Tag Archives: TFS

Get-AXTFSCombinedXpo custom PowerShell Function

02 Wednesday Dec 2015

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The Get-AXTFSCombinedXpo custom PowerShell function is used for getting code out of TFS as an .xpo.  At my current job, we sometimes have to hotfix .xpos for builds.  I know that the trend is to move away from pushing .xpos but when it comes to hotfixes for builds, .xpos are significantly faster than creating another build and pushing a model.

We have a team dedicated to unit and regression testing and we regression test every model build before it is moved to production.  When we discover issues in the model build, we hotfix the build using .xpos so we can continue regression testing.

This PowerShell function uses both tf.exe and the TFS Power Tools to export the .xpo.  To use this function, you will need to run it on a server that has Visual Studio installed and connected/synched with TFS and have the TFS Power Tools installed.  Because of these requirements I run this from either my development server or from my development build server.

You will need to add some code to your profile as we’ve done for other functions.

ProfileAdd

The tf.exe reference should already exist in your profile for the TFS sync used by the build function.  The Microsoft.TeamFoundation.PowerShell reference is for the TFS Power Tools.

The Get-AXTFSCombinedXpo custom PowerShell function takes between 1-7 parameters:

  • Version (The TFS version to retrieve)
  • DateFrom (Used to set a start datetime to look up a range)
  • DateTo (Used to set an end datetime to look up a range)
  • OutputFile (The exported .xpo file)
  • TFSCollectionUrl (The URL used to connect to TFS)
  • TFSLocation (The location in TFS to get the files from)
  • VariablePath (Path to a file used to default the parameters/variables)

This function can be found in Codeplex.  The steps of this function are:

  • Load the variables if a VariablePath parameter is used
  • Get the TFS connection object
  • Create a temporary folder to hold the uncombined .xpos
  • Determine how to get the .xpos out of TFS based on the datetime parameters and the version
  • Loop through the files and save them as .xpos in the temporary folder location
  • Create the output file directory
  • Use CombineXPOs.exe to create the combined .xpo
  • Clean up the temporary folder and files

This function can be used to grab a single changeset, a range of changesets, a label version, or even the entire codebase.  I primarily use it to get a single changeset or a range of changesets.  Synching the TFS working folder is significantly faster than trying to grab a label version or the entire codebase with this function so I wouldn’t recommend using it for those purposes but it is able to if you want it to.

To get a range of changesets, use the date field information (datetime) of the TFS history to set the DateFrom and DateTo parameters.  Then use the latest changeset value in that range to set the Version parameter.  You can pass the DateFrom and DateTo as strings and the parameters will convert them to datetimes.  I have only tested the formatting of this using the en-us datetime format (M/d/yyyy h:mm:ss tt) so it is possible that you may run into issues if you are using another datetime format.  Please let me know if you experience any problems.

I am using this function with Visual Studio 2012, TFS 2012 and AX 2012 R2 CU7.  It has not been tested with other versions but may work with them anyway.

I am releasing this function as part of the D2DDynamics module (1.0.4) and as a standalone function at the current time.  I am determining whether or not I will remove the standalone functions that also exist in the module from Codeplex in the near future and will notify you through my blog if I do.

 

D2DDynamics custom PowerShell module

31 Monday Aug 2015

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The D2DDynamics custom PowerShell module is finally available in Codeplex.  The 1.0.0 version includes 15 exportable PowerShell functions and 3 internal helper functions.  They are:

The 3 internal functions are:

This module is dependent on the 0.3.5 release of the DynamicsAXCommunity PowerShell module among others.  There are also some variables that should be set up in your profile if you are planning on using the functions.  The profile that I use can be found in Codeplex at Source Code -> Powershell -> Profile -> Modules -> Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1.  Please use this as a reference for setting up your own profile.

To install the module, copy the D2DDynamics folder to the module folder for PowerShell.  On my Server 2012 server, the location is “C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules”.  After the module is there, you should be able to open PowerShell and add it with the Import-Module cmdlet.

Future posts will include the steps necessary to create a custom build process using the module as well as more functions that can be used for deploying your build to other environments.  Please let me know what you think of the module and if you find any problems with using the functions in your environments.

