Build .net core 6 projects with Azure Devops using yml files

DevOps is a complicated discipline, so when we as developers have to set up a build pipeline in Azure Devops we are sometimes in deep water.

2023-05-25: Updated Example to use Windows-2022 pool, not windows-2019 pool.

Thats why I made this yml template that I can copy from whenever I need to build a .net 6 project:

trigger:
  - main

pool:
  name: Azure Pipelines
  vmImage: 'windows-2022'

variables:
  buildConfiguration: 'Release'

steps:
- task: UseDotNet@2
  displayName: 'Use .NET Core 6'
  inputs:
    version: 6.0.x

- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  displayName: Restore
  inputs:
    command: restore
    projects: '**/*.csproj'

- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  displayName: Build
  inputs:
    projects: '**/*.csproj'

- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  displayName: Publish
  inputs:
    command: publish
    publishWebProjects: false
    projects: '**/*.csproj'
    arguments: '--configuration release --output $(build.artifactstagingdirectory) /property:PublishWithAspNetCoreTargetManifest=false'
    zipAfterPublish: false

- task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
  displayName: 'Publish Artifact'
  inputs:
    ArtifactName: myproject

I name the file “azure-pipelines.yml” and place it in the root of my project:

azure-pipelines.yml added to the root of my project

When the pipeline has run it creates an artifact that can be deployed:

My Artifact

SO WHAT DOES EACH SECTION DO?

trigger	Determines which branch will trigger the pipeline. Is used for continuous deployment
pool	Determines the server, and what’s installed on the server that it uses as build platform. For example, windows-2022 is a server with Visual Studio 2022 + a lot of libraries. Use windows-2022, not ubuntu if you wish to build .net core 6 code
variables	Sets up build variables
task: UseDotNet@2	This step can be left out, if you choose the windows-2022 pool. If you use the windows-2019 pool. you need this step. Tells the build to use .net core 6 when building. If you leave out this step, you risk that you build using .net core 3.1 instead. The “windows-2022” pool already runs .net 6, so you don’t need to specify it seperately.
DotNetCoreCLI@2/Restore	Gets NuGet packages
DotNetCoreCLI@2/Build	Builds the project
DotNetCoreCLI@2/Publish	Copies the files to a folder. publishWebProjects will determine what to copy. If true, it will copy web projects zipAfterPublish determines if the out should be zipped. property:PublishWithAspNetCoreTargetManifest=false will copy your NuGet dll’s along with the dlls of the project
PublishBuildArtifacts@1	Creates an artifact that can be used by your release pipeline

SO WHAT’S THE IMPORTANT KNOWLEGDE HERE?

The “pool” is the real trick here. A pool determines which tools will build your project. The pool called “windows-2019” is a server that includes Visual Studio 2019 + a lot of tools like NuGet, Yarn, Newman, GitHub Cli, Rust, etc.

The pool called “windows-2022” is similar to windows-2019, but it contains Visual Studio 2022 instead.

So if you select windows-2022 as pool, you basically build your code with the Visual Studio 2022 installation you would have on your own desktop computer.

WRAP-UP:

This is just an introduction to DevOps. I hope that the file will give you a hint of what to do before panicking if you are given the task of setting up your own build and release pipelines.

Happy DevOps’ing.

MORE TO READ:

• Force ‘dotnet publish’ to publish dependencies using PublishWithAspNetCoreTargetManifest by Benjamin Day
• Build, test, and deploy .NET Core apps from Microsoft
• .NET Core CLI task by Microsoft
• Publish Build Artifacts task by Microsoft