Octopus Deploy Windows Scheduled Task - octopus-deploy

Question

This question is for all who are using Octopus Deploy to run scheduled tasks.
https://library.octopusdeploy.com/step-template/actiontemplate-windows-scheduled-task-create
Has anyone encountered situation where you have to specify "Start in (optional):" parameter in the scheduled task?
I am wondering if this is possible with Octopus Deploy or if there is any work around?

Answer 1

Octopus deploy community steps are just Powershell scripts with variables. You can edit the Powershell to setup anyone variable for "Start in" path and pass that to the scheduled task. I can give you an example of you need one.
Update
After accuracy looking at the Posh script for the task, I think a better option would be to add a single parameter for the XML file that defines the task parameters and set that inside your Octopus deployment steps. That will give you the most fixability in case you need to provide any other parameters besides the "Start in" parameter.
Update 2
So I wrote a custom Step to do what you wanted, then looked at the community feed, silly me. There is already stemp template to create a scheduled task from XML file. The XML will let you set the working directory. The step template is called "Create Scheduled Tasks From XML" and you can find it at http://library.octopusdeploy.com/step-templates/26c779af-4cce-447e-98bb-4741c25e0b3c/actiontemplate-create-scheduled-tasks-from-xml.
In addition, here is where I was going with the custom step, it's just Powershell:
$ErrorActionPreference = "Stop";
Set-StrictMode -Version "Latest";
function New-ScheduledTask {
param (
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][hashtable] $octopusParameters
)
$arguments = #{
TaskName = $octopusParameters['TaskName']
User = $octopusParameters['RunAsUser']
}
if ($octopusParameters['RunAsPassword']) {
$arguments.Password = $runAsPassword
}
if ($octopusParameters.ContainsKey('RunWithElevatedPermissions')) {
if ([boolean]::Parse($octopusParameters['RunWithElevatedPermissions'])) {
$arguments.RunLevel = 'Highest'
}
}
switch ($octopusParameters['Schedule']) {
'Once' {
$triggerArguments.Once = $true
$triggerArguments.At = $runAt
}
'Daily' {
$triggerArguments.Daily = $true
$triggerArguments.At = $runAt
if ($interval) {
$triggerArguments.DaysInterval = $octopusParameters['Interval']
}
}
'Weekly' {
$triggerArguments.Weekly = $true
$triggerArguments.At = $runAt
if ($interval) {
$triggerArguments.WeeksInterval = $octopusParameters['Interval']
}
}
'Startup' {
$triggerArguments.AtStartup = $true
}
'Logon' {
$triggerArguments.AtLogOn = $true
}
}
$actionArguments = #{
Execute = $octopusParameters['Executable']
Argument = $octopusParameters['Arguments']
WorkingDirectory = $octopusParameters['WorkingDirectory']
}
$arguments.Action = New-ScheduledTaskAction #actionArguments
$triggerArguments = #{
TaskName = $taskName
User = $runAsUser
}
$arguments.Trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger #triggerArguments
Write-Output "Creating Scheduled Task - $taskName"
Unregister-ScheduledTask -TaskName $taskName -Confirm:$false -ErrorAction:SilentlyContinue
Register-ScheduledTask #arguments | Out-Null
Write-Output "Successfully Created $taskName"
}
# only execute the step if it's called from octopus deploy,
# and skip it if we're runnning inside a Pester test
if (Test-Path -Path "Variable:octopusParameters") {
New-ScheduledTask $octopusParameters
}

Answer 2

After hitting the same problem I found that schtasks.exe does not take a Working Directory (Start In (optional)) parameter.
I did the following:
Create the scheduled task using the Octopus template (Windows Scheduled Task - Create - With Password)
Saved the scheduled task as XML using PowerShell
Edited the XML to add the working directory
Used the Octopus template (Create Scheduled Tasks From XML) using the updated XML to create the scheduled task.
Here is the PowerShell I used in Octopus to get the scheduled task as XML and insert the Working Directory Node:
$scheduleFolder = $OctopusParameters["ScheduledTaskFolder"]
$scheduleName = $OctopusParameters["ScheduledTaskName"]
$scheduleWorkingDirectory = $OctopusParameters["ScheduledTaskWorkingDirectory"]
$scheduleXmlFileName = $OctopusParameters["ScheduledTaskXmlFileName"]
$installFolder = $OctopusParameters["InstallFolder"]
Write-Output "Connecting to Schedule Service"
$schedule = New-Object -Com("Schedule.Service")
$schedule.Connect()
Write-Output "Getting $scheduleName task in folder $scheduleFolder as xml"
$task = $schedule.GetFolder($scheduleFolder).GetTasks(0) | Where {$_.Name -eq
$scheduleName}
$xml = [xml]$task.Xml
# Parent node
$execNode = $xml.Task.Actions.Exec
# Create WorkingDirectory node
$workingDirectoryElement = $xml.CreateElement("WorkingDirectory",
$execNode.NamespaceURI)
$workingDirectoryElement.InnerText = $scheduleWorkingDirectory
# Insert the WorkingDirectory node after the last child node
Write-Output "Inserting WorkingDirectory node in $execNode.Name node"
$numberExecNodes = $execNode.ChildNodes.Count
$execNode.InsertAfter($workingDirectoryElement, $execNode.ChildNodes[$numberExecNodes
- 1])
# Output the xml to a file
Write-Output "Saving $installFolder\$scheduleXmlFileName"
$xml.Save("$installFolder\$scheduleXmlFileName")
Another option is to save the XML file (with the working directory nodes) as part of your project and just deploy this using the Octopus template (Create Scheduled Tasks From XML).
...
<Actions Context="Author">
<Exec>
<Command>"C:\Program Files\Test Application\Application.exe"</Command>
<WorkingDirectory>C:\Program Files\Test Application</WorkingDirectory>
</Exec>
</Actions>
</Task>