Build Number Format, four digit revision number - tfs

Is there a way of formatting the revision in a Build Number Format to always be three digits long starting from 1000?
I have $(Rev:.r) which adds .1 and .2 to concurrent builds.
I want this to be .1001
This is TFS 2013.
I have tried .1rrr and get the exception
Exception Message: Unable to expand the macro $(Rev:.1rrr) specified
in build number format

Use the following:
$(Rev:.1rrr)
(Tested on VS Online)
The caveat here is that this won't rollover to 2000 if you are doing more than 999 builds in a day.

This might work on TFS2013. It does not work on TFS2015.
Hard code your Build Number Format.
1.0.0.100
Perform a build. Change the Build Number Format back.
1.0.0$(Rev:.r)
The build might pick up from the hardcoded build number.
This appears to work for TFS2010 according to this SO answer. Worth a shot in TFS2013!

Related

Using SourceVersion and rev:r in TFS2015 build names

We have a process we worked out with our XAML builds that used the TFS change set number in the name of the individual builds. We are trying to convert some of these builds to the new build system on TFS 2015 and running into issues getting change set into the build name.
If we use $(Build.SourceVersion)$(Rev:.r) in the Build Number Format field of the build definition, we get an output of C12345.1 on a triggered build, but then .1 on a manually queued build. We would expect to see C12345.2. Lots of research boils down to, $(Build.SourceVersion) has to be manually entered when the build is queued in order for it to be populated when the Build Number is calculated.
Ok, so we dropped into PowerShell to try to manipulate the build numbers. Once in the PowerShell task, Build.SourceVersion is populated with the correct value. We tried having the Build Number Format of the definition just be $(rev:r), which allowed us to get it in PowerShell, combined it with the Source Version value, and using the result to update the build number via the logging command Write-Host "##vso[build.updatebuildnumber]"$buildVersion. This gives us an output of 12345.1 on both the triggered and manual builds, but rev:r never increments, since there are no builds matching the pattern found in the Build Number Format at the time it is calculated. So manually queuing the builds ends up with any number of them that have the exact same name.
Does anyone have a recipe for getting a build name that reliably contains the Source Version and Revision values where everything increments correctly for both triggered and manual builds?
No, It's not able to do this. You need to understand the token $(Rev:.r) first:
What is $(Rev:.rr)?
To ensure that every completed build has a unique name. When a build
is completed, if nothing else in the build number has changed, the Rev
integer value is incremented by one.
Source:MSDN
In your scenario you set the build number format as $(Build.SourceVersion)$(Rev:.r), if the value of $(Build.SourceVersion)changed, then the value of $(Rev:.r) will not be incremented, it will always keep "1". Only the value of $(Build.SourceVersion) keep the same, then $(Rev:.r) will be incremented.
Besides, based on my test, the variable $(Build.SourceVersion) in build number format is only available when builds were triggered automatically on commit/checkin (on Continuous integration). It can not be resolved when you queue build manually and keep the Source Version field as empty (by default it will get the latest version). So, if you queue build manually, then you need to specify the specific Source Version (e.g C458) in the queue build dialog.
However if you want to set the builds name as incremental ones, you can update the build number manually with the REST API:
PATCH http://server:8080/tfs/Collection/Project/_apis/build/builds/{buildId}?api-version=2.0
Content-Type: application/json
{
"buildNumber": "TEST.20170123.1"
}
So after much research and trial & error this is the closest we managed to come to our desired output...
The Build number format is set to $(Build.SourceVersion).$(Build.BuildId) in the configuration.
We use a powershell script to parse the Assembly File, Source Version, and Build Id to come up with a full 4 part version number in the form of Major.Minor.ChangeSet.BuildId.
We push this new version number back to our build number using Write-Host "##vso[build.updatebuildnumber]"$buildNumber
We also used the Assembly Info step to push this calculated version number back to the actual build process, so that the DLLs come out with the same version number as the build.
This gets us a version number that is unique for each build, and points back to specific a particular state of the source, which was the priority. What we lose is the nicely incrementing build numbers that reset with each change. Instead we have a number that increments for every build that occurs anywhere in the system, and never resets.

