Enabling Continuous Integration with Azure Pipelines

Student lab manual

Lab requirements

This lab requires Microsoft Edge or an Azure DevOps supported browser.
Set up an Azure DevOps organization: If you don’t already have an Azure DevOps organization that you can use for this lab, create one by following the instructions available at Create an organization or project collection.

Lab overview

In this lab, you will learn how to define build pipelines in Azure DevOps using YAML. The pipelines will be used in two scenarios:

As part of Pull Request validation process.
As part of the Continuous Integration implementation.

Objectives

After you complete this lab, you will be able to:

Include build validation as part of a Pull Request.
Configure CI pipeline as code with YAML.

Estimated timing: 45 minutes

Instructions

Exercise 0: Configure the lab prerequisites

In this exercise, you will set up the prerequisites for the lab, which consist of a new Azure DevOps project with a repository based on the eShopOnWeb.

Task 1: (skip if done) Create and configure the team project

In this task, you will create an eShopOnWeb Azure DevOps project to be used by several labs.

On your lab computer, in a browser window open your Azure DevOps organization. Click on New Project. Give your project the name eShopOnWeb and leave the other fields with defaults. Click on Create.

Task 2: (skip if done) Import eShopOnWeb Git Repository

In this task you will import the eShopOnWeb Git repository that will be used by several labs.

On your lab computer, in a browser window open your Azure DevOps organization and the previously created eShopOnWeb project. Click on Repos>Files , Import a Repository. Select Import. On the Import a Git Repository window, paste the following URL https://github.com/MicrosoftLearning/eShopOnWeb.git and click Import:
The repository is organized the following way:
- .ado folder contains Azure DevOps YAML pipelines.
- .devcontainer folder container setup to develop using containers (either locally in VS Code or GitHub Codespaces).
- infra folder contains Bicep & ARM infrastructure as code templates used in some lab scenarios.
- .github folder contains YAML GitHub workflow definitions.
- src folder contains the .NET website used in the lab scenarios.

Exercise 1: Include build validation as part of a Pull Request

In this exercise, you will include build validation to validate a Pull Request.

Task 1: Import the YAML build definition

In this task, you will import the YAML build definition that will be used as a Branch Policy to validate the pull requests.

Let’s start by importing the build pipeline named eshoponweb-ci-pr.yml.

Go to Pipelines>Pipelines
Click on Create Pipeline or New Pipeline button
Select Azure Repos Git (YAML)
Select the eShopOnWeb repository
Select Existing Azure Pipelines YAML File
Select the main branch and the /.ado/eshoponweb-ci-pr.yml file, then click on Continue

The build definition consists of the following tasks:
- DotNet Restore: With NuGet Package Restore you can install all your project’s dependency without having to store them in source control.
- DotNet Build: Builds a project and all of its dependencies.
- DotNet Test: .Net test driver used to execute unit tests.
- DotNet Publish: Publishes the application and its dependencies to a folder for deployment to a hosting system. In this case, it’s Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory.
Click the Save button to save the pipeline definition
Your pipeline will take a name based on the project name. Let’s rename it for identifying the pipeline better. Go to Pipelines>Pipelines and click on the recently created pipeline. Click on the ellipsis and Rename/Move option. Name it eshoponweb-ci-pr and click on Save.

Task 2: Branch Policies

In this task, you will add policies to the main branch and only allow changes using Pull Requests that comply with the defined policies. You want to ensure that changes in a branch are reviewed before they are merged.

Go to Repos>Branches section.
On the Mine tab of the Branches pane, hover the mouse pointer over the main branch entry to reveal the ellipsis symbol on the right side.
Click the ellipsis and, in the pop-up menu, select Branch Policies.
On the main tab of the repository settings, enable the option for Require minimum number of reviewers. Add 1 reviewer and check the box Allow requestors to approve their own changes(as you are the only user in your project for the lab)
On the main tab of the repository settings, in the Build Validation section, click + (Add a new build policy) and in the Build pipeline list, select eshoponweb-ci-pr then click Save.

Task 3: Working with Pull Requests

In this task, you will use the Azure DevOps portal to create a Pull Request, using a new branch to merge a change into the protected main branch.

Navigate to the Repos section in the eShopOnWeb navigation and click Branches.
Create a new branch named Feature01 based on the main branch.
Click Feature01 and navigate to the /eShopOnWeb/src/Web/Program.cs file as part of the Feature01 branch
Click the Edit button in the top-right
Make the following change on the first line:
```
 // Testing my PR
```
Click on Commit > Commit (leave default commit message).
A message will pop-up, proposing to create a Pull Request (as your Feature01 branch is now ahead in changes, compared to main). Click on Create a Pull Request.
In the New pull request tab, leave defaults and click on Create.
The Pull Request will show some pending requirements, based on the policies applied to the target main branch.
- At least 1 user should review and approve the changes.
- Build validation, you will see that the build eshoponweb-ci-pr was triggered automatically
After all validations are successful, on the top-right click on Approve. Now from the Set auto-complete dropdown you can click on Complete.
On the Complete Pull Request tab, click on Complete Merge

Exercise 2: Configure CI Pipeline as Code with YAML

In this exercise, you will configure CI Pipeline as code with YAML.

Task 1: Import the YAML build definition for CI

In this task, you will add the YAML build definition that will be used to implement the Continuous Integration.

Let’s start by importing the CI pipeline named eshoponweb-ci.yml.

Go to Pipelines>Pipelines.
Click on New Pipeline button.
Select Azure Repos Git (YAML).
Select the eShopOnWeb repository.
Select Existing Azure Pipelines YAML File.
Select the main branch and the /.ado/eshoponweb-ci.yml file, then click on Continue.

The CI definition consists of the following tasks:
- DotNet Restore: With NuGet Package Restore you can install all your project’s dependency without having to store them in source control.
- DotNet Build: Builds a project and all of its dependencies.
- DotNet Test: .Net test driver used to execute unit tests.
- DotNet Publish: Publishes the application and its dependencies to a folder for deployment to a hosting system. In this case, it’s Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory.
- Publish Artifact - Website: Publish the app artifact (created in the previous step) and make it available as a pipeline artifact.
- Publish Artifact - Bicep: Publish the infrastructure artifact (Bicep file) and make it available as a pipeline artifact.

Task 2: Enable Continuous Integration

The default build pipeline definition doesn’t enable Continuous Integration.

Click the Edit button in the top-right
Now, you need to replace the # trigger: and # - main lines with the following code:
```
 trigger:
   branches:
     include:
     - main
   paths:
     include:
     - src/web/*
```
This will automatically trigger the build pipeline if any change is made to the main branch and the web application code (the src/web folder).

Since you enabled Branch Policies, you need to pass by a Pull Request in order to update your code.
Click the Save button (not Save and run) to save the pipeline definition.
Select Create a new branch for this commit.
Keep the default branch name and Start a pull request checked.
Click on Save.
Your pipeline will take a name based on the project name. Let’s rename it for identifying the pipeline better. Go to Pipelines>Pipelines and click on the recently created pipeline. Click on the ellipsis and Rename/Move option. Name it eshoponweb-ci and click on Save.
Go to Repos > Pull Requests.
Click on the “Update eshoponweb-ci.yml for Azure Pipelines” pull request.
After all validations are successful, on the top-right click on Approve. Now you can click on Complete.
On the Complete Pull Request tab, Click on Complete Merge

Task 3: Test the CI pipeline

In this task, you will create a Pull Request, using a new branch to merge a change into the protected main branch and automatically trigger the CI pipeline.

Navigate to the Repos section.
Create a new branch named Feature02 based on the main branch.
Click the new Feature02 branch.
Navigate to the /eShopOnWeb/src/Web/Program.cs file and click Edit in the top-right.
Remove the first line:
```
 // Testing my PR
```
Click on Commit > Commit (leave default commit message).
A message will pop-up, proposing to create a Pull Request (as your Feature02 branch is now ahead in changes, compared to main).
Click on Create a Pull Request.
In the New pull request tab, leave defaults and click on Create.
The Pull Request will show some pending requirements, based on the policies applied to the target main branch.
After all validations are successful, on the top-right click on Approve. Now from the Set auto-complete dropdown you can click on Complete.
On the Complete Pull Request tab, Click on Complete Merge
Go back to Pipelines>Pipelines, you will notice that the build eshoponweb-ci was triggered automatically after the code was merged.
Click on the eshoponweb-ci build then select the last run.
After its successful execution, click on Related > Published to check the published artifacts:
- Bicep: the infrastructure artifact.
- Website: the app artifact.

Review

In this lab, you enabled pull request validation using a build definition and configured CI pipeline as code with YAML in Azure DevOps.