tfsbuildextensions Wiki & Documentation Rss Feed

New Comment on "How to integrate the email build activity"

jroth — Thu, 30 May 2013 16:19:09 GMT

Anybody have insight on attachments? I'm trying to send an email with a folder from the build attached, but I'm getting "Error: Access to the path 'D:\TfsBuild\Builds\9\238\TestResults' is denied.. " It seems logical that this might be a permissions issue with the build's account, but it's got full access to the drop files. Any clues?

New Comment on "How to integrate the nUnit build activity"

2ton — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:42:37 GMT

Regarding my previous post, I have solved my problem. The problem indeed came from using TFS2010 and VS2012. The problem came when it tried to publish the test results to TFS. The command line it tried to run was: "%VS110COMNTOOLS%\..\IDE\MSTest.exe /publish:"http://...". After a bit of investigation I noticed it was trying to use MSTest.exe from the VS2012 directory NOT the VS2010 directory. I could manually run the command line by changing it to %VS100COMNTOOLS%. To get round this issue I installed VS2012 on the build server. Not my ideal solution but it now works perfectly!

New Comment on "How to integrate the nUnit build activity"

2ton — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:13:52 GMT

Excellent post Richard (I regularly attend your Black Marble events!). I have managed to follow your post and I have successfully got my nunit tests to run when running my build definition. Unfortunately though my build fails with "Error: The system cannot find the file specified". This seems to happen when it tries to access the outputxmlfile.trx file from the drop folder. The trx file is generated and when i run it in VS it works and I see my test results?? Am I missing something? I'm using TFS210 but connecting to it with VS2012. could this be a problem?

Updated Wiki: Documentation

MrHinsh — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:17:58 GMT

We are working hard on the documentation set; please be patient.

Check in procedures for code submissions to the project

Getting Started

How to integrate the community build extensions into your build process template

Included Community Activities

The following activities are included this project. Once you are able to integrate the extensions into your build process template the usage of each activity should be fairly obvious. However, we will add getting started for the activities as soon as we can.

AssemblyInfo - Getting started with the AssemblyInfo activity
AWS
CatNetScan - Getting started with the CatNetScan activity
ClickOnce
CodeMetric - Getting started with the CodeMetric (and CodeMetricHistory) activity
CompareLabels - Getting started with the CompareLabels activity
DateAndTime - Getting started with the DateTime activity
Email - Getting started with the email activity
ExecuteWorkflow
ExpandVariables
File - Getting started with the file activity
FileCopyRemote
FxCop - Getting started with the fxcop activity
Guid - Getting started with the GUID activity
Hello - A sample to show basic structure of an activity, just writes a message to the build log
HyperV - Getting started with the Hyper-V activity
IIS7
ILMerge
InvokePowerShellCommand – Getting started with the InvokePowerShellCommand activity
InvokeRemoteStropt
IsBuildRunning
IsSourceChanged
LabManagement
- CheckIfEnvironmentIsLocked
- GetEnvironment
- GetEnvironmentLockedByBuildNumber
- ListEnvironments
- ListLabSystems
- LockEnvironment
- PauseEnvironment
- RenameSnapshot
- ShutdownEnvironment
- UnlockEnvironment
- WaitForEnvironmentToBecomeAvailable
nUnit – Getting started with the nUnit activity
RoboCop - Getting started with the RoboCop activity
SetBuildAgentStatus
SharePointDeployment – Getting started with the SharePointDeployment activity
SSH
SPDisposeCheck – Getting started with the SPDisposeCheck activity
SqlExecute
StatLight - Getting started with the StatLight Silverlight test activity
StyleCop – Getting started with the StyleCop activity
TFS Activities
- AgentSettingsTags - Add and remove Tags during the build for Agent Settings
- BuildAgentTags - Add and remove Tags from a build agent
- BuildReport
- BuildWorkspace
- GetBuild
- GetBuildAgentMachineName - Get the physical macheine name of and agent
- GetBuildController
- GetBuildDefinition
- GetBuildServer
- GetChangeset
- GetChangesetItem
- GetLastGoodBuild
- GetLatestBuildDetail
- GetLatestChangeSet
- GetLocalWorkspace
- GetMSBuildProperties
- GetPendingChanges
- GetValueFromRegistry
- GetVersionControlLabel
- GetWebAccessUrl
- QueueBuild
- QueryBuildAgentStatus
- SetBuildAgentStatus
- StopBuild
- TFSSource
TFSVersion - Getting started with the TfsVersion activity
Twitter - Getting started with the Twitter activity
VB6 - Getting started with the VB6 activity
VirtualPC - Getting started with the VirtualPC activity
VSDevEnv
Windows Azure - Getting started with the Windows Azure activities
WriteToFile - Getting started with the writetofile activity
Wmi
WorkItemTracking
XML
XMLFile
Zip - Getting started with the Zip activity

