the restore task if those nuget packages are restored.
Hope this helps.

Integration of BackstopJS into a VSTS build pipeline

At the moment I am trying to integrate the npm backstopjs into my VSTS build pipeline. To do this, I have to run it on an npm live server to get a screenshot of the actual build of the app and compare it to the reference screenshot. I tried to start this live server with a PowerShell script. This script cannot find the path to the npm root path so I cannot run the tests.
My question is: Is there a way to run BackstopJS tests with VSTS?
Edit
For the better understanding, here are some screenshots of my project:
Since Hosted VS2017 agent is the build machine provided by VSTS server, you should build VSTS with the privarte agent which located in the same machine of your live-server, so that the the build project can be searched.
And more details about deploying a private agent, you can refer the document Deploy an agent on Windows.

Where is the nuget packages folder located on a hosted build server using TFS?

I need to execute a command line utility from a package that is downloaded as part of nuget package restore in the TFS build process.
On my local computer that is stored in c:\users\me.nuget*
I've tried every permutation of that on TFS without success. I've also tried \mydir\packages with no success as well.
The biggest problem is that I have to run the package restore step before being able to see any sort of feedback from the log. That's some slow debugging.
Any ideas? Thanks ahead.
With the latest nuget/msbuild the packages folder is held under the active user's profile directory, so an appropriate Powershell command is
Get-ChildItem $(UserProfile)\.nuget\packages
This currently evaluates on the VSTS 2017 Hosted build agent to C:\Users\VssAdministrator\.nuget\packages but by using the variable you are insulated from any changes made.
Just an addition to #Paul Hatcher's answer:
I also faced the same problem in Azure DevOps build pipeline where a specific package and nuget packages directory could not be found.
It is a Xamarin.Forms app based on a .net standard library where no packages folder exists. I later noticed in build logs that the packages are restored to nuget folder under user's profile. However this particular case is not documented on https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/build/variables?view=vsts#agent-variables.
That means #Paul Hatcher's answer is also valid if you try to reference nuget package folder directly from your build pipeline. This ($(UserProfile).nuget\packages) should actually be a (standard) predefined build variable.
The Nuget package cache folder is in C:\Users\buildguest.nuget\packages, but it will be cleaned after build if you are using Hosted build server.
The simple way to verify:
Add NuGet restore or .Net Core Restore build step to restore packages
Add PowerShell build step to list files in C:\Users\buildguest.nuget\packages
Code:
Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Users\buildguest\.nuget\packages
Queue build and check the PowerShell step log (the packages’ will be listed in the log)
Remove/disable NuGet restore or .Net Core Restore build step > Save build definition
Queue build
The build will be failed, because the path does not exist.
So, the packages need to be restored before build solution/project if aren’t existing. You can add packages to source control and map to build agent to deal with the issue of too long time takes to restore packages.