Combine-AXXPO custom PowerShell function

02 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by in Powershell

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The Combine-AXXPO custom PowerShell function will create a single .xpo file from a directory containing .xpo files.  It is used in my build process to take the .xpos that are in TFS and combine them into a single file for import by model.

This is a fairly simple function that calls the Combine XPO tool.  As of AX 2012 R2, this tool is available in the Microsoft Dynamics AX\60\Management Utilities folder.  If you have been following my earlier posts, the path for the location is included in your profile already with .”C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics AX\60\ManagementUtilities\Microsoft.Dynamics.ManagementUtilities.ps1″.  If you are using a version of AX earlier than 2012 R2, you will either have to add the tool here or include the location where it is in your profile.

This parameter takes between 2-11 parameters:

  • XpoDir (The directory holding the .xpos to be combined)
  • CombinedXpoFile (The output .xpo file)
  • SpecifiedXpoFile (A file that specifies which .xpos to combine)
  • NoDel (Allows DEL_ fields to be included for objects specified in the file)
  • utf8 (Sets the encoding of the output file to utf-8)
  • Threads (Specifies the number of threads to use for processing)
  • ExclusionsFile (A file that specifies which .xpos not to combine)
  • ViewsOnlyOnce (A parameter that can increase performance at the cost of reference errors)
  • SMTPServer (SMTP server to use to send the email)
  • MailMsg (Net.Mail.MailMessage object used to send the email)
  • VariablePath (Path to a file used to default the parameters/variables)

This function can be found in Codeplex.  The steps of this function are:

  • Load the variables if a VariablePath parameter is used
  • Generate the CombineXPOs.exe call based on the parameters passed
  • Run CombineXPOs.exe
  • Send the success/fail message

Sync-AXTFSWorkingFolder custom PowerShell function

04 Thursday Jun 2015

Posted by in Powershell

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I apologize for missing a post last week.  The combination of a new home and a very busy work week, destroyed any possibility of getting a post out.  The Sync-AXTFSWorkingFolder function is one of 2 Team Foundation Server functions that I have for getting AX code.  This one is a lot less versatile than my other one but it is much more practical for a build process because it is light years faster.  We will explore my other function in a later post.

This function requires a little setup in your PowerShell profile.  The function needs to know the location of TF.exe and I handle this by adding it to the $env:path variable in my PowerShell profile.  There are many ways to solve this problem, this is just the one I’ve chosen.  TF.exe is available when you install Team Explorer for Visual Studio.  You should match your version of Team Explorer to the version of TFS that you are using.

The Sync-AXTFSWorkingFolder function takes between 1 and 6 parameters:

  • WorkingFolder (The working folder to sync from TFS)
  • Label (This value is used if you want to sync a label version instead of the current version)
  • SetLabel (Switch parameter that will allow you to label the current version if a unique Label parameter is passed with it)
  • LabelScope (Allows you to restrict the scope of the label in case there are multiple locations with the same label)
  • Comment (Allows you to set a comment on the label)
  • VariablePath (Path to a file used to default the parameters/variables)

This function can be found in Codeplex.  The steps of this function are:

  • Load the variables if a VariablePath parameter is used
  • Determine if a label was passed in
  • If so, set up the version and Label/LabelScope
  • Determine if the label exists in TFS
  • If so, sync the working folder with the label version
  • If not, get the current version and determine if the label needs to be set in TFS and set it
  • If no label is passed, sync the working folder with the current version
  • Send the success/fail message

This function assumes certain things.  It assumes that Visual Studio is installed with Team Explorer on the local computer.  It assumes that the user running the function has the working folder set up on the computer that the function is being run on.  It assumes that the user has permissions to read and set labels in TFS.  Lastly, it assumes that the path to TF.exe is known.  I also only run this function on my DevBuild server.  While this server has Team Explorer installed and configured with a working folder, my DevBuild AX environment is not connected to TFS.  Because of how AX natively works with TFS, I would not recommend running this function on a working folder that is used by AX as it could cause your AX instance to become out of sync with TFS.