I'm looking for a way to pass user-defined axis values to a free-style job that uses MSBuild. Let me explain.
So we have JobA which is a multi-configuration project that only has one axis (key1) and multiple value (foo and bar). I also have a free-style job called JobB which uses MSBuild to build a specific project within a solution.
I was wondering how I could pass the values (foo and bar) of the axis (key1) of JobA to JobB so that JobB could use it in the command line arguments of the MSBuild plugin.
Thanks
Your best bet would be the Parameterized Trigger Plugin:
https://wiki.jenkins-ci.org/display/JENKINS/Parameterized+Trigger+Plugin
You can use it in JobA (as a post-build action, I believe) to set triggers for JobB to build with.
This way you could pass foo and bar into variables for JobB, and use them on the command line.
Related
I have a CTestList.cmake file containing this function definition and call:
function(add_test_r testname )
add_test(
${testname} python executeRegressionTestCase.py ${testname}
)
endfunction(add_test_r)
add_test_r(Test01)
I need to support testing through CMake directly, cmake ..; make test, and through CTest without running CMake first. When CMake builds the test target and I run make test, the function above executes fine. However, when I run the same file with CTest, ${testname} is empty. Are function variables not supported in CTestList when running with CTest or is there something I'm missing?
I don't have a definitive answer, but after some testing it looks like CMake does a preprocessing step for the input files. Specifically, it reads in CTestList.cmake, evaluates the variables and functions, and generates an "expanded" CTestTestfile.cmake. Running CTest with a steering script does not run the preprocessing step so the variables and functions are not expanded. A few people on the internet have suggested that the CTestTestfile.cmake used in the steering script should be generated by CMake in the first place. Unfortunately, thats not the use case I'm looking for, but it may help someone else with running into this problem.
When I define a custom variable in the new TFS 2015 team build as follows:
Name: SomeOutput
Value: $(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)\Some
...it doesn't seems to expand $(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory).
Is there a way around this?
EDIT:
At least it seems it's not expanded everywhere.
For example, in MSBuild-Arguments, /p:OUTPUT="$(SomeOutput)" is expanded to /p:OUTPUT="C:\TfsData\BuildAgents\_work\3\s\Some" but when i add a cmd line build task with tool set to cmd and parameter set to /k set, it prints
SOMEOUTPUT=$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)\Some
EDIT 2:
Here are my variables
This is my workflow step
And this is what the build prints
You can use the VSTS Variable Tasks extension from the Visual Studio Marketplace.
When you define a variable in the Variables screen and use other variables as value, they won't be expanded (as you may have expected). Instead the literal text is passed to the tasks in the workflow. Without this little task the following configuration won't work:
Variable Value
Build.DropLocation \\share\drops\$(Build.DefinitionName)\$(Build.BuildNumber)
By adding the Expand variable(s) task to the top of your workflow, it will take care of the expansion, so any task below it will receive the value you're after.
https://github.com/jessehouwing/vsts-variable-tasks/wiki/Expand-Variable
PS: The new agent (version 2.x) auto-expands variables now.
It can be achieved.
You may need use % % instead of $ to call the variables in cmd to print the result. It is also necessary to add call in the front of the command. Here is a simple example:
Note: System.DefaultWorkingDirectory is not available in cmd (not sure why); you need use System_DefaultWorkingDirectory instead. Details can be viewed in the logs.
I had the same problem - wanted to piece together a path made up of several built-in variables and pass it to a PS script.
Workaround:
I ended up combining the variables in the actual script through the corresponding generated environment variables (for example $env:BUILD_SOURCESDIRECTORY).
Not what I had in mind originally, but it works at least. Drawback - if I need to change the path, I always have to change the PS script instead of a build variable.
Can someone concisely explain what the differences between the three variables below are? Because in all honesty, when I create a Jenkins job, I randomly guess between the three types until something works, but I'd love to understand rather than blindly picking.
${ENV,var="BUILD_USER"}
${BUILD_USER}
$BUILD_USER
Also, are there other ways of writing variables in Jenkins that I missed other than the 3 ways above?
When used in a statement:
${ENV,var="BUILD_USER"}--evaluates the system environment variables and returns the value for the variable BUILD_USER.
example: curl ${ENV,var="BUILD_USER"}/api/xml
${BUILD_USER} --returns the value of the BUILD_USER variable in the current script memory space.
example: curl ${BUILD_USER}/api/xml
$BUILD_USER--used to assign values to the BUILD_USER variable.
example: $BUILD_USER = "BUILD_USER"
In general, variable expansion is up to the plugin that interprets a configuration value.
