Azure Pipelines are used for continuously building, testing, and deploying code and applications to any platform and cloud solution. Developers can create a cloud-hosted pipeline for Windows, Linux, and macOS. Further, they can automate build, and deploy processes using Azure DevOps (Azure Pipelines are much faster when compared to VSTS). In this programming tutorial, we will demonstrate Azure Pipelines creation and how to use them to implement continuous integration for a .NET Web Application.
Pipeline Using Azure DevOps
To start, login to your Azure DevOps account and choose Pipelines, Builds:
Azure DevOps Account Overview
For first time users, you can also select the New Pipeline button, as shown in the following figure:
Azure DevOps Pipeline
Click Create Pipeline to create your first Pipeline:
Azure DevOps Create New Pipeline
Select your repository type, for which you want to set-up a build. For the following example, we have selected the Other Git Repository option:
Azure DevOps Code Repository
To connect the Git Repository, add the URL and enter your Username and Password:
Azure DevOps Connect Git Repository
After you successfully login to Git, select the Branch as depicted here:
Azure DevOps Code Branch Selection
Azure DevOps Pipeline has many pre-defined templates to choose from, based on the needs of the developer or project. In this example, we have selected the ASP.NET Template and clicked Apply:
Azure DevOps Pre Defined Template
The following template has five configuration steps: Tasks, Variables, Triggers, Option, and Retention. Configure each of these steps before moving on:
Azure DevOps Template Configuration
Next, run the Pipeline using a trigger setting, or, we can schedule the build time. Developers can set the continuous integration during any new check-in process. You can also specify a scheduled day and time to autorun the build. You can see here when to build and branch filters where you can include or exclude a specific branch:
Azure DevOps Run Pipeline
Step-by-step execution logs and all of the jobs and tasks can be viewed in real-time. Once all jobs are executed successfully, you can see the result on the Builds dashboard:
Azure DevOps Build Log
Developers can see the build history by clicking the History tab. If you want to see the progression, click on the build number from the grid and it will display all the progression.
You can see the build artifact’s published details, build Pipelines status and associated changes for the latest changes or latest build as well. Azure DevOps also supports Git Repository – you can add code as depicted below:
Azure DevOps Clone Repo
