Pipeline is a simple, convention-based framework for building deployment pipelines for .NET/MSBuild.

Quick Start

1. Git clone this repository

2. Run Visual Studio Command Prompt (navigate to your local repository)

3. Run the following command:

    msbuild build.xml /t:Local
   

4. This generates the following output:

    Microsoft (R) Build Engine version 4.0.30319.17929
    [Microsoft .NET Framework, version 4.0.30319.18052]
    Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
   
    Build started 28/10/2013 08:48:35.
    Project "C:\Users\Paul.Marshall\Documents\GitHub\pipeline\src\build.xml" on node 1 (Local target(s)).
    SetPipelineStageToLocal:
      SetPipelineStageToLocal
    GetProductVersionFromFile:
      GetProductVersionFromFile (pipeline.plugin.version)
      XmlFile: version.xml
      Read Element: version/major
      XmlFile: version.xml
      Read Element: version/minor
      XmlFile: version.xml
      Read Element: version/revision
      Version (pipeline.plugin.version): 0.0.0
    GetBuildNumber:
      GetBuildNumber (pipeline.plugin.version)
    GetVersion:
      GetVersion (pipeline.plugin.version)
      Version=0.0.0.0
    BeforeBuild:
      BeforeBuild (pipeline.plugin.jenkins)
    _BuildMSBuildSolution:
      _BuildMSBuildSolution (Id=)
    BuildDotNet:
      BuildDotNet (pipeline.plugin.msbuild)
    CoreBuild:
      CoreBuild (pipeline.plugin.msbuild)
    AfterBuild:
      AfterBuild
    Build:
      Build
    BeforeUnitTest:
      BeforeUnitTest
    RunUnitTest:
      RunUnitTest (pipeline.plugin.nunit)
    CoreUnitTest:
      CoreUnitTest (pipeline.plugin.nunit)
    AfterUnitTest:
      AfterUnitTest
    UnitTest:
      UnitTest
    BeforePackage:
      BeforePackage
    CorePackage:
      CorePackage
    AfterPackage:
      AfterPackage
    Package:
      Package
    BeforeConfigureEnvironment:
      BeforeConfigureEnvironment
    CoreConfigureEnvironment:
      CoreConfigureEnvironment
    AfterConfigureEnvironment:
      AfterConfigureEnvironment
    ConfigureEnvironment:
      ConfigureEnvironment
    BeforeDeployPackage:
      BeforeDeployPackage
    CoreDeployPackage:
      CoreDeployPackage
    AfterDeployPackage:
      AfterDeployPackage
    DeployPackage:
      DeployPackage
    UpdateAcceptanceTestConfiguration:
      UpdateAcceptanceTestConfiguration (pipeline.plugin.nunit)
    BeforeSmokeTest:
      BeforeSmokeTest (pipeline.plugin.nunit.config)
    RunSmokeTest:
      RunSmokeTest (pipeline.plugin.nunit)
    CoreSmokeTest:
      CoreSmokeTest (pipeline.plugin.nunit)
    AfterSmokeTest:
      AfterSmokeTest
    SmokeTest:
      SmokeTest
    BeforeAcceptanceTest:
      BeforeAcceptanceTest
    RunAcceptanceTest:
      RunAcceptanceTest (pipeline.plugin.nunit)
    CoreAcceptanceTest:
      CoreAcceptanceTest (pipeline.plugin.nunit)
    AfterAcceptanceTest:
      AfterAcceptanceTest
    AcceptanceTest:
      AcceptanceTest
    Local:
      Local
    Done Building Project "C:\Users\Paul.Marshall\Documents\GitHub\pipeline\src\build.xml" (Local target(s)).
   
    Build succeeded.
        0 Warning(s)
        0 Error(s)
   
    Time Elapsed 00:00:00.23
   

Concept

This work is heavily influenced by the ideas and concepts from the book "Continuous Delivery" by Jez Humble and David Farley.

This book describes "an effective pattern for getting software from development to release".

The pattern central to the book is the "deployment pipeline", an automated implementation of an application's build, deploy, test and release process.

Overview

Implementation

The Pipeline framework is built upon MSBuild v4.0 and is comprised of the following files:

• Core
  • pipeline.xml Defines core concepts of steps in a deployment pipeline
  • pipeline.stages.xml Defines stages for a specific deployment pipeline
• Pipeline plugins
  • pipeline.plugin.environment Provides functions to manage environment specific settings
  • pipeline.plugin.jenkins Functions to interact with Jenkin's artifacts
  • pipeline.plugin.msbuild Builds VS.NET solutions using msbuild
  • pipeline.plugin.nuget Funcitons to interact with nuget
  • pipeline.plugin.version.xml Reads version information from an XML file
  • pipeline.plugin.nunit.xml Runs nunit tests
  • pipeline.plugin.nunit.config.xml Implements an inline task to update
  • pipeline.plugin.consoles Packages and deploys windows console applications
  • pipeline.plugin.webdeploy Packages and deploys web applications using WebDeploy
  • pipeline.plugin.windows.services Packages and deploys windows services
• Sample project build file
  • build.xml
• Sample version file (for use with pipeline.plugin.version.xml)
  • version.xml

Because the framework using MSBuild, many of the aspects are open for extension.

History

This framework was built to provide a build, test and deployment framework for a client. The client had SVN for a SCM and Hudson as a CI server.

Jobs were created in Hudson to represent each stage in the pipeline. The Commit job monitored changes to a SVN repository. When a change was detected, the job ran a MSBuild action that loaded build.xml, and calling the "Commit" target. The output of this job was an artifact. In addition, the job triggered the Acceptance job.

The Acceptance job retrieved the "last stable" artifact from the Commit job and once again ran a MSBuild action that loaded build.xml but this time calling the Acceptance target.

How to use this framework

Clone this git repository and "override" targets in the pipeline framework to perform custom steps to meet your requirements.

External Libraries Used

[MSBuildTasks] (https://github.com/loresoft/msbuildtasks)

Support

Check out the wiki

Contributors

• paulmarshall (Paul Marshall)
• Prashant Tyagi