Sharpliner 1.2.3

Sharpliner is a .NET library that lets you use C# for Azure DevOps pipeline definition. Exchange YAML indentation problems for the type-safe environment of C# and let the intellisense speed up your work!

Table of contents

• Getting started
• Example
• Sharpliner features
  • Intellisense
  • Useful macros
  • Sourcing scripts from files
  • Pipeline validation
• Something missing?
• Project status
  • Azure DevOps
  • GitHub Actions

Getting started

All you have to do is reference our NuGet package in your project, override a class with your definition and dotnet build the project! Dead simple!

For more detailed steps, check our documentation.

Example

// Just override prepared abstract classes and `dotnet build` the project, nothing else is needed!
// You can also generate collections of definitions dynamically
//    see https://github.com/sharpliner/sharpliner/blob/main/docs/AzureDevOps/DefinitionCollections.md
// For a full list of classes you can override
//    see https://github.com/sharpliner/sharpliner/blob/main/src/Sharpliner/AzureDevOps/PublicDefinitions.cs
class PullRequestPipeline : SingleStagePipelineDefinition
{
    // Say where to publish the YAML to
    public override string TargetFile => "azure-pipelines.yml";
    public override TargetPathType TargetPathType => TargetPathType.RelativeToGitRoot;

    public override SingleStagePipeline Pipeline => new()
    {
        Pr = new PrTrigger("main"),

        Variables =
        {
            // YAML ${{ if }} conditions are available with handy macros that expand into the
            // expressions such as comparing branch names. We even have "else" :)
            If.IsBranch("net-6.0")
                .Variable("DotnetVersion", "6.0.100")
                .Group("net6-kv")
            .Else
                .Variable("DotnetVersion", "5.0.202"),
        },

        Jobs =
        {
            new Job("Build")
            {
                Pool = new HostedPool("Azure Pipelines", "windows-latest"),
                Steps =
                {
                    // Many tasks have helper methods for shorter notation
                    DotNet.Install.Sdk("$(DotnetVersion)").DisplayAs("Install .NET SDK"),

                    // You can also specify any pipeline task in full
                    Task("DotNetCoreCLI@2", "Build and test") with
                    {
                        Inputs = new()
                        {
                            { "command", "test" },
                            { "projects", "src/MyProject.sln" },
                        }
                    },

                    // If statements supported (almost) everywhere
                    If.IsPullRequest
                        // You can load script contents from a .ps1 file and inline them into YAML
                        // This way you can write scripts with syntax highlighting separately
                        .Step(Powershell.FromResourceFile("New-Report.ps1", "Create build report")),
                }
            }
        },
    };
}

Sharpliner features

Apart from the obvious benefits of using static type language with IDE support, not having to have to deal with indentation problems ever again, being able to split the code easily or the ability to generate YAML programatically, there are several other benefits of using Sharpliner.

Intellisense

One of the best things when using Sharpliner is that you won't have to go the YAML reference every time you're adding a new piece of your pipeline. Having everything strongly typed will make your IDE give you hints all the way!

Imagine you want to install the .NET SDK. For that, Azure Pipelines have the DotNetCoreCLI@2 task. However, this task's specification is quite long since the task does many things:

# .NET Core
# Build, test, package, or publish a dotnet application, or run a custom dotnet command
# https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/tasks/build/dotnet-core-cli?view=azure-devops
- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  inputs:
    command: 'build' # Options: build, push, pack, publish, restore, run, test, custom
    publishWebProjects: true # Required when command == Publish
    projects: # Optional
    custom: # Required when command == Custom
    arguments: # Optional
    publishTestResults: true # Optional
    testRunTitle: # Optional
    zipAfterPublish: true # Optional
    modifyOutputPath: true # Optional
    feedsToUse: 'select' # Options: select, config
    vstsFeed: # Required when feedsToUse == Select
    feedRestore: # Required when command == restore. projectName/feedName for project-scoped feed. FeedName only for organization-scoped feed.
    includeNuGetOrg: true # Required when feedsToUse == Select
    nugetConfigPath: # Required when feedsToUse == Config
    externalFeedCredentials: # Optional
    noCache: false
    restoreDirectory:
    restoreArguments: # Optional
    verbosityRestore: 'Detailed' # Options: -, quiet, minimal, normal, detailed, diagnostic
    packagesToPush: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/*.nupkg' # Required when command == Push
    nuGetFeedType: 'internal' # Required when command == Push# Options: internal, external
    publishVstsFeed: # Required when command == Push && NuGetFeedType == Internal
    publishPackageMetadata: true # Optional
    publishFeedCredentials: # Required when command == Push && NuGetFeedType == External
    packagesToPack: '**/*.csproj' # Required when command == Pack
    packDirectory: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)' # Optional
    nobuild: false # Optional
    includesymbols: false # Optional
    includesource: false # Optional
    versioningScheme: 'off' # Options: off, byPrereleaseNumber, byEnvVar, byBuildNumber
    versionEnvVar: # Required when versioningScheme == byEnvVar
    majorVersion: '1' # Required when versioningScheme == ByPrereleaseNumber
    minorVersion: '0' # Required when versioningScheme == ByPrereleaseNumber
    patchVersion: '0' # Required when versioningScheme == ByPrereleaseNumber
    buildProperties: # Optional
    verbosityPack: 'Detailed' # Options: -, quiet, minimal, normal, detailed, diagnostic
    workingDirectory:

