I'm currently using AppCenter to Test my Xamarin app. The complete suite is being run at night. But I'm currently looking for a way to make this part of my CI builds to introduce an extra quality gate before features get merged.
However, we would need to slim down the amount of tests that need to be run otherwise this would become unmanageable. For this we can specify categories on our App Center test build step. When queued manually I'm able to specify the categories, however when we make this CI Build part of a branch policy and use a manual trigger for our build validation we are unable to specify the categories as we don't get the popup when queuing.
Any suggestions on how to adres this issue differently?
Seems you want to set build variables in pull requests when you queue the build under policies.
Unfortunately, this could not be achieved by now. It will not pop up the dialog when you queue the build. There has been a related uservoice, you could vote up and follow it, TFS PM will kindly review your suggestion.
Allow Setting Build Variables in Pull Requests
https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/idea/365725/allow-setting-build-variables-in-pull-requests.html
The only workaround for now is editing the build definitions and add the variable under variables directly, then queue again. You could clone the original build definition first.
Related
In VSTS builds, is there a way I can know who have make changes in build steps?
Can I get history builds?
The reason for this is, we have a big team. Many time it happens that someone changes the build step for some reason and we never know who made the changes and why.
Like in git repo, we know which file is changed by who and why (in comments).
In VSTS builds, is there a way I can know who have make changes in build steps? Can I get history builds?
The answer is yes. You could check the History of the build definition:
Click on the three horizontal dots and we will get an option compare difference, through which we can know the details of the pipeline modification. If the modifier adds a note when saving the modification, we can also know the reason for the build pipeline modification.
I am using Build Pipeline: VSTS and Repo: VSTS
I am trying to create VSTS build pipelines for two branches Dev and UAT. I can achieve it by creating two different pipelines but since both has almost similar steps so I wanted to have only one pipeline and depending on condition I can omit some steps. But I am not able to figure out how to pass the variable value(branch which triggered the build) before queueing the build in VSTS.
Background: I tried to get both branch source, setted triggers on both branch and use Build.SourceBranchName variable but it is giving value the top level(Project) value instead of branch name. I have structure like below
Project
- Dev
- QA
The agenda is to trigger the build pipeline on checkin, sanity checks an publish the artifacts as per the environment(Dev,QA). I am not going for CD right now (will be handled manually because of some constraints).
The solution might sound very awkward but I am a newbie and I want to learn it.
I have checked some people have explained through API but any way to do through UI?
VSTS use API to set build parameters at queue time
Any help would be highly appreciated.

To add a variable that you can pass the value when you queue the build you need to go to variables tab, then add your variable and check the checkbox Settable at queue time.
Now when will queue a build you can change the default value.
I'm trying to execute a bit different build steps in VSTS based on type how build was started: automatically or manually.
I'm especially interested in accessing that information from powershell script. But so far was not able to find suitable solution or workaround.
Did someone faced similar requirement before? How did you solved it? I would appreciate your help!
Seems you want to know whether the project build is happening through TFS triggered build or manually triggered build.
There is no such feature for vnext build for now. About this , you could submit your uservoice to this link, TFS Product Team is listening to your voice there.
As a workaround either to use two build definitions through different version patterns or manually add a specifical tag after a manually build finished. Through using tags to set some labels on the build to distinguish manual and automatic builds. But this is a manual action, it would be better if we can do this automatically.
It seems to be I've managed to find an option that allows to determine wherever build was triggered automatically or manually.
All builds started manually have actual user in $Env:BUILD_QUEUEDBY variable, while automatic builds have system account there. My value was [********]\Project Collection Service Accounts.
I don't know how reliable it is, but for me so far following code did the job:
# Identifying who triggered the build
$OwnerId = $Env:BUILD_QUEUEDBY;
$OwnerId = $OwnerId.ToUpper();
if ($OwnerId.EndsWith("PROJECT COLLECTION SERVICE ACCOUNTS"))
{
Write-Host "Build was triggered automatically. Resulting files considered 'BETA'"
}
else
{
Write-Host "Build was triggered manually. Resulting files considered 'STABLE'"
}
I have situation where my project checkin some changes during build. I also have scheduled trigger for build whenever there is change in modifications in TFS/VSTS source control. My problem is that, it automatically scheduled triggers build because of changes made during last build Hence, I am unable to achieve what I want to achieve. I want to make sure build is triggered when there is changes for scheduled build by development team and not my own build. Any idea how can i exclude myself while CCNET is detecting changesin TFS/VSTS source control?
What file or files are being modified and checked in by the build server? If the checkins are being made to a single location, you can limit the areas that ccnet monitors. You may need to use the Multi Source Control Block.
Use the Filtered Source Control Block which is specifically designed for that purpose
I would like my builds to behave differently (a handling script needs to know) if a person requested the build through the UI "build now" button, or if it was triggered by SCM. I don't want to have to provide a checkbox in the UI that the users have to alter - I've already gotten blowback from them about such things. Trouble is, any parameter I set has the same default regardless of how the build is triggered.
You should not really have 1 job with different behaviour. If you need different behaviour set up a job per behaviour. Best bet in your case is to have 2 separate jobs, one for the SCM triggered builds, and one for the manually triggered builds.
There's a plugin to allow you to filter jobs into separate pages (can't remember the name at the moment). You could set all SCM builds on 1 page and manual builds on another, then set the manual build page as the default one on login. Users will only see the jobs you want triggered manually by default, but can still access the SCM triggered builds by selecting the other page.
Could you somehow check the SCM polling log during the pre-build (with a script), and then go from there?