Almost all the tasks of the default build definition use PowerShell scripts that run on the Build VM. We can change 3 of those steps for newer tasks. In order to use these newer tasks, we need to install the “Dynamics 365 Unified Operations Tools”. We’ll be using them to set up our release pipeline too so consider doing it now.
Update Model Version task #
This one is the easiest, just add it to your build definition under the current model versioning task, disable the original one and you’re done. If you have any filters in your current task, like excluding any model, you must add the filter in the Descriptor Search Pattern field using Azure DevOps pattern syntax.
Create Deployable Package task #
This task will replace the Generate packages from the current build definitions. To set it up we just need to do a pair of changes to the default values:
X++ Tools Path #
This is your build VM’s physical bin folder, the AosService folder is usually on the unit K for cloud-hosted VMs. I guess this will change when we go VM-less to do the builds.
Update!: the route to the unit can be changed for $(ServiceDrive), getting a path like $(ServiceDrive)\AOSService\PackagesLocalDirectory\bin.
Location of the X++ binaries to package #
The task comes with this field filled in as $(Build.BinariesDirectory) but this didn’t work out for our build definitions, maybe the variable isn’t set up on the proj file. After changing this to $(Agent.BuildDirectory)\Bin the package is generated.
Filename and path for the deployable package #
The path on the image should be changed to $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)\Packages\AXDeployableRuntime_$(Build.BuildNumber).zip. You can leave it without the Packages folder in the path, but if you do that you will need to change the Path to Publish field in the Publish Artifact: Package step of the definition.
Add Licenses to Deployable Package task #
This task will add the license files to an existing Deployable Package. Remember that the path of the deployable package must be the same as the one in the Create Deployable Package task.
