I am trying to clickonce-publish a client app compiled using the scriptable build system available on Visual Studio Online. It seems something new.
I was able to find some articles showing how to customize msbuild and add parameters to make it work on local TFS:
http://publicvoidlife.blogspot.pt/2014/05/continuous-integration-with-tfs-and.html?showComment=1441022327672 and
http://www.dontpaniclabs.com/blog/post/2011/04/29/clickonce-publish-and-deploy-from-team-foundation-server-2010/
But in Visual Studio Online there are some different things. I see there are some "build steps" I can set that include package/deploy scripts. Can I use them for clickonce?
If setting clickonce publish during msbuild is the way to go, how to set parameters on the "visual studio build" script?
I don't know how to specify the "publish" option on msbuild script ui nor how to specify necessary parameters.
Any ideas?
Thank you,
Just as described in the blogs you posted, you need to customize build process template to be able to publish clickonce app. Here is another link which is useful for you, from which you can check the detailed information on how to do the customization step by step (includes information on how to add arguments, how to add /t:publish msbuild arguments) (it is written for TFS2010, applies to VSO as well): http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/122388/TFS-Team-Build-with-ClickOnce-Applications
Related
I am talking about this:
The documentation I found is here - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/process/parameters?view=vsts, but I must be plain stupid, because I do not understand one bit of it.
I do not know why it is so hard, but I cannot find anything meaningful on the web.
We have an on-premises TFS.
Let's say you have a build configuration ("Release") that you want to use in conjunction with multiple instances of the Visual Studio Build task.
You could add a variable called BuildConfiguration and then put the value $(BuildConfiguration) in the "Configuration" box for all of your Visual Studio Build tasks.
Or, you could enter the actual value, "Release", and then link the Configuration field in Visual Studio build to a pipeline parameter. Then you can manage the value from the "Pipeline" view.
I am trying build automation for a project developed using legacy language called Team Developer 6. where each file needs to be compiled as an exe. also need to do some filter activity before building exes. there are 300 exes.
this process I could do in simple .Net utility which does the filtering and invokes Team Developer compiler for required files.
Is it possible to put this in to TFS build work flow? what is the best approach for this?
Write an MSBuild project that invokes the necessary commands for the tooling you require and check it in. In the TFS build definition, make use of the default template (at first) and set the MSBuild project file you created as the 'project to build'.
This way you can test your build process locally with MSBuild on the command line, and determine which command line switches you might need. You can set command line switches into the build definition, or if you need some further control you can modify the default template to inject the command line switches directly into the MSBuild activity.
I recommend this way, as then you won't have to create any customized workflow, and can avoid having to go down the road of using custom workflow activities in TFS (which is absolutely supported, but in my opinion a bit difficult to diagnose/debug/maintain/upgrade).
You would ideally want to use an InvokeProcess activity to call an executable which does the filtering and invoking. An alternative but more complex approach would be to create a custom activity, but that requires installation of binaries on the build servers.
I am creating a build definition in visual studio 2013. As you know, while creating build definition we can also set the assembly (in "Automated Tests" section) which contains the unit test methods to run. I am able to create the definition till this point. Now, what I want is once the test run is over, I want to call an exe that will parse the Trx file generated as a result of test run and send the run results in an email.
Can anyone have an idea about where I can set the path to the exe and pass some arguments to it while creating build definition? If this cannot be done while creating definition, what else is the other way to achieve it?
Thanks!
What you ask involves multiple steps, especially if you want to pull the tool from version control (which is IMHO the best option).
See the ALM Rangers' Team Foundation Build Customization Guide for help and guidance on this topic.
Or you can just setup an email notification when the TFS Build completes. That should include the test run results, and a clickable link to go to the full build report.
I am trying to set up continuous integration using Visual studio 2010 and TFS 2010 and when i try to Create a new build definition, and go to Process Tab, i dont see any templates under the Build Process file(Windows workflow XAML) drop-down.
I have setup a build controller that points to our Team project collection and a build agent, in our TFS server.I am trying to setup a new build definition from my local machine Visual studio and i cant see any default templates under the Build Process file(Windows workflow XAML) drop-down.
Is there any settings i am missing ?Please let me know. Do i also need to install Visual studio in the TFS Server ?
All i need is whenever someone checks in a file, it should kick off a build and see the status if the build is broken or not !
Make sure you have a folder inside your Team Project Source Control called:
BuildProcessTemplates
Inside of there should be the following files:
DefaultTemplate.xaml
UpgradeTemplate.xaml
There are additional ones in this example, but you should have those two from the install.
If you have this folder and still cannot see anything in that dropdown let me know and we can take it from there. What most likely happened is you or someone on your team saw the folder and deleted it or moved it thinking it its placement wasn't important in the project. Or perhaps deleted the xaml files inside there.
The process section uses that folder and all files within it to display on that prompt.
I setup my build definition, is that all I do when it comes to setting up my build using the Team Explorer GUI?
It seems like the only thing for me to do now is edit the msbuild .proj file?
Is there a GUI for this or its all hand editing from here on it?
Currently there is no MSBuild editor inside Visual studio, but I've read that there gonna be one in Visual Studio Team System 2010 (one based on Workflow Foundation renderer).
If you really want a GUI you could try Microsoft Build Sidekick v2 but it is not free (55$) and not very useful in my opinion.
In TFS 2008 some of the information about a build can be edited through the GUI, but not much. If you right click on the build definition and choose Edit Build Definition you can change the workspace mappings, retention policy, drop location, and triggers. To change anything else you need to edit the .proj file.
What is it that you're trying to do? If you ask a specific question you might get interesting answers.