MSDN Documentation

Rangers Guidance

Rangers Build Customization Guide

New Comment on "How to integrate the extensions into a build template"

andipandi — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:24:27 GMT

extremely useful, many thanks! (@ms: a bit involved for something that should be an off-the-shelf task)

New Comment on "How to integrate the TfsVersion build activity"

MohsenMahdieh — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 06:13:33 GMT

Hi It is great. Something is not clarified to me. As you have shown in your screenshot, it updates both file version and product version to 4.5.229.2. But you haven't set SetAssemblyVersion to true. It means we don't expect to get product version set to version created by this activity.. How could we change the behavior to just set file version to 4.5.229.2 and set product version to 4.5.0.0?

New Comment on "How to integrate the TfsVersion build activity"

choucchouj — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 01:16:48 GMT

the default rules for C++（not MC++） as a standard? if I use C++（not MC++）,how can i use the TFSVersion activity?

New Comment on "How to integrate the email build activity"

Jpmon1 — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 13:35:22 GMT

Have you tried using '<br />'? The emails are normally in html, so a system new line would do nothing.

New Comment on "How to integrate the AssemblyInfo build activity"

DrDelete — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:33:22 GMT

The Invalid L-value expression error can be fixed by using variables instead of direct value.

New Comment on "How to integrate the nUnit build activity"

jnus — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 19:47:15 GMT

I'm having problems using platformconfiguration.platform (and .configuration) in my build definition. Any idea why (vs2010/vs2012 + tfs2010)?

New Comment on "How to integrate the AssemblyInfo build activity"

WiredWiz — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 20:44:15 GMT

I have also noticed that after I drop the assemblyinfo activity on the default VS2012 template I'm editing, I get tons of validation errors all throughout my template. These errors then persist even if I remove the AssemblyInfo activity. I'm beginning to think TFS's build server is too much of a pain in the butt to make it worth using.

New Comment on "How to integrate the AssemblyInfo build activity"

WiredWiz — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 16:01:20 GMT

I am also getting the error "Invalid L-value expression" when I use the custom version number expression values.

New Comment on "How to integrate the AssemblyInfo build activity"

bradwist — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 21:28:34 GMT

i have tried entering values for AssemblyVersion and AssemblyFileVersion. Entering the following "$(current).$(current).$(current).$(increment)", as well as variations of that entry, including examples above, just give a error in the expression editor. Error is: Compiler error(s) encounter processing expression ""$(current).$(current).$(current).$(increment)"". Invalid L-value expression. Still working to identifying the root cause of this.

Updated Wiki: How to integrate the nUnit build activity

rfennell — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:38:38 GMT

NOTE: In VS/TFS 2012 unit testing is based on an extensible system, it is no longer limited to only supporting MSTest as in previous versions of Visual Studio. If the nUnit adapter is downloaded from Visual Studio Gallery then nUnit tests can be included within a solution and build without the need for this custom activity.

Using the new test adapters should be the preferred option instead of this activity.

