We have a C# .NET project using Visual Studio 2013 and we're setting it up to release and deploy with Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS). The websites were pretty simple and easy to set up and they work fine. A few projects are libraries or Console applications and we're trying to determine the best method for creating an automated release for these.
The publish profile asks for a location to publish to - we've experimented with the build drop on our VSTS build server (where all of the other files are) and then asks for a website, a UNC path or a CDROM. We chose "UNC Path" and put the same build drop location in, but in UNC format.
It hasn't really worked yet, so I thought I would see if any best practices for creating VSTS releases and deploys for Console or Code Libraries exist.
Thank you!
Have you considered installing the agent on the target environments and using a release definition that simply copies the right files at the right place?
Regards
Note: copy path shouldn't be hardcoded and rely on variables.
To specify the agent queue by going to the tasks tab when editing the release definition. Click on the "run on agent" header, that will open the details, select your queue here.
Agent queues can contain multiple agents, so your job when you add agents is to organize them by queues that make sense in your context.
Related
I am building my solution in Visual Studio Online Build, the default 'steps' are build/test/index+publish/publish build artifacts. I want the build to be placed in a folder in my source control (rootfolder/builds). However, I don't see an option to enter an output-path anywhere.
EDIT: I see that next to 'timeline' on the build screen there is the option to view the 'Artifacts', but, I want to see/copy the drop to my TFS online project folder like '$myproject/mybranch/builds/'
The option to store the build drop on the TFS server is no longer supported. It was introduced as a temporary measure in 2012 and replaced with server drops in 2013.
Server drops are stored in an unversioned store in TFS/VSO and does not incur the overhead of versioning.
In TFS 2015 this transitioned to the new Artifacts repository. All build output is stored on the server and is accessible in the web, and through an API.
The way things stand right now, this is not possible. You have two options to drop your build outputs
Team Foundation Server
UNC file share if you use a on-prem agent.
See the Artifact Type argument on Publish build artifacts.
I it is possible with a custom powershell task. I have recently created a powershell build task that could "check-in" your drop artifacts into a folder like $myproject/mybranch/builds.
Have a look : https://github.com/skuvnar/visual-studio-team-services-scripts.
Although its possible, I would suggest against it - could lead to all sorts of trouble with the builds.
How do I create a TFS Build which automatically runs a Release (deployment) from Microsoft's Release Management for Visual Studio 2013?
In order to start a release off from your TFS Build, you need to change the Build Definition. Luckily when you install Release Management it creates a Build Template for you to use with an example. In may instances this will be enough to get you going.
Release Management Build Process Template
Release Management Build Process Templates are not installed in TFS by default, so it won’t appear as an available build process template until you add it.
Find the Template in your server install in : C:\Program Files (x86)\ Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\ReleaseManagement\bin\
TFS 2010 : ReleaseDefaultTemplate.xaml
TFS 2012 : ReleaseDefaultTemplate.11.1.xaml
TFS 2013 : ReleaseTfvcTemplate.12.xaml (or ReleaseGitTemplate.12.xaml if using GIT)
To add the release management build process template, you will need to check it in to your TFS source control in the BuildProcessTemplate folder in your project. Then add the build process file when editing (or adding) a Build Definition. Once the release management template has been added to the list of build templates, you can start using it.
Please ensure you use the above templates from the Release Management Server and not the client directory as I did initially. You will get rather odd errors during your build if so, such as:
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.targets (3883): Web deployment task failed. (Unknown ProviderOption:DefiningProjectFullPath. Known ProviderOptions are:skipInvalid.)
Package Pickup \ Path to package.
When you set up your components, Release Management needs to know where to pick up your installation files to do something with them. When you created your Release Template it should be connected to a specific build by selecting the build definition that will initiate it (also tick "can trigger a release from a build?"). When you add the components to install as part of your release you specify their Source. "Builds with application" should be selected. The bit that got me was the big empty box next to the Build Drop location which is a mandatory field. My initial reaction was to fill it with the name of the msi file I was trying to deploy. That makes sense right? wrong. If I queued a build from Visual Studio I kept getting the following message.
Package location '\\blah\blah\Build Name\Build Name_20140707.3\A.Product.To.Install.msi' does not exists or Deployer user does not have access.
The file did exist in the location and the user the deployment agent was using did have access to the drop directory. I had also confirmed it was able to access it using ProcMon. After sleeping on it I decided to hover my mouse over the input box and a nice tooltip pops up saying:
The package path relative to the build drop location is required for
component bound to a Release Template. If the package is directly at
the root of the build drop location, you need to enter the '\'
character.