TFS 2015 Build vNext $(Rev:.rr) stuck at 1

The New TFS Build System (vNext) does not come with a versioning function "out-of-the-box" so, to supply that, there are tutorials such as this one:
http://incyclesoftware.com/2015/06/vnext-build-awesomeness-managing-version-numbers/
Where you can see that Microsoft actually supports this with an example Azure Script: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/vs/alm/build/scripts/index
So far so good. However, by following those exact steps, my build number now has the REV value stuck at 1. That is, no matter how many builds I do in a row, they all have the "01" stuck at the end.
If I remove the specific "Build Number Format" command (Edit Build Definition > General > Build Number Format), that is:
$(BuildDefinitionName)_$(MajorVersion).$(MinorVersion).$(Year:yy)$(DayOfYear)$(Rev:.rr)
it does increment the version but with the default numbering that TFS2015 uses for builds.
As far as I understood, the REV value increments automatically, so much that there is no possible way of changing it, as we can see in this SO Question: TFS 2015 vNext force build number
So, my question is as follows: is there a parameter that is not listed or missing somewhere that actually prevents the Rev value from increasing? Maybe is there a problem on my installation?
Please note that this happens within the same day, so the rest of the build name does not change in order to justify it remaining at "01".
Thanks in advance for any help or advice.
There is a known issue with VSTS and TFS 2015 where the revision counter doesn't increase when certain special characters are part of the name of the build definition. E.g. [].
You must make sure all the value of your build name except the rev:.rr are all the same.
If nothing else in the build number has changed, the rev integer value is incremented by one. Otherwise, the rev value won't change. So please double check the name of your builds, if the rev value have "01" stuck at the end and nothing else changed with the other values of the build number, it's impossible. If it exists, please add the screenshot, this maybe a bug.

How to clear "changed" state in TFS for build schedule or change changeset time?

We have our projects configured with MSBuild script customization to modify the ApplicationVersion property in the project and copy that into the AssemblyInfo.cs file when the project builds. The problem is that we have TFS set up to run on a nightly schedule, with "Build even if nothing has changed since the previous build" unchecked. But since TFS itself is producing this version update, it will rebuild and increment every night. So this is sort of an infinite loop of our own design, but trying to figure out how to get out of it.
If the "changed since the previous build" detection is based on the history timestamp, ideally it'd be nice if when the version gets updated and commits to TFS it does it with a timestamp that precedes the build time. Is that even possible?
If the "changed since the previous build" detection is based on some boolean/bit flag, is there a way to reset it?
Using TFS 2012.
I'm assuming that you're checking in the new version of the assemblyinfo.cs once it's been updated, and this is why TFS is queuing a new build. Have you tried adding a comment to the checkin of ***NO_CI*** This will definitely suppress a CI build but I'm not 100% certain if it will work in your scenario.
Another option is generating the version number via an algorithm rather then just incrementing a counter and checking it back in to Version Control. This circumvents the issue of a new build being triggered
i.e if your version number looks something like
1.2.3.4
Where 1 is Major (modified by a human not the build process)
2 is minor (also modified by a human)
the final 2 digits are then updated by an automated process.
You could use number of days since January 2000 for digit 3 (an arbitrary number but something that would change on a daily basis) and either the latest changeset number in Version Control or the total number of builds performed by TFS for digit 4.
This would fulfill 2 requirements, that version numbers are unique for a given build of an assembly, they always go up.
I would suggest that you don't check the new version number into TFS. There is no value in having the version number in there.
I typically set the checked in assembly info numbers to all zeros. ( 0.0.0.0) and never update them except locally for the build.
This gives you the benefit of always being able to identify locally built DLLs.

Can Visual Studio Project files override TFS generated build numbers?

I am using TFS 2012 and the OOTB default build template. I have a build definition that uses the default Build Number Format of:
$(BuildDefinitionName)_$(Date:yyyyMMdd)$(Rev:.r)
For some reason, the revision number generated by TFS is really, really large. For example the last build was PrintOps-Main_20140626.124829.
Only one of my other builds definitions produces builds with such a high revision number. That other build is CI build of this same solution. This leads me to believe that there is something in a project file that is overriding the TFS build number with some custom logic. But I don't know if that is even possible. All other build definitions' revision numbers start out at 1 and increment the revision number by 1 if a build is ran multiple times a day. These build definitions also increment by 1, but they start out at 1248xx.
As troubleshooting I have tried different process templates and modified the Build number format. Everything works as expected except the $(Rev:.r) portion. As soon as I introduce the revision portion back into the build format, I get a very large number.
Is my suspicion correct that it must be some sort of override in a project file? If so, any suggestions on what to look for? There are several (15+) projects in this solution so any advice is appreciated.
I retried the build on a different day and pulled out individual sections of the build number format ($BuildDefinitionName,$Date,$rev) to test each piece individually. I don't know if it was because the new builds were occuring on a different day or if using just $(Rev:.r) with nothing else in the build number format reset things, but I finally got the build number to come out correctly.

Increment the version number with commit

I use XCode 5 and it's a project's rule to increment version number by 1 with every commit.
Is there an easier way to go about doing it instead of manually incrementing it with every commit?
EDIT: If that's not possible, is there a chance we can get the last SVN revision number in the application code before committing?
If your goal is just to have an iterative build number / version number and you are a little handy with the shell you could write a pre-build script that gets the SVN Revision number and then sets it into the Info Plist
You could use any combination of tools to craft exactly the build number you wanted, and then whenever a build was made the info plist would have the latest build number present.

Resources