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Azure DevOps Extension

Azure DevOps extension

ALbuild for Azure DevOps provides granular, composable pipeline tasks for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central AL development. Every task is a thin wrapper that imports the businessdev.ALbuild module and calls a single cmdlet, so the same behaviour runs locally and in CI, with no dependency on BcContainerHelper.

• Marketplace name: ALbuild for Azure DevOps
• Publisher: 365businessdevelopment
• Tasks: build, release and frozen V1-legacy tasks — see the reference pages below for the complete, always-current list
• Free trial: 30 days for the licensed deployment tasks

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Install

1. Open the Azure DevOps Marketplace and search for ALbuild for Azure DevOps.
2. Select the extension and choose Get it free to install it into your organization.
3. Add the tasks to your build and release pipelines.

The free-of-license tasks work immediately, no license key required. To use the licensed deployment tasks, acquire a license for your Azure DevOps organization at 365businessdev.com. Licensing is verified automatically per organization, and a free trial is available.

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Design

• Granular tasks. The monolithic "Create Build Container" of the previous generation is split into small, reusable steps you arrange freely: Get BC Artifact → Create BC Container → Resolve Dependencies → Compile → Sign → Publish → Run Tests → Remove BC Container.
• No BcContainerHelper. The extension depends only on the businessdev.ALbuild module.
• Each task = task.json (inputs/outputs) + task.ps1 → imports the pinned module → maps inputs → calls one cmdlet → reports results.

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Task categories

Each reference page is generated from the shipped task.json files, so it lists every task and every input as actually released.

The license check runs only on entry to a licensed task. Free-of-license tasks never perform a license check.

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Example pipeline

A minimal build pipeline that resolves the BC artifact, creates a container, restores dependencies, compiles, signs, installs, runs the tests, and removes the container:

Code
trigger:
  - main
  - master

pool:
  name: Self Hosted

steps:
  - checkout: self
    persistCredentials: true

  - task: GetBcArtifact@0
    displayName: 'Get BC Artifact'
    inputs:
      type: 'Sandbox'
      country: 'w1'
      select: 'Latest'

  - task: StampBuildVersion@0
    displayName: 'Set Version Number'
    inputs:
      schema: 'major.minor.increment.0'
      onlyUpdateOnChangedSource: true
    env:
      AZURE_DEVOPS_EXT_PAT: $(System.AccessToken)

  - task: CreateBcContainer@0
    displayName: 'Create BC Container'
    inputs:
      artifactUrl: '$(bcArtifactUrl)'

  - task: ResolveDependencies@0
    displayName: 'Resolve Dependencies'
    inputs:
      feedToken: '$(System.AccessToken)'
      targetVersion: '$(bcArtifactVersion)'

  - task: CompileApp@0
    displayName: 'Compile'
    inputs:
      artifactUrl: '$(bcArtifactUrl)'

  - task: CreateNuGetPackage@0
    displayName: 'Create NuGet Package'
    inputs:
      path: '$(bcAppFile)'

  - task: SignBcApp@0
    displayName: 'Sign'
    inputs:
      path: '$(bcAppFile)'
      certificateName: '$(SigningCertName)'
    env:
      # Secret pipeline variables do not reach task inputs - map them via env (SignBcApp reads ALBUILD_SIGN_*):
      ALBUILD_SIGN_KEYVAULTURL: $(SigningAzureKeyVaultUrl)
      ALBUILD_SIGN_TENANTID: $(SigningAzureKeyVaultTenantId)
      ALBUILD_SIGN_CLIENTID: $(SigningAzureKeyVaultClientId)
      ALBUILD_SIGN_CLIENTSECRET: $(SigningAzureKeyVaultClientSecret)
      ALBUILD_SIGN_CERTNAME: $(SigningCertName)

  - task: PublishApp@0
    displayName: 'Publish & Install'
    inputs:
      containerName: '$(containerName)'
      appFile: '$(bcAppFile)'
      syncMode: 'Add'
      install: true

  - task: RunBcTests@0
    displayName: 'Run Tests'
    inputs:
      containerName: '$(containerName)'
      failOnTestFailure: true

  - task: PublishTestResults@2
    displayName: 'Publish Test Results'
    inputs:
      testResultsFormat: XUnit
      testResultsFiles: '$(bcTestResults)'
      failTaskOnFailedTests: true

  - task: RemoveBcContainer@0
    displayName: 'Remove BC Container'
    inputs:
      containerName: '$(containerName)'
    condition: always()

Ready-to-use templates ship in the templates/ folder, and you can run any of these tasks locally with the local pipeline runner.

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Migrating from ALbuild V1

To keep existing pipelines running, the extension also ships the ALbuild V1 tasks (CreateBuildContainer, Compile, Install, AppVersioning, SignApp, ReleaseAppSource, …). They keep their original name, version and inputs, reproduce the V1 behaviour on top of the module, and emit a deprecation warning while still succeeding. They are frozen: migrate at your own pace. See Migrating from V1.