For example, if you set up a job parameter GIT_REPOSITORY and use it to configure an address where git clone should go by putting $GIT_REPOSITORY into the git repository field, it works, but only because the Jenkins git plugin has implemented variable expansion support.
Many plugins do implement it but you cannot know it unless you test it. However, these days the support is so common it is safe to assume it should work.
Both forms of reference, $VAR and ${VAR}, work and are equivalent. The latter form is useful if you need to use the variable in a place where it is surrounded by other characters that could be interpreted as part of variable, like $VARX (Jenkins would be looking for variable named VARX) and ${VAR}X (Jenkins understands the variable is named VAR).
These rules have been modeled after variable expansion rules in Unix shells. Indeed, the job variables are made available as environment variables to build steps and in the Unix shell build step the variables are used the same way as above.
In a Windows CMD build step the variables are again used like any Windows environment variable: %VAR%.
I have a build definition set up in my TFS 2012 instance. In this Build Definition I want to pass in a custom argument and access said argument in my .csproj file. For example:
MSBuild Arguments: /p:MyFoo=1
In my .csproj file I want to do this:
<ItemGroup Condition=" '$(MyFoo)' == '1' ">
Is this possible, or am I going about this incorrectly?
This is more than possible, it's very easy to do. Edit your build definition, under the process tab expand the "advanced" section and you will see a property called "MSbuild Arguments" add the argument in the format in the question. e.g. /p:MyFoo=1
e.g.
You can also enter the arguments when you queue a build
The Story So Far
I've got a nice solution with a desktop application project, a few library projects, and a couple of development tools projects (also desktop applications). At the moment, my build server outputs all of the code into one OutputPath. So we end up with
drop-x.y.z\
Company.MainApplication.exe <-- main application
Company.MainApplicationCore.dll <-- libraries
Helper.exe <-- developer tools
Grapher.exe
Parser.exe
... <-- the rest of the output
But, we're growing up and people outside of our team want access to our tools. So I want to organize the output. I decided that what we would want is a different OutputPath per executable project
drop-x.y.z\
Company.MainApplication\
Company.MainApplication.exe <-- main application
Company.MainApplicationCore.dll <-- libraries
... <-- application specific output
Helper\
Helper.exe <-- developer tools
... <-- tool specific output
Grapher\
Grapher.exe
...
Parser\
Parser.exe
...
What I Did
I found this simple command. I like it because it retains all the Solution working-dir context that makes msbuild a pain.
msbuild /target:<ProjectName>
For example, from my solution root as a working directory, I would call
PS> msbuild /target:Helper /property:OutputPath="$pwd\out\Helper"
I'm testing this from PowerShell, so that $pwd resolves to the full path to my working directory, or the Solution root in this case. I get the output I desire.
However, when I run this command
PS> msbuild /target:Company.MainApplication /property:OutputPath="$pwd\out\Company.MainApplication"
I get the following error output (there's no more information, I ran with /verbosity:diagnostic)
The target "Company.MainApplication" does not exist in the project.
What I Need
The command fails on any project with a dot or dots in the name. I tried with many combinations of working directories and properties. I tried several ways of escaping the property values. I also tried running the command from a <Task> in a targets file.
I need to know either
A) How to fix this command to work property
B) How to achieve the same output with minimal friction
Try using an underscore as an escape character for the dot in the target parameter, e.g.
msbuild /target:Company_MainApplication /property:OutputPath="$pwd\out\Company.MainApplication"
Specify the target after the -target: switch in the format :. If the project name contains any of the characters %, $, #, ;, ., (, ), or ', replace them with an _ in the specified target name.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/msbuild/how-to-build-specific-targets-in-solutions-by-using-msbuild-exe?view=vs-2019
Dan Nolan's answer and comments are correct. Just want to supplement the Microsoft documentation.
The /targets: switch is to identify a <Target to run in the project file. You need to supply your .csproj file as a an argument that is not prefixed by a /xx option marker.
You might also want to work based on the .sln file. In that case, you still dont specify the project in the .sln to build in this manner. I'll leave you to search up the correct syntax in case that's what you end up doing.