Category: Visual Studio Tools

Setting up the Razor Generator for Visual Studio Application

~ Nikhil Kulkarni ~ 1 Comment

Hi Champs,

Today I am going to explain how we can setup the Razor Generator to you Sitecore Visual Studio Project for Pre-Compiled MVC views. Below are the steps to configure this.

  1. Open your MVC solution in Visual Studio.
  2. Install the Razor Generator tool.
  3. Open Properties of your view (.cshtml file).
  4. Set the Custom Tool field value to RazorGenerator and press Enter. In this case, a .cs file with the source code should be created for a view.rezor
  5. Build your project and copy the assembly with precompiled views into the \bin folder of your Sitecore XP solution.

Happy Learning

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Configuring Azure DevOp’s Build Pipeline for TDS

~ Nikhil Kulkarni ~ 3 Comments

Hi Champs,

In part one, we set up our TDS project to create a Web Deploy package and published the package to an Azure App Service manually. Now that we know we can deploy our Web Deploy package from our local environment, let’s continue by setting up an automated build in Azure DevOps. In this part, we’ll configure only the steps in the Build Pipeline, and publish the build drop (a Web Deploy package and a PowerShell script) to the Release pipeline. Note that this is a simplified scenario to be used as a starting point. Your build/deployment process might be more complex and can include different steps than this one. 

Configure the Build Pipeline

For the build pipeline, we will build the project in the “Release” configuration being it is the configuration we set up for Web Deploy packages. The first step while creating your new Build pipeline is to select your repository settings. In this example, we will use Git.

Window to Select Repository

We also need to add the TDS license; otherwise, our build will fail. This happens in the Variables tab of your Build pipelines. The following variables should be created with your license info in the values.

As a starting template for our Build pipeline, we can use the Azure Web App for ASP.NET template. We don’t need all of the predefined build steps in the template for this example, so we will remove some of them. This is done to simplify the example and focus on the build process.

Window to choose a template

Our build will contain the following tasks in the Build pipeline:

Window of Build Pipeline

Summary of the Tasks

This summary explains each task and the most important thing we should configure:

Use NuGet
This task specifies the NuGet version the build server will use. We can leave it with the default settings.

NuGet restore
This task restores the NuGet package and also doesn’t require any special settings to be configured. 

Build solution
We will set the Build solution task to build the Release configuration. The Platform and the Configuration parameters are configured from the build variables. The default values are “Release” and “Any CPU” so we can use them directly.
Window to set Build Solution

Copy Files to
The next step copies the build output to the Staging directory, so it’s ready for publishing. We only need the PowerShell Script and the Web Deploy package from our build drop, so we will only copy them. Side Note: the paths might be different for your build. 

Window to Copy Files

Publish Artifacts
The final step in the Build pipeline is to publish the build artifacts to the next phase: the Release pipeline.

Window to publish the build artifacts

Once we have everything configured, we can run a test build. If everything is configured properly, we will see the Web Deploy package and the PowerShell script available in the Artifacts explorer in Azure DevOps.

Window of Artifacts Explorer

Summary

As shown above, setting up a build in Visual Studio online to create a Web Deploy package is relatively simple. The only real customization of the build was a step to pick up the files from the build folder and add them to the Artifacts folder. In the next part of the series, we will show you how to configure a release pipeline to deploy the Web Deploy package to an instance of Sitecore running on an Azure App Service.

Missed the first part? Click here to read Part 1.

Ready to continue to the next step? Click here to move on to Part 3.

Happy Learning

Setting Up TDS to Build Azure Repo

~ Nikhil Kulkarni ~ 2 Comments

Hi Champs,

In next few blogs I going to explain you setting up TDS for entire Sitecore CI-CD process. Without any further delay we will start by below.

By using TDS 5.8 and Web Deploy packages, I’ll walk you through on how to create a fully automated build and deployment process from your workstation to source control and into your Azure environment.

The TDS Web Deploy packages were designed around quick and easy deployments to Azure, but they can be deployed to any Sitecore server that supports Web Deploy.

The difference in using .update packages and Web Deploy packages 

Workflow before TDS 5.8
Chart showing deployment before TDS 5.8

Workflow after TDS 5.8

Chart showing deployment process with TDS 5.8

Setting up the TDS project for Web Deploy

The Web Deploy Package tab has similar options to the Update package tab. You can enable building a Web Deploy package, what to include in the package, and the package name. In this example configuration, we’ll need a Web Deploy package, so we’ll check off “Build web deploy package.” The name can be left blank, and it will use the name of the project.

Window showing Web Deploy Package Tab

Since we are planning to build on the cloud based VSO build server, we need to add the TDS Build components NuGet package into the TDS project. To do this, you need to execute the following command in the Package Manager Console of Visual Studio. Side note: make sure you have selected the nuget.org repository while executing this command.

Install-Package HedgehogDevelopment.TDS -Version 5.8.0.6

Building the Web Deploy package

To create the Web Deploy package, simply build the project/solution with the configuration where Web Deploy packages are enabled. When the build is finished, you will find a folder called [Configuration]_WebDeploy with the Web Deploy package and the Web Deploy PowerShell script.

Image showing Publish Web Deploy and TDS Project files

Please note: the PowerShell script provided by TDS isn’t the only way to install the package. It is provided as a convenience for the developer to help them deploy the package if they don’t have another method of deploying it. It also contains script that can be used to monitor the deployment on the server.

Testing the Web Deploy package

Once you have the Web Deploy package and the PowerShell script, you only need to specify where it should be deployed. This can be easily set using a Publish Profile from Azure or by using parameters to the PublishWebDeploy.ps1 script. You can get a publish profile from the control menu of the App Service in Azure.

control menu of App Service in Azure

Now you can make a test deployment to the Sitecore instance using the script. I placed my Publish Profile file in the same directory where the Web Deploy package and the script were generated.

If you want to deploy the Web Deploy package into your Azure instance, all you need is to execute the script using the following parameters:

PublishWebDeploy.ps1 -PackagePath TDSProject1.wdp.zip -PublishSettingsPath tdstestinstance-630820-single.PublishSettings -ViewLogs

Summary

This completes the setup of the TDS project for building Web Deploy packages. Soon, I’ll walk you through on how to set up a TDS build in a Visual Studio Online Build Pipeline.

Ready to move on to the next step? Click here to read about configuring Azure DevOp’s Build Pipelines.
 
 
Happy Learning