Getting Started With Azure Pipelines

• Continuous Integration (CI) is the practice used by development teams of automating merging and testing code.
• Continuous Delivery (CD) is a process by which code is built, tested, and deployed to one or more test and production environments.

Pipelines Overview

A pipeline run includes jobs, steps, and tasks.

• A trigger tells a Pipeline to run.
• A pipeline is made up of one or more stages (environment deployments)
• Each job runs on one agent.
• Each agent runs a job that contains one or more steps.
• A step can be a task or script.

Define resources

Resources in YAML represent sources of pipelines, builds, repositories, containers, packages, and webhooks.

When you define a resource, it can be consumed anywhere in your pipeline. You can automate your DevOps workflow by subscribing to trigger events on your resources. resources: pipelines: [ pipeline ]
builds: [ build ] repositories: [ repository ] containers: [ container ] packages: [ package ] webhooks: [ webhook ]

Use Variables

Predefined variables

Ex. steps:

• bash: echo This script could use $SYSTEM_ACCESSTOKEN env: SYSTEM_ACCESSTOKEN: $(System.AccessToken)
• powershell: | Write-Host “This is a script that could use $env:SYSTEM_ACCESSTOKEN” Write-Host “$env:SYSTEM_ACCESSTOKEN = $(System.AccessToken)” env: SYSTEM_ACCESSTOKEN: $(System.AccessToken)

Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory => The local path on the agent where any artifacts are copied (c:\agent_work\1\a) System.Debug => bool Agent.BuildDirectory Agent.HomeDirectory (Ex.c:\agent) AGENT_JOBSTATUS =>Canceled,Failed,Succeeded,SucceededWithIssues Build.BuildNumber Build.DefinitionName (The version of the build pipeline) Build.QueuedBy Build.Reason: Manual,IndividualCI,Schedule,PullRequest,ResourceTrigger (triggered by another build) Build.Repository.LocalPath => The local path on the agent where your source code files are downloaded. (c:\agent_work\1\s) Build.SourcesDirectory Build.StagingDirectory Build.Repository.Name Build.SourceBranch => (refs/heads/master,refs/pull/1/merge,refs/tags/your-tag-name Build.SourceBranchName Pipeline.Workspace => th same as Agent.BuildDirectory Environment.Name System.DefaultWorkingDirectory System.JobName System.StageName System.PullRequest.PullRequestId System.PullRequest.SourceBranch System.PullRequest.TargetBranch

Use Parameters

Unlike variables, pipeline parameters can’t be changed by a pipeline while it’s running.

parameters:

• name: configs type: string default: ‘x86,x64’ jobs:
• $:
  • job: x86 steps:
    • script: echo Building x86…

Change the platform to build on

pool: vmImage: “windows-latest”

You can build and test your project on multiple platforms. your build run up to three jobs on three different platforms. strategy: matrix: linux: imageName: “ubuntu-latest” mac: imageName: “macOS-latest” windows: imageName: “windows-latest” maxParallel: 3

pool: vmImage: $(imageName)

Customize CI triggers

Azure Pipelines provides several types of triggers:

• Scheduled triggers: Run your pipelines based on a schedule. (minute-hour-dayofmonth-month-dayofweek)([*]:any-[,]:values,[-]: range,[/]: step value)
• Event-based triggers: start your pipeline in response to events, such as creating a pull request or pushing to a branch. The following example defines two schedules: schedules:
• cron: “0 0 * * *” displayName: Daily midnight build branches: include:
  • main
  • releases/* exclude:
  • releases/ancient/*
• cron: “0 12 * * 0” displayName: Weekly Sunday build branches: include:
  • releases/* always: true

Pipeline triggers cause a pipeline to run. You can set up triggers for specific branches or for pull request validation. trigger:

• main
• releases/* pr:
• main
• releases/*

Use Templates

Templates are a commonly used feature in YAML pipelines. They are an easy way to share pipeline snippets.

