How to clone a build definition Visual Studio Online

4

votes

I am using VS 2013 with Team Explorer linked to Visual Studio Online.

I have "release" build definition and I want to copy/clone this to a new definition for a "debug" build.

Team Explorer does not appear to give me this option :-(

I tried using the "Community TFS Build Manager" to clone the build definition, but doesn't appear to allow this as it requires cloning to a different project.

I tried using TFS Power tools TFPT powershell commands, but it always gives me an error "Unable to determine the source control server".

What is the recommended way to make a copy of a build definition?

azure-devops

4

votes

Go to team Explorer.

Select the particular build you wanted to clone.

Right Click -> Clone Build Definition.

This way you can clone the Build definition which gets saved under the same project with name:

Copy of [Build definition you selected].

2

votes

From Visual Studio Team Services you can clone a build by browsing to "Build and Release" -> "Builds" -> "Build Definitions", hover over the build definition to clone, then click on the ellipsis button that appears and select "Clone" from the context menu:

1

votes

If you are looking to automate cloning a build in VSTS using Powershell, you can use the following script (made in line with this documentation).

You will need to change: $buildToCloneName, $newBuildName, $user, $accessToken, $env:SYSTEM_TEAMFOUNDATIONCOLLECTIONURI and $env:SYSTEM_TEAMPROJECTIDfor it to work for you.

$env:SYSTEM_TEAMPROJECTID is the Team Project where the build is.

Powershell Script:

Clear-Host
$buildToCloneName = "Build 1"
$newBuildName = "Build 1 - Clone"


$user = "[email protected]"
$accessToken="4df31252fqt...PAT...."
$base64AuthInfo = [Convert]::ToBase64String([Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetBytes(("{0}:{1}" -f $user,$accessToken)))
$env:SYSTEM_TEAMFOUNDATIONCOLLECTIONURI = "https://mycompany.visualstudio.com/"
$env:SYSTEM_TEAMPROJECTID = "MyProject"

"Getting all bulid definitions"
$allSuitesBuildUrl = "$($env:SYSTEM_TEAMFOUNDATIONCOLLECTIONURI)$($env:SYSTEM_TEAMPROJECTID)/_apis/build/definitions?api-version=2.0"
$allSuitedBuilds = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $allSuitesBuildUrl -Headers @{Authorization=("Basic {0}" -f $base64AuthInfo)}


"Builds Found - Finding Match for $buildToCloneName"
$buildWeWant = {}
foreach($buildDetails in $allSuitedBuilds.value)
{
    "Checking Build"
    $buildDetails."name"


    if($buildDetails."name" -like $buildToCloneName)
    {
            $xoutputname = $buildDetails."name"
        "YES! Got Build $xoutputname"
        $buildWeWant = $buildDetails
        break
    }
        else
        {
            "Nope!"
        }
}

$buildId = $buildWeWant."id"

[int]$buildIdTest = $null
if(![int]::TryParse($buildId, [ref]$buildIdTest))
{
    throw [Exception] "ERROR: NO BUILD ID FOUND"
}


"Getting the exact definition for the build"
# You can see this in the browser using https://mycompany.visualstudio.com/ProjectWhereBuildIs/_apis/build/definitions/{BuildNumber}?api-version=2.0
$thisBuildDefUrl = "$($env:SYSTEM_TEAMFOUNDATIONCOLLECTIONURI)$($env:SYSTEM_TEAMPROJECTID)/_apis/build/definitions/" + $buildId + "?api-version=2.0"
$thisBuildDefUrl
$thisBuildDef = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $thisBuildDefUrl -Headers @{Authorization=("Basic {0}" -f $base64AuthInfo)}

"Assigning a new name"
$thisBuildDef.Name = $newBuildName


"Creating a clone build with name $newBuildName"
$defAsJson = $thisBuildDef | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 100
$newBuildDefUrl = "$($env:SYSTEM_TEAMFOUNDATIONCOLLECTIONURI)$($env:SYSTEM_TEAMPROJECTID)/_apis/build/definitions?api-version=2.0"
$newBuildDef = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $thisBuildDefUrl -Headers @{Authorization=("Basic {0}" -f $base64AuthInfo)} -Method Post -Body $defAsJson -ContentType "application/json" -ErrorAction Stop


$newBuildDefAsJson = $newBuildDef | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 100
$newBuildDefAsJson

"New Build Created"
$newBuildDef.Name

How to clone a build definition Visual Studio Online

3 Answers