Dynamically Checking Out A Specific Branch Or Tag In AzureDevOps
akhilsharmaazureazuredevops

Dynamically Checking Out A Specific Branch Or Tag In AzureDevOps

Introduction

Azure DevOps Pipelines is a cloud service that allows you to build, test, and deploy your code. It offers a variety of features, including the ability to define your build and release process as code and automate the process using continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD).

One useful feature of Azure DevOps Pipelines is the ability to use variables to dynamically configure your build and release processes. In this article, we'll look at how to use variables to dynamically check out a repository using a specific branch or tag in Azure DevOps Pipelines.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, you will need the following:

  • An Azure DevOps account. If you don't have one, you can sign up for a free trial here.
  • A Git repository hosted in Azure Repos or a third-party Git hosting service.
  • A build or release pipeline in Azure DevOps Pipelines. You can learn how to create a pipeline here.

Step 1: Define the Variable

The first step in using variables to dynamically check out a repository is to define the variable in your pipeline. This can be done in the Variables tab of your pipeline.

To define a variable, click the Add button and enter the name and value of the variable. For example, to define a variable named branch with the value main, you would enter the following:

Name: branch
Value: main

You can also define variables at the command line using the az pipelines variable command. For example, to define the branch variable, you can run the following command:

az pipelines variable create --name branch --value main

Step 2: Use the Variable in the Checkout Step

Once you have defined the variable, you can use it to dynamically configure the checkout step in your pipeline. To do this, you'll need to reference the variable using the $(variable_name) syntax.

For example, to use the branch variable to checkout a specific branch, you can add the following to your pipeline YAML file:

- checkout: self
  persistCredentials: true
  clean: true
  fetchDepth: 0
  lfs: true
  submodules: recursive
  ref: $(branch)

This will checkout the repository using the value of the branch variable as the branch name.

If you want to use a tag instead of a branch, you can use the tag parameter instead of the ref parameter. For example:

- checkout: self
  persistCredentials: true
  clean: true
  fetchDepth: 0
  lfs: true
  submodules: recursive
  tag: $(tag)

This will checkout the repository using the value of the tag variable as the tag name.

Step 3: Set the Variable Value

The final step is to set the value of the variable. There are several ways to do this, depending on your needs.

Option 1: Set the Variable Value in the Pipeline

One option is to set the variable value directly in the pipeline. This is useful if you want to use a different value for each run of the pipeline.

To set the variable value in the pipeline, you can use the variables block in your pipeline YAML file. For example:

variables:
  branch: main

This will set the branch variable to main for the current run of the pipeline.

Option 2: Set the Variable Value in the Pipeline Editor

Another option is to set the variable value in the pipeline editor. This is useful if you want to set the value once and reuse it in multiple pipelines.

To set the variable value in the pipeline editor, click the Variables tab and edit the value of the variable.

Option 3: Set the Variable Value Using the Azure DevOps CLI

You can also set the variable value using the Azure DevOps CLI. This is useful if you want to automate the process of setting the variable value.

To set the variable value using the Azure DevOps CLI, you can use the az pipelines variable command. For example, to set the value of the branch variable to main, you can run the following command:

az pipelines variable update --name branch --value main

This will set the value of the branch variable to main for all pipelines that use the variable.

Conclusion

In this article, we have seen how to use variables to dynamically check out a repository using a specific branch or tag in Azure DevOps Pipelines. By using variables, you can easily and efficiently configure your build and release processes to suit your needs.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions.