I have several projects in my TFS collection and I want to perform checkin during build of one of the project. I have build template and I'd like to use tf.exe with InvokeProcess activity. But how can I specify source files and destination project folder in command-line arguments of tf.exe? Or I need copy files manually to destination project folder?
You should be able to set the WorkingDirectory property of the InvokeProcess Activity to the folder where your Workspace on the server is. You may need to the ConvertWorkspaceItem(s) Activity to convert it to a physical path on the server (i.e. C:\Code from $/Server/Code). If you've not done this before, you may need to create a Sequence activity to perform the 2 steps; you can then store the output of ConvertWorkspaceItem in a variable scoped to the Sequence, and use it as the WorkingDirectory of the InvokeProcess.
Related
I am working with Team Foundation Server and I'm trying to fetch content from the server into my local folders.
so basically I'm using: tf get "companyName" /recursive /force /noprompt in the command prompt and everything is working smoothly and it gets stored under
C:\Users\myFolders\Escrow\XYZCompany\TFS
I'm using a program class and the path gets called from an app.config (XML) file into my visual studio class.
Is there a way to change the final path? I need to segregate the customers into subfolders so C:\Users\myFolders\Escrow\XYZCompany\TFS\CompanyOne or something similar, can this be done or altered? if I change the path I always get a message that everything is up to date and if I don't include the TFS folder, it gets created automatically whenever I run my command.
Thanks in advance for the help
This behavior is controlled by the workspaces you have mapped. A workspace represents the mapping between a location in source control and a folder on your PC.
It's not entirely clear whether your intent is to map the same source control location to multiple folders on your PC. You can't do that. In that case, it sounds like you need to adopt a branching strategy to allow for isolation of work between different customers.
No, you can't map the same repository to the subfolders of one folder. You could either:
Create multiple workspaces. Each customer has a workspace and map to different path.
Use branches. In general, you should map your entire team project to a single local folder under for example c:\Users\YourName\Source\Workspaces\, If you create branches for each customer, then you could map branches to c:\Users\YourName\Source\Workspaces\Main or c:\Users\YourName\Source\Workspaces\branch
I am relatively new to tfs. I am creating msbuild logfiles during a build, but they are not getting moved to the drop location.
I am attempting to move a teambuild from 2010 to 2013. Due to versioned namespaces, I recreated the workflow template from a fresh default from the tfs server. The build is successful and the binaries are placed in the drop location via custom activity.
MSBuild is used four times on the workflow. Each has a unique LogFile name and use the same LogFileDropLocation. I get the binaries without the logfiles in the drop location. Using a diagnostic build, I do see that LogFileDropLocation has the correct drop location. However, my log files remain on the agent and do not get moved to the drop.
In the 2010 build, I get binaries and four logfiles in the drop location.
My question is, should Microsoft.Teamfoundation.Build.Workflow.Activities.MSBuild handle the copy/move of the log files, as I suspect, or later in the workflow? MSDN and the several books I have don't actually discuss how msbuild handles the logging. I am hoping someone knows specifically how MSBuild handles the logfile.
You need to put the XML files in your project and mark them as Content. They will be copied to the bin folder as output.
Example: Create a new project in visual studio. Them create an empty .xml file in the root of the project under source control. Right click and mark it as Content. Build the project.
You should see the bin folder has been created and the .xml file has been copied to that location.
This output is considered "compiled" or "generated" even though it is a copy. You may want to do some build processing to add parameters later.
When calling the MSBuild utility you can add parameters and have MSBuild handle the log file the way you want. I don't know the TFS workflow you've described so see how you could add that there.
You command can look something like this:
MSBuild.exe /target:Build Solution.sln /filelogger /fileloggerparameters:LogFile=C:\path\to\file\build.log;Verbosity=normal
Loggers are explained here (under Switches for Loggers): https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms164311.aspx
Verbosity is explained here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.build.framework.loggerverbosity.aspx
QUERY:
I want to create a build definition template on TFS that would keep a check on the files being checked in. I want to retrieve the path of the files that are being checked in and these files should be saved to the SQL server.
WHY DOING THIS:
I want to search the files (contents of the file also) on TFS and show the relevant file(s) to the end user based on the search term. As we know TFS saves Data to SQL server but doesn't stores in a way that we can use SQL full text index. So, I am planning to save the files to the SQL server using the TFS Build definition template that would watch the files being checked in and save the file to the SQL Server.
Please help with any pointers on TFS build definition template on how get the path of files on TFS and how to trigger the save event to SQL server.
Thanks in Advance.
Install a build controller and register at least one build agent (prerequisite for the TFS build system).
Create a new build definition and set the trigger to "Gated check-in".
Download the default process template and modify it. Follow the instructions over here: Customize your build process template.
Remove everything that belongs to calling MSBuild from the workflow (inside the "Run on agent" activity).
Create your own activity and put it there. The activity should use the downloaded sources, inspect them and write build errors if something is not to your liking. (see Use and develop custom build process activities)
I am using TFS 2010. In the build process template, I add a new workflow activity InvokeProcess to run a batch file. I need to set the working directory of this InvokeProcess to the workspace directory of the Build agent. Is there any way to do this?
Should be able to use workspace object. Just type workspace and intelisense will kick in. This is built in object that holds the path to the build workspace. Others available are sourcesdirectory and binariesdirectory. Spelling maybe wrong not in front of a pc
I follow this answer and get it resolved: https://stackoverflow.com/a/9564712/3918598
Basically, you will need to create a new local variable SourcesPath at the outter most scope and then consume it wherever you want. Do not name it SourcesDirectory because that name has already been used by some inner activities.
We are using TFS for maintain file versions of our database.
We do not have any .NET application in our Source Control; only HTML and supported CSS files only.
Is it possible through TFS Build Automation process to create Zip package and Deploy the package to drop location?
Note: We Do not have any .NET project or solutions only need to deploy folder(with HTML and supported files) in zip format.
I somewhere read that TFS build definition compulsorily needs .SLN files to have build project.
We don't want to build anything or test anything
Just want to create zip and deploy same to drop location.
I have tried some tweaking of Build Definition.
But in New Build definition in process tab it asks me for Items to build, where my selection is restricted to .NET supported files only.
You will need to create a custom MSBuild project file (.proj) to perform the work that you need. You can test this file locally in the command line and then when it is ready, you can point the Build process at it.
This is a good starting point for you http://www.developerfusion.com/article/84411/customising-your-build-process-with-msbuild/
The MSBuild Community Tasks (https://github.com/loresoft/msbuildtasks) contains a Zip task which should make the job a lot easier.
Judging by your description, you are using 2010 or later. What I would do is to create a custom build template that does all of what you are looking for. If you start with default template obviously you would want to remove all of the compile and test activities and replace it with the zip and copy it to the binaries directory (From there it will be moved to the drop). You could do 1 of two things for the solution file requirement, create a fake solution file in the workspace and use that knowing it won't be compiled. Or you could, in the template, remove the Argument BuildSettings which is the object that contains the solution file and configurations.