So, after my eureka moment, I deleted the msi file name and replaced it with a "\" and queued the next build. It worked. In retrospect I think they should remove the mandatory requirement for something to be entered to replace the need to enter a "\". It's a little hidden and not intuitive.
See MSDN Article here for more info
For Modified Build Process Templates
We've recently upgraded to Visual Studio 2013 and we're having some issues with the new way publishing is handled. Previously, (in VS 2010) every user had their own local publishing settings, but in VS 2013 it's changed to the idea of shared publish settings. This is causing problems with our environment because every developer has a different local dev environment (paths, connection strings, email addresses to send things to). I realize this is not the optimal way to have things set up, but that's the reality of our situation right now.
We use config transforms to handle the various web.config changes for different developers, so just running through VS doesn't work for us because it doesn't run the transforms. This also causes a problem with the VS 2013 publish settings because the last build config used is stored in the shared publish settings. In order to keep all our settings different, it looks like we're going to need to have a different publish setting for each developer now as well (such as "Local - Erik", "Local - OtherDev"). This is just going further down a path I'd like to get out of eventually.
So my question boils down to: Is it possible to somehow disable the shared profile settings? I thought of just not including them in version control, but then Visual Studio complains that the files are missing on other developers' systems.
Thanks for the help!
You can do this by excluding the profile from the project after you create it. The publish wizard looks for any profile on disk, but newly created ones are added to the project by default. If you then exclude the .pubxml file from the project and remove it from source control, it shouldn't bother you again.
I've just been upgrading an Azure project to Visual Studio 2010 and have been taking advantage of the new XML configuration transformation feature that is built into VS2010 web projects. It seems to work great with Azure web roles. I even managed to get the Azure project service configuration file to do a similar thing by following the instructions here.
However, I can't seem to get configuration transformation working for the lone worker role in my Azure project. I know that VS2010 only has built-in support for config transformation with web roles, but I found a good article describing how to get config transformations working with non-web projects. I've followed the instructions and it works - but only to a point. It successfully spits out the correct .config file (with appropriate transformations) into the worker role project's own bin directory, but it doesn't pick this new .config file up when it's put into the cloud package.
I suspect there's some MSBuild trickery needed to get this to work, but I don't know MSBuild very well, so am appealing to any gurus out there for help and/or samples :)
I have found the best way to do this is to use msbuild. I usually do this with a separate msbuild file outside my solution so I keep the local dev settings separate from the production settings. You can find out more here. I then can run the build to change the settings and upload the project to Azure. I can also run this to change the settings and then run deploy through VS if I need to debug the problem. I also have a target in the msbuild file that then can revert everything back to local. It would be nice to have these things in VS (which I have asked for from the product team). The sample project is on github.
This is also explained in the book we wrote in the Life Cycle chapter.
I'm working in a team environment where each developer works from their local desktop and deploys to a virtual machine that they own on the network. What I'm trying to do is set up the Visual Studio solution so that when they build the solution each projects deployment is handled in the post-build event to that developers virtual machine.
What I'd really like to do is give ownership of those scripts to the individual developer as well so that they own their post build steps and they don't have to be the same for everyone.
A couple of questions:
Is a post build event the place to execute this type of deployment operation? If not what is the best place to do it?
What software, tools, or tutorials/blog posts are available to assist in developing an automatic deployment system that supports these scenarios?
Edit: MSBuild seems to be the way to go in this situation. Anyone use alternative technologies with any success?
Edit: If you are reading this question and wondering how to execute a different set of MSBuild tasks for each developer please see this question; Executing different set of MSBuild tasks for each user?
If you are using Visual Studio 2005 or later, project files are MSBUild files. Inside the MsBuild file, there is an "AfterBuild" target. I would recommend using this to do your deployment tasks, instead of the Post Build Event.
By using MSBuild tasks, you are more prepared to move into a Continuous Integration system like CruiseControl.NET, or Team City.
I'm not sure why all of your developers have their own virtual machines, it would seem at some point you'd want a central location where all developers work is built to ensure the code from all developers will integrate and build (this is a reason for using Continuous Integration systems). I'm sure you can find a way that CruiseControl.Net or Team City or one of several other choices can help you in this scenario. But as far as getting the initial setup, use MSBuild.
i'd look into MSBuild or ANT