Notice how some of the properties are only valid in a specific combination with other. With Sharpliner, we remove some of this complexity using nice fluent APIs:

DotNet.Install.Sdk(parameters["version"]),

DotNet.Restore.FromFeed("dotnet-7-preview-feed", includeNuGetOrg: false) with
{
    ExternalFeedCredentials = "feeds/dotnet-7",
    NoCache = true,
    RestoreDirectory = ".packages",
},

DotNet.Build("src/MyProject.csproj") with
{
    Timeout = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(20)
},

Useful macros

Some very common pipeline patterns such as comparing the current branch name or detecting pull requests are very cumbersome to do in YAML (long conditions full of complicated ${{ if }} syntax). For many of these, we have handy macros so that you get more readable and shorter code.

For example this YAML

${{ if eq(variables['Build.SourceBranch'], 'refs/heads/production') }}:
    name: rg-suffix
    value: -pr
${{ if ne(variables['Build.SourceBranch'], 'refs/heads/production') }}:
    name: rg-suffix
    value: -prod

can become this C#

If.IsBranch("production")
    .Variable("rg-suffix", "-pr")
.Else
    .Variable("rg-suffix", "-prod")

Re-usable pipeline blocks

Sharpliner lets you re-use code more easily than YAML templates do. Apart from obvious C# code re-use, you can also define sets of C# building blocks and re-use them in your pipelines:

class ProjectBuildSteps : StepLibrary
{
    public override List<Conditioned<Step>> Steps => new()
    {
        DotNet.Install.Sdk("6.0.100"),

        If.IsBranch("main")
            .Step(DotNet.Restore.Projects("src/MyProject.sln")),

        DotNet.Build("src/MyProject.sln"),
    };
}

You can then reference this library in between build steps and it will get expanded into the pipeline's YAML:

...
    new Job("Build")
    {
        Steps =
        {
            Script.Inline("echo 'Hello World'"),

            StepLibrary<ProjectBuildSteps>(),

            Script.Inline("echo 'Goodbye World'"),
        }
    }
...

More about this feature can be found here (DefinitionLibraries.md).

Sourcing scripts from files

When you need to add cmd, PowerShell or bash steps into your pipeline, mainatining these bits inside YAML can be error prone. With Sharpliner you can keep scripts in their own files (.ps1, .sh..) where you get the natural environment you're used to such as syntax highlighting. Sharpliner gives you APIs to load these on build time and include them inline:

Steps =
{
    Bash.FromResourceFile("embedded-script.sh") with
    {
        DisplayName = "Run post-build clean-up",
        Timeout = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5),
    }
}

Pipeline validation

Your pipeline definition can be validated during publishing and you can uncover issues, such as typos inside dependsOn, you would only find by trying to run the pipeline in CI. This gives you a faster dev loop and greater productivity.

Something missing?

If you find a missing feature / API / property / use case, file an issue in project's repository. We try to be very responsive and for small asks can deliver you a new version very fast.

If you want to start contributing, either you already know about something missing or you can choose from some of the open issues. We will help you review your first change so that you can continue with something advanced!

Another way to start is to try out Sharpliner to define your own, already existing pipeline. This way you can uncover missing features or you can introduce shortcuts for definitions of build tasks or similar that you use frequently. Contributions like these are also very welcome! In these cases, it is worth starting with describing your intent in an issue first.

Project status

Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps pipelines are production ready and have been tested on several pipelines in the wild already. The Sharpliner project itself is self-hosted and is using Sharpliner for its PR and publish pipelines. You can take inspiration there, however it's a bit more complex than needed since we also test some of the features there.

Status:

• All of the known models from the official documentation have now appropriate C# counterparts.
• The ${{ if }} statements are working and they can be put (and nested) almost everywhere. There are places where if statemets didn't make sense but in case you need to "if" some property or value, let us know by opening an issue, it should be easy to add.
• Defining and using templates works!
• It can happen that we have some of the default values or property names wrong - please let us know (by creating an issue for example)!

GitHub Actions

Currently the development is stalled and very behind compared to Azure DevOps:

• Model is not complete
• Actions cannot be currently defined as a whole
• Documentation is missing

Contributors have already written a large portion of the model but there is still considerable amount of work needed to make GitHub actions work. We welcome all contributors, no contribution is small enough!