azure-pipelines-task.md

Azure Pipelines Task

The task can be added to a pipeline as detailed here.

The Azure Pipelines task can run against Azure or GitHub repositories.

For Azure repositories, the task will require access to the PR resources. The recommended solution is to use workload identity federation as this is more maintainable and secure. Instructions for setting up workload identity federation can be found here.

Alternatively, you can use Personal Access Tokens (PATs). For this, you can try remapping System.AccessToken to PR_Metrics_Access_Token using

env:
  PR_METRICS_ACCESS_TOKEN: $(System.AccessToken)

However, the scope of System.AccessToken may be limited by your system administrator. In this case, you will need to create a new Personal Access Token (PAT) with scopes 'Code' > 'Read & write' and 'Pull Request Threads' > 'Read & write', which you can then map to PR_Metrics_Access_Token.

For GitHub repositories, you will need to create a PAT according to the instructions here with at least Read and Write access to pull requests. If you are using a Classic PAT, it will need at least the 'repos' scope. The resulting PAT should then be added to your repository as a secret with the name PR_Metrics_Access_Token according to the instructions here and mapped to PR_Metrics_Access_Token within the task definition. Alternatively, you can use the in-built GITHUB_TOKEN.

It is recommended to run the task as one of the first operations in your build, after code check out is complete. Running the task early in the build process allows for the title to be updated quickly, avoiding the need for engineers to wait a long time for the title update.

YAML

The default input values are expected to be appropriate for most builds. Therefore, the following YAML definition is recommended:

steps:
- task: ms-omex.prmetrics.prmetrics.PRMetrics@1
  displayName: PR Metrics
  env:
    PR_METRICS_ACCESS_TOKEN: $(PR_Metrics_Access_Token)
  continueOnError: true

If you wish to modify the inputs, YAML akin the to the following can be used:

steps:
- task: ms-omex.prmetrics.prmetrics.PRMetrics@1
  displayName: PR Metrics
  env:
    PR_METRICS_ACCESS_TOKEN: $(PR_Metrics_Access_Token)
  inputs:
    BaseSize: 200
    GrowthRate: 2.0
    TestFactor: 1.0
    AlwaysCloseComment: true
    FileMatchingPatterns: |
      **/*
      !Ignore.cs
    CodeFileExtensions: |
      cs
      ps1
  continueOnError: true

Classic Pipelines

For classic pipelines, you need to specify the secret as an environment variable.

First, create a new environment variable in the pipeline definition under the variables tab with the name PR_Metrics_Access_Token and the value of the PAT as outlined above. Mark the variable as a secret to ensure it is not exposed in the logs.

Then, add the task to the pipeline and expose the secret as an environment variable. To do this, expand the "Environment Variables" section and press "+" to add a new variable. In the first text box, add PR_METRICS_ACCESS_TOKEN and in the second, add $(PR_Metrics_Access_Token).

You can use a name other than PR_Metrics_Access_Token if you wish, but you will need to keep the name unified across the variable and task definitions. The name PR_METRICS_ACCESS_TOKEN cannot be altered.

Git History

If your repository contains any non-linear history, it will be necessary to fetch Git history during checkout. This can be done by updating the checkout step:

- checkout: self
  fetchDepth: 0

Alternatively, if using classic pipelines, you can disable 'Shallow fetch' under the build process phase settings.

In many cases, fetchDepth will not be required so it is recommended not to set this unless the task explicitly requests it. It may also be possible to set this to a value greater than 0 if you only require a partial history, but it can be difficult to determine a value that will work consistently, due to the nature of Git history.

To avoid this, it is recommended to only use commit types that squash the Git history such as "squash merge" or "rebase and fast-forward".

Always Close Comment

By default, the comment is left open if it requires further attention, such as when a smaller PR or increased test coverage is suggested. If the AlwaysCloseComment option is set to true, the comment will be closed, to prevent it blocking automatic closure of the PR.