When you need to pass parameters between your build and release pipelines it could be a real struggle if you do not want to use variable groups. Variable groups can accomplish the requested (to pass values between build and release pipelines) but this scenario is not useful for a parametric input which is a common case when deploying a project. You can accomplish that either by using a plugin from another publisher or by following the publish artifacts procedure that I will describe.
In order to pass variables between your build and release pipelines you can create/export a file containing your variable on your build agent. This file should be exported as build artifact and then downloaded on the release pipeline.
The below build pipeline implements the functionality I described. The exported file is named projectname.txt and will be located on artifacts folder on your build agent inside folder drop. For example C:\agent\1\a\drop
trigger:
- dev
pool:
vmImage: windows-latest
parameters:
- name: powerenvironment
displayName: Where to deploy?
type: string
steps:
- task: PowerShell@2
inputs:
targetType: 'inline'
script: |
$variable = '${{parameters.powerenvironment}}'
$variable | Out-File $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)\projectname.txt
Get-Content $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)\projectname.txt
- task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
inputs:
PathtoPublish: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
ArtifactName: 'drop'
publishLocation: 'Container'
When you run the pipeline you will be asked for a parameter. I gave this entry my name which will be passed on release.
My release pipeline will download the build artifacts and get the value of the file. The release pipeline includes two steps.
The first one downloads the folder drop from build artifacts. The projectname.txt is located there.
Then the powershell will print the contents of the projectname.txt
You can check the result and verify you get the parameter input value from the powershell script.
Bonus content:
You can also write your input parameter as a variable on the build agent and reference this value on a later step. This should be again a powershell step on your release pipeline.
$myVariable = "ProjectName"; $myValue = Get-Content $(System.ArtifactsDirectory)/drop/projectname.txt; Write-Host "##vso[task.setvariable variable=ProjectName]($myValue)";
Lastly create a dump archive step to reference the input parameter from the build pipeline.
In order to test, use in the archive path the ProjectName variable.
Run the pipeline and verify that input parameter is correct (I used gerasimos).
Youtube video:
