Caring & Sharing

A Complete Guide to Azure DevOps Pipelines with YAML Templates

Luc Cao's photo
Luc Cao
·

3 min read

YAML Basics: Syntax and Structure

YAML is structured around key-value pairs, lists, and nested structures, allowing you to define complex configurations in a clear and concise manner.

  • Key-Value Pairs

      key: value

  • Lists

      - item1 
  - item2
  - item3

  • Nested Structures

      parent: 
      child1: value1 
      child2: value2

  • Comments
    # This is a comment key: value

YAML Structure in Azure DevOps Pipeline

Azure DevOps pipelines use YAML to define the configuration for your CI/CD workflows. The structure of a YAML pipeline typically consists of the following sections.

  • Trigger
    The trigger section defines the events or conditions that will trigger the execution of your pipeline. Triggers can be based on specific branches, tags, or even schedules.

      trigger:
    branches:
      include:
        - main
        - feature/*

  • Stages

    Stages represent the major phases of your CI/CD process. Each stage can contain one or more jobs. Stages are executed sequentially, allowing you to define a logical progression of tasks.

stages:
  - stage: Build
    jobs:
      - job: BuildJob
        # Job configuration goes here

  - stage: Test
    jobs:
      - job: TestJob
        # Job configuration goes here

  • Jobs

    Jobs represent the individual units of work within a stage. Each job can consist of one or more steps, defining the tasks to be executed. Jobs can run in parallel or sequentially, depending on your requirements.

jobs:
  - job: BuildJob
    steps:
      - script: echo "Building..."
        # Step configuration goes here

  - job: TestJob
    steps:
      - script: echo "Running tests..."
        # Step configuration goes here

  • Steps

    Steps define the tasks that need to be executed within a job. Each step represents a specific action or command. Steps can include scripts, commands, or calls to predefined tasks or extensions

      steps:
    - script: echo "Step 1"
      displayName: 'Run Script 1'

    - task: PublishPipelineArtifact@1
      inputs:
        targetPath: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)'
        artifact: 'my-artifact'

Configuring the YAML Templates

YAML templates provide a convenient way to define and reuse pipeline configurations.

Next, let's configure the YAML templates for the build and test stages. Create two YAML template files named build.yml and test.yml in the templates/ directory and populate them with the following contents:

build.yml

jobs:
  - job: BuildJob
    pool:
      vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'
    steps:
      - script: |
          echo 'Building...'
          # Add build commands here

test.yml

jobs:
  - job: TestJob
    pool:
      vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'
    steps:
      - script: |
          echo 'Running tests...'
          # Add test commands here

Create azure-pipelines.yml

trigger:
  branches:
    include:
      - main

stages:
  - template: templates/build.yml
  - template: templates/test.yml

Configuring Triggers and Conditions

Triggers and conditions allow you to control when your pipeline should run.

Branch Triggers

Branch triggers enable you to specify which branches in your repository should trigger the pipeline. By defining branch filters, you can configure the pipeline to run whenever changes are pushed to specific branches. Here's an example of a branch trigger configuration:

trigger:
  branches:
    include:
      - main
      - feature/*

Scheduled Triggers

Scheduled triggers enable you to schedule pipeline runs at specific times or intervals. This is useful for running periodic tasks, such as nightly builds or scheduled deployments. Here's an example of a scheduled trigger configuration:

trigger:
  schedules:
    - cron: "0 0 * * *"

Using Conditions in Azure DevOps Pipelines

Conditions allow you to control when a specific job or step should execute within a pipeline. Conditions are evaluated based on expressions that can include variables, comparison operators, and logical operators.

Job Conditions:

jobs:
  - job: BuildJob
    condition: eq(variables['BuildType'], 'Release')
    steps:
      - script: echo "Building..."

Step Conditions

jobs:
  - job: BuildJob
    steps:
      - script: echo "Building..."
        condition: succeeded()
azure-devops