I've been working on a C# application and wanted to try the GitLab CI out. All I can see is Ruby and can't find any information on how to build a C# application using it.
When I run the test settings, I make the commit, but I don't have my build.
How should I make a simple build? Which command could I use for that? I don't mind if I get a failed build (but a build).
I just wanted to share my .gitlab-ci.yml complete with unit testing. You will have to adjust your nuget and possibly other paths. This is for a single project in a solution of the same name.
variables:
PROJECT_NAME: "ProjectNameGoesHere"
before_script:
- echo "starting build for %PROJECT_NAME%"
- echo "Restoring NuGet Packages..."
- d:\tools\nuget restore "%PROJECT_NAME%.sln"
stages:
- build
- test
build:
stage: build
script:
- echo "Release build..."
- '"C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\msbuild.exe" /consoleloggerparameters:ErrorsOnly /maxcpucount /nologo /property:Configuration=Release /verbosity:quiet "%PROJECT_NAME%.sln"'
artifacts:
untracked: true
test:
stage: test
script:
- echo "starting tests"
- cd %PROJECT_NAME%Tests/bin/Release
- '"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\MSTest.exe" /testcontainer:%PROJECT_NAME%Tests.dll'
dependencies:
- build
In order to build a C# application you should have a Windows runner (with shell executor) configured for a project in GitLab CI.
Your .gitlab-ci.yml file should look something like that:
stages:
- build
job:
stage: build
script:
- echo "Restoring NuGet Packages..."
- '"c:\nuget\nuget.exe" restore "MySolution.sln"'
- ''
- echo "Release build..."
- C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\msbuild.exe /consoleloggerparameters:ErrorsOnly /maxcpucount /nologo /property:Configuration=Release /verbosity:quiet "MySolution.sln"
tags:
except:
- tags
On a Windows machine you need the following tools:
The other answers are good. But I'd like to explain how to install a runner in addition. I use my own local system (Windows), so I chose to run shell. But you could use a Docker image if you'd like.
cd C:\Multi-Runner
gitlab-ci-multi-runner register
Please enter the gitlab-ci coordinator URL (e.g. https://gitlab.com )
https://gitlab.com
Please enter the gitlab-ci token for this runner
xxx
Please enter the gitlab-ci description for this runner
my-runner
INFO[0034] fcf5c619 Registering runner... succeeded
Please enter the executor: shell, docker, docker-ssh, ssh?
shell
INFO[0037] Runner registered successfully. Feel free to start it, but if it's
running already the config should be automatically reloaded!
Source: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ci-multi-runner/blob/master/docs/install/windows.md
Afterwards, you can use a YAML file a like this:
stages:
- build
job:
stage: build
script: '"C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\msbuild.exe" "something.sln"'
Installing the build runner on a Windows machine helps a lot, and @prasanth-louis has a great example on how to do that.
As for the .gitlab-ci.yml file, you can simplify it even more by using Cake Build:
stages:
- build
build:
stage: build
script:
- .\build.ps1 -Target Build
tags:
- windows
And your build.cake file can look like this (based of the example repository):
#tool nuget:?package=NUnit.ConsoleRunner&version=3.4.0
var target = Argument("target", "Default");
var configuration = Argument("configuration", "Release");
var solution = "./example-project.sln";
var buildDir = Directory("./example-project/bin");
Task("Default")
.IsDependentOn("Unit-Tests")
.Does(() =>
{
Information("Running Default task!");
});
Task("Clean")
.Does(() =>
{
CleanDirectory(buildDir);
});
Task("PackageRestore")
.IsDependentOn("Clean")
.Does(() =>
{
Information("Restoring NuGet packages for {0}", solution);
NuGetRestore(solution);
});
Task("Build")
.IsDependentOn("PackageRestore")
.Does(() =>
{
Information("Restoring NuGet packages for {0}", solution);
MSBuild(solution, settings => settings.SetConfiguration(configuration));
});
Task("Unit-Tests")
.IsDependentOn("Build")
.Does(() =>
{
NUnit3("./example-project.Tests/**/bin/" + configuration + "/*.Tests.dll");
});
Task("Publish")
.Does(() =>
{
});
RunTarget(target);
Here my working .gitlab-ci.yml file for c# application with NUnit as unit test framework and mono as basic image.
Not very fancy but working:
image: mono:latest
stages:
- build
- test
variables:
solution: "Project.sln"
test: "Project.Test"
before_script:
- nuget restore
build:
stage: build
script:
- msbuild /p:Configuration=Release $solution
test:
stage: test
script:
- msbuild /p:Configuration=Release $solution
- mono ./packages/NUnit.ConsoleRunner.3.10.0/tools/nunit3-console.exe ./$test/bin/Release/$test.dll
The other answers, while informative, miss a few crucial bits of info:
Now Gitlab runs build jobs using runners (aka build agents), that in turn use executors to specifiy the environment in which the build process happens. Runners can run on the Gitlab infrastructure (Saas runners), or can be installed on premise. There are several types of executors: docker, shell, custom, ...
Most of the gitlab build scripts that can be found around the internet assume a saas runner with a docker executor running on linux, which is based on a specific docker image. This won't work if you want to build your app on windows. For this, either install your own executor, as several other answers instruct to do, or use a windows saas runner which, although in beta, works fine even for production (we have been doing this for months without trouble). While installing your own runner can be useful, e.g. for debugging purposes, I find this defeats the whole purpose of building your software on a hosted cicd platform (github actions, gitlab ci, ...). For debugging, I prefer to base my build script on shell commands which can be run on your local dev box, which minimizes trial and error and makes installing your own runner superfluous.
To get started with a windows runner, see this exemple script. One or two gotchas that I went through:
That being said, here is a trimmed example based on our build scripts:
variables:
MSBUILD_EXE: 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\MSBuild\Current\bin\msbuild.exe'
UPDATE_VERSION: '.\path\to\Update-Version.ps1'
APP_FOLDER: '.\path\to\Artifacts\_PublishedWebsites\MyApp\'
.windows_build_base:
tags:
- shared-windows
- windows
- windows-1809
before_script:
- Set-Variable -Name "time" -Value (date -Format "%H:%m")
- echo ${time}
- echo "started by ${GITLAB_USER_NAME}"
- echo ".NET versions already installed"
- Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*", "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*"
| Where {$_.DisplayName -like '*.NET*' -and $_.DisplayVersion -like '4.*'}
| Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion
- echo "Installing .NET 4.8 Developer Pack"
- choco install netfx-4.8-devpack -y
stages:
- build
- publish
build:
only:
- prod