steps:

• template: xxx.yml

Configure run or build numbers:

Ex1. name: $(TeamProject)$(Build.DefinitionName)$(SourceBranchName)_$(Date:yyyyMMdd)$(Rev:.r)

steps:

• script: echo ‘$(Build.BuildNumber)’ # outputs customized build number like project_def_master_20200828.1

variables: $: why: pr $: why: manual $: why: indivci $: why: other Ex. 2 name: $(TeamProject)$(SourceBranchName)$(why)_$(Date:yyyyMMdd)$(Rev:.r)

pool: vmImage: ‘ubuntu-latest’

steps:

• script: echo ‘$(Build.BuildNumber)’ ## output run number

Define container jobs (YAML)

This tells the system to fetch the ubuntu image tagged 18.04 from Docker Hub and then start the container. When the printenv command runs, it will happen inside the ubuntu:18.04 container. pool: vmImage: ‘ubuntu-18.04’

container: ubuntu:18.04

steps:

• script: printenv

Publish Nuget Task

You must first create a service connection to connect to that feed. Project settings > Service connections > New service connection task: DotNetCoreCLI@2 inputs: command: pack versioningScheme: byPrereleaseNumber majorVersion: ‘$(Major)’ minorVersion: ‘$(Minor)’ patchVersion: ‘$(Patch)’ steps:

• task: NuGetAuthenticate@0 inputs: nuGetServiceConnections: ‘'
• task: NuGetCommand@2 displayName: ‘NuGet push’ inputs: command: push publishVstsFeed: ‘projectName/feed’ allowPackageConflicts: true

Powershell Task

• task: PowerShell@2 inputs: #targetType: ‘filePath’ # Optional. Options: filePath, inline #filePath: # Required when targetType == FilePath #arguments: # Optional #script: ‘# Write your PowerShell commands here.Write-Host Hello World’ # Required when targetType == Inline #errorActionPreference: ‘stop’ # Optional. Options: default, stop, continue, silentlyContinue #warningPreference: ‘default’ # Optional. Options: default, stop, continue, silentlyContinue #informationPreference: ‘default’ # Optional. Options: default, stop, continue, silentlyContinue #verbosePreference: ‘default’ # Optional. Options: default, stop, continue, silentlyContinue #debugPreference: ‘default’ # Optional. Options: default, stop, continue, silentlyContinue #failOnStderr: false # Optional #ignoreLASTEXITCODE: false # Optional #pwsh: false # Optional #workingDirectory: # Optional test.ps1 param ($input1, $input2)

Write-Host “$input1 $input2”

• task: PowerShell@2 inputs: targetType: ‘filePath’ filePath: $(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)\test.ps1 arguments: > # Use this to avoid newline characters in multiline string -input1 “Hello” -input2 “World” displayName: ‘Print Hello World’

Status Badge

Azure Pipelines->Pipeline->Status Badge

Unparented

When manually running the pipeline, you can select whether it succeeds or fails.

parameters:

- name: succeed
  displayName: Succeed or fail
  type: boolean
  default: false

trigger:

- main

pool:
vmImage: ubuntu-latest

jobs:

- job: Work
  steps:

  - script: echo Hello, world!
    displayName: 'Run a one-line script'

  # This malformed command causes the job to fail

  # Only run this command if the succeed variable is set to false

  - script: git clone malformed input
    condition: eq($, false)

# This job creates a work item, and only runs if the previous job failed

- job: ErrorHandler
  dependsOn: Work
  condition: failed()
  steps:
  - bash: |
    az boards work-item create \
     --title "Build $(build.buildNumber) failed" \
     --type bug \
     --org $(System.TeamFoundationCollectionUri) \
     --project $(System.TeamProject)
    env:
    AZURE_DEVOPS_EXT_PAT: $(System.AccessToken)
    displayName: 'Create work item on failure'