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I have recently been getting a problem swapping between different organisations in Azure DevOps. It happens when I swap between Black Mable ones and customer ones, where each is back by different Azure Active Directory (AAD) but I am using the same credentials; because I am either a member of that AAD or a guest. The problem is I get into an authentication loop. It happens to be in Chrome, but you might find the same problem in other browsers....

I have recently be working on a release pipeline that deploys to a server behind a corporate firewall. This is done using an Azure DevOps private build agent and works fine. As the service is a basic REST service and takes a bit of time to start-up I though a gate was a perfect way to pause the release pipeline until service was ready for the automated tests. However, I hit a problem, the gates always failed as the internal server could not be resolved....

It always amazes me that people find time to write tech books whilst having a full time job. So given the effort I know it will have been, it is great to see an update to Tarun Arora and Utkarsh Sigihalli’s book ‘Azure DevOps Server 2019 Cookbook’. I do like their format of ‘recipes’ that walk through common requirements. I find it particularly interesting that for virtually each recipes there is an associated Azure DevOps Extension that enhances the experience....

I recently hit a problem with builds triggered by branch policies in Azure DevOps Repos. With the help of Microsoft I found out the problem and I thought it worth writing up uncase others hit the issue. Setup Folders Assume you have a Git repo with source for the UI, backend Services and common code in sub folders / [root] UI Services Common Branch Policies On the Master branch there are a policies of running...

I have been trying to use Regex to select a block of an XML based .NET Core CSPROJ file, and yes before you say know I could use XPATH, but why am not is another story. I was trying to use the Regex content.match(/<PropertyGroup>((.|n)\*)</PropertyGroup>/gmi) The strange thing was this selection string worked in online Regex testers and in online Javascript IDEs, but failed inside my Node based Azure DevOps Pipeline extension....

I have spent too long recently trying to sign a UWP .MSIXBUNDLE generated from an Azure DevOps build using the SignTool.exe and our code signing certificate. I kept getting the error Done Adding Additional Store Error information: "Error: SignerSign() failed." (-2146958839/0x80080209) From past experience, SignTool errors are usually due to the publisher details in the XML manifest files (in this case unpack the bundle with MakeAppx.exe and look in AppxMetadataAppxBundleManifest.xml, and also check the manifest in the bundled ....

Introduction I use Azure DevOps Pipelines for the build and release of my Azure DevOps Pipeline extensions, I previously detailed my process here . For a good few months now YAML builds have been available. These provide the key advantage that the build is defined in a YAML text file that is stored with your product’s source code, thus allowing you to more easily track build changes. Also bulk editing becomes easier as a simple text editor can be used....

I have posted in the past a quick script to generate some markdown documentation for the YAML usage of Azure DevOps Pipeline extensions. Well I decided that having this script as a task itself would be a good idea, so a wrote it, and please to say have just release it to the marketplace The YAML Documenter task scans an extension’s vss-extension.json and task.json files to find the details it needs to build the markdown documentation on the YAML usage....

I am automating the process by which we keep our build agent up to date. The basic process is to use a fork of the standard Microsoft Azure DevOps Pipeline agent that has the additional code included we need, notably Biztalk. Once I have the Packer created VM up and running, I need to install the agent. This is well document, just run _.config.cmd –help _for details. However, there is no option to add user capabilities to the agent....

A major problem when moving from the graphic editing of Azure Pipeline builds to YAML has been the difficulty in knowing the options available, and of course making typos. Microsoft have just released a VSCode extension to help address this problem – it is called Azure Pipelines I have yet to give it a really good workout, but first impressions are good. It does not remove the need for good documentation of task options, there is a need for my script to generate YAML documentation from a task....