See the ALM Rangers Build Customization Guide for details in using the new test framework adaptors

The nUnit activity can be used to run nUnit based unit test and publish their results to TFS such they appears in the same reports as MStest based unit tests. In this example we aim to show the the basic steps that are required to get the activity integrated into a build.

Before you can make use of any of the TFS 2010 community build activities you have to make sure they are available for the build system and on your development PC. Instructions for this process can be found in the ALM Rangers build guide or in the StyleCop page of this wiki. This page assumes the nUnit is available in the developers build process workflow toolbox. Hence we are able to build the workflow shown below

Step 1 – Finding test assemblies

The first step is find the MSTest section in your build process, it reasonable to put the nUnit tests at the end of the existing “Try Run Tests” section. This simple integration simply runs the nUnit tests, it make no attempt to modify any flow based on the test results. In the chosen location add a FindMachingFiles activity (from the Team Foundation Build Activities tab in the toolbox). In the workflow above it has the display DisplayName of “Find files containing nUnit tests”. As the name suggests this activity is used to find all the assemblies that could potentially contain tests by scanning the BinariesDirectory and below for assemblies ending in *.Tests.dll.

The result of this find is stored in a workflow variable FilesContainingTests. This should to be created with a type of IEnumerable<string>; it’s scope, in the default workflow, was set to Compile and Test. Once the variable was created the activities output can be assigned to it

Step 2 – Running the nUnit tests

The nUnit activity runs the nUnit console EXE, produces the results as an XML file which is transformed to the Microsoft TRX format and published to TFS. To manage this the nUnit activity has many properties, but tests can be run with very few set if required. Ones that can be critical Version or ToolPath. If the ToolPath (the directory containing the nUnit console application) is not set the path to the nUnit console is built from the Version. This can be a problem if the program is not installed in the expected default location; hence if can be easier to just specify the whole ToolPath.

You also need to provide a name for the OutputFile and OutputXMLFile so the results can be stored, and to be able to publish the test results to TFS you must specific the Flavour and Platform as well as the PublishTestResults flag.

One gotta is that, if you have not specifically set these in the build definition (as in graphic below)

and you attempt to use the PlatformConfiguration object to provide the Flavor and Platform (as opposed to hard coded strings) empty strings will be passed into the nUnit activity and the publish will fail with the error

Running C:\Program Files (x86)\NUnit 2.5.10\bin\net-2.0\nunit-console.exe /nologo "C:\Builds\1\MSF Agile\BuildCustomisation\Binaries\ClassLibrary1.Tests.dll" /xml="\\typhoon\drops\BuildCustomisation\BuildCustomisation_20110818.16\outputxmlfile.xml" /out="outputfile.txt"
Processing \\typhoon\drops\BuildCustomisation\BuildCustomisation_20110818.16\outputxmlfile.xml
When publishing test results, both Platform and Flavor must be specified

So the minimum properties for the nUnit activity are as shown below

Running the build

When the build runs you should see in the log that nUnit has been run with the correct command line options

and from the build summary page you can follow the link to see the test details

This is a very basic integration of the nUnit activity into a build. For more details on the other available properties check the nUnit console command line reference

Updated Wiki: How to integrate the nUnit build activity

rfennell — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:18:55 GMT

Using the new test adapters should be the preferred option instead of this activity

Step 1 – Finding test assemblies

Step 2 – Running the nUnit tests

One gotta is that, if you have not specifically set these in the build definition (as in graphic below)

Running C:\Program Files (x86)\NUnit 2.5.10\bin\net-2.0\nunit-console.exe /nologo "C:\Builds\1\MSF Agile\BuildCustomisation\Binaries\ClassLibrary1.Tests.dll" /xml="\\typhoon\drops\BuildCustomisation\BuildCustomisation_20110818.16\outputxmlfile.xml" /out="outputfile.txt"
Processing \\typhoon\drops\BuildCustomisation\BuildCustomisation_20110818.16\outputxmlfile.xml
When publishing test results, both Platform and Flavor must be specified

So the minimum properties for the nUnit activity are as shown below

Running the build

When the build runs you should see in the log that nUnit has been run with the correct command line options

and from the build summary page you can follow the link to see the test details

This is a very basic integration of the nUnit activity into a build. For more details on the other available properties check the nUnit console command line reference

Updated Wiki: Home

rfennell — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 19:55:03 GMT

Project Description
The Community TFS Build Extensions site provides a place for build engineers to share workflow activities, build process template files, and tools for Team Foundation Build.

Help Us!

We would like to build an installer or VSIX package (for use in the Visual Studio Gallery) to allow us to install our activities pack to the Toolbox automatically for the Workflow Designer. However, we need the Visual Studio product team to include support for us to be able to do this.

If you are interested in this type of deployment, please help us by voting for this feature request on the Workflow Team's User Voice site here: Support Adding Workflow Activities to Toolbox. Thanks for your support!

Call for Content

This project is open for contributions from anyone working with Team Build, if you have a particular template, activity, or tool you'd like to contribute or have an idea for something you'd like to see implemented then leave a message in Discussions.

For more information about Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation, visit http://www.windowsworkflow.com.
For more information about the standard TFS 2010 Build workflow activities, visit this MSDN Article.

Books that Cover Customizing TFS 2010 Build

Professional Team Foundation Server 2010, Wrox
Inside the Microsoft Build Engine: Using MSBuild and Team Foundation Build, Microsoft Press

Externally Hosted Workflow Activities

Some activities are tightly bound to 3rd party products. Due to these requirements these activities are not included directly in this project but hosted on other sites.

TFS Build 2010 Activity to run Typemock Isolator based tests (also has details for TFS 2012)
Microsoft Team Foundation Server Build Extensions Power Tool
- Ant Task and Workflow Activity
- Maven 2 Task and Workflow Activity
- JUnit Task and Workflow Activity

Build Process Templates

Tools

AIT Build Suite of Tools (Free)

Team Build 2005/2008 Recipes

MSBuild Recipes

Restrict Target Framework Version

Other Recipes

Updated Wiki: Home

rfennell — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:13:32 GMT

Project Description
The Community TFS Build Extensions site provides a place for build engineers to share workflow activities, build process template files, and tools for Team Foundation Build.

Help Us!

Call for Content

Books that Cover Customizing TFS 2010 Build

Professional Team Foundation Server 2010, Wrox
Inside the Microsoft Build Engine: Using MSBuild and Team Foundation Build, Microsoft Press

Externally Hosted Workflow Activities

Some activities are tightly bound to 3rd party products. Due to these requirements these activities are not included directly in this project but hosted on other sites.

TFS Build 2010 Activity to run Typemock Isolator based tests (also has details for TFS 2012)
Microsoft Team Foundation Server Build Extensions Power Tool
- Ant Task and Workflow Activity
- Maven 2 Task and Workflow Activity
- JUnit Task and Workflow Activity

Build Process Templates

Tools

AIT Build Suite of Tools (Free)

Team Build 2005/2008 Recipes

MSBuild Recipes

Restrict Target Framework Version

Other Recipes

New Comment on "How to integrate the nUnit build activity"

ljrich — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 11:34:40 GMT

Seconded MsGigabyte's comment. Do I just drag one of the NUnit dlls onto the toolbox? Besides that, gracias Mr Fennell, epic work as ever.

New Comment on "How to integrate the nUnit build activity"

ehuna — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:31:17 GMT

Nice! Thank you for the great overview and detailed steps.

New Comment on "How to integrate the extensions into a build template"

Marlhog — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 14:48:34 GMT

Thx for the great post, it really helped me to get the StyleCop Extension working on my build server. But unfortunately i have a problem and cant find any information about it online, so i hope that anyone can help me. I would like to configure the StyleCop params "LogFile" and "XmlOutputFile" in that way, that this additional logs (beside the msbuild log) are stored in the same folder as the msbuild log. Has anyone a hint for me how to configure those two parameters?