Enable Continuous Integration with Azure Pipelines

In this lab, you'll 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 and as part of the Continuous Integration implementation.

You will learn how to:

• Include build validation as part of a Pull Request.
• Configure CI pipeline as code with YAML.
• Set up branch policies for code protection.
• Work with Pull Requests and automated builds.

This lab takes approximately 30 minutes to complete.

Before you start

To complete the lab, you need:

• Microsoft Edge or an Azure DevOps supported browser.
• An Azure DevOps organization. If you don't already have one, create one by following the instructions at Create an organization or project collection.

Set up Azure DevOps organization (if needed)

If you don't already have an Azure DevOps organization, follow these steps:

1. Use a private browser session to get a new personal Microsoft Account (MSA) at https://account.microsoft.com (skip if you already have one).

2. Using the same browser session, sign up for a free Azure subscription at https://azure.microsoft.com/free (skip if you already have one).

3. Open a browser and navigate to Azure portal at https://portal.azure.com, then search at the top of the Azure portal screen for Azure DevOps. In the resulting page, click Azure DevOps organizations.

4. Next, click on the link labelled My Azure DevOps Organizations or navigate directly to https://aex.dev.azure.com.

5. On the We need a few more details page, select Continue.

6. In the drop-down box on the left, choose Default Directory, instead of Microsoft Account.

7. If prompted ("We need a few more details"), provide your name, e-mail address, and location and click Continue.

8. Back at https://aex.dev.azure.com with Default Directory selected click the blue button Create new organization.

9. Accept the Terms of Service by clicking Continue.

10. If prompted ("Almost done"), leave the name for the Azure DevOps organization at default (it needs to be a globally unique name) and pick a hosting location close to you from the list.

11. Once the newly created organization opens in Azure DevOps, select Organization settings in the bottom left corner.

12. At the Organization settings screen select Billing (opening this screen takes a few seconds).

13. Select Setup billing and on the right-hand side of the screen, select your Azure Subscription and then select Save to link the subscription with the organization.

14. Once the screen shows the linked Azure Subscription ID at the top, change the number of Paid parallel jobs for MS Hosted CI/CD from 0 to 1. Then select SAVE button at the bottom.

    Note: You may wait a couple of minutes before using the CI/CD capabilities so that the new settings are reflected in the backend. Otherwise, you will still see the message "No hosted parallelism has been purchased or granted".

15. In Organization Settings, go to section Pipelines and click Settings.

16. Toggle the switch to Off for Disable creation of classic build pipelines and Disable creation of classic release pipelines.

17. In Organization Settings, go to section Security and click Policies.

18. Toggle the switch to On for Allow public projects.

Create and configure the Azure DevOps project (if needed)

1. Open your browser and navigate to your Azure DevOps organization.
2. Select the New Project option and use the following settings:
   • name: eShopOnWeb
   • visibility: Private
   • Advanced: Version Control: Git
   • Advanced: Work Item Process: Scrum
3. Select Create.

Import eShopOnWeb git repository (if needed)

1. Open the previously created eShopOnWeb project.

2. Select the Repos > Files, Import a Repository and then select Import.

3. On the Import a Git Repository window, paste the following URL https://github.com/MicrosoftLearning/eShopOnWeb.git and select Import:

4. 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.

5. Leave the web browser window open.

6. Go to Repos > Branches.

7. Hover on the main branch then click the ellipsis on the right of the column.

8. Click on Set as default branch.

Include build validation as part of a Pull Request

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

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.

1. Go to Pipelines > Pipelines

2. Click on Create Pipeline or New Pipeline button

3. Select Azure Repos Git (YAML)

4. Select the eShopOnWeb repository

5. Select Existing Azure Pipelines YAML File

6. 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.

7. On the Review your pipeline YAML pane, click the down-facing caret symbol next to the Run button, click Save.

8. 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.

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.

1. Go to Repos > Branches section.
2. 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.
3. Click the ellipsis and, in the pop-up menu, select Branch Policies.
4. 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)
5. 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.

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.

1. Navigate to the Repos section in the eShopOnWeb navigation and click Branches.

2. Create a new branch named Feature01 based on the main branch.

3. Click Feature01 and navigate to the /eShopOnWeb/src/Web/Program.cs file as part of the Feature01 branch

4. Click the Edit button in the top-right

5. Make the following change on the first line:

   // Testing my PR
   

6. Click on Commit > Commit (leave default commit message).

7. 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.

8. In the New pull request tab, leave defaults and click on Create.

9. 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

10. After all validations are successful, on the top-right click on Approve. Now from the Set auto-complete dropdown you can click on Complete.

11. On the Complete Pull Request tab, click on Complete Merge

Configure CI Pipeline as Code with YAML

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

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.

1. Go to Pipelines > Pipelines.

2. Click on New Pipeline button.

3. Select Azure Repos Git (YAML).

4. Select the eShopOnWeb repository.

5. Select Existing Azure Pipelines YAML File.

6. 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.

7. Click on Run and wait for the pipeline to execute successfully.

Enable Continuous Integration

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

1. Click on the Edit pipeline option under the ellipsis menu near Run new button in the top-right

2. 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.

3. Click the Validate and save button to validate and save the pipeline definition.

4. Select Create a new branch for this commit.

5. Keep the default branch name and Start a pull request checked.

6. Click on Save.

7. 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.

8. Go to Repos > Pull Requests.

9. Click on the "Update eshoponweb-ci.yml for Azure Pipelines" pull request.

10. After all validations are successful, on the top-right click on Approve. Now you can click on Complete.

11. On the Complete Pull Request tab, Click on Complete Merge

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.

1. Navigate to the Repos section, and click on Branches.

2. Create a new branch named Feature02 based on the main branch.

3. Click the new Feature02 branch.

4. Navigate to the /eShopOnWeb/src/Web/Program.cs file and click Edit in the top-right.

5. Remove the first line:

   // Testing my PR
   

6. Click on Commit > Commit (leave default commit message).

7. A message will pop-up, proposing to create a Pull Request (as your Feature02 branch is now ahead in changes, compared to main).

8. Click on Create a Pull Request.

9. In the New pull request tab, leave defaults and click on Create.

10. The Pull Request will show some pending requirements, based on the policies applied to the target main branch.

11. After all validations are successful, on the top-right click on Approve. Now from the Set auto-complete dropdown you can click on Complete.

12. On the Complete Pull Request tab, Click on Complete Merge

13. Go back to Pipelines > Pipelines, you will notice that the build eshoponweb-ci was triggered automatically after the code was merged.

14. Click on the eshoponweb-ci build then select the last run.

15. After its successful execution, click on Related > Published to check the published artifacts:

    • Bicep: the infrastructure artifact.
    • Website: the app artifact.

Clean up resources

You don't need to clean up your Azure DevOps organization or project, as they will remain available for you to use as a reference and portfolio item. Azure DevOps provides free tier usage that includes basic features for small teams.

If you want to delete the project, you can do so by following these steps:

1. In your browser navigate to the Azure DevOps portal at https://aex.dev.azure.com.
2. Navigate to the eShopOnWeb project you created.
3. On the project settings page, go to Overview and click Delete at the bottom of the page.
4. Type the project name to confirm deletion and click Delete.

CAUTION: Deleting a project deletes all work items, repositories, builds, and other project artifacts. If you used an existing project for this exercise, any existing resources outside the scope of this exercise will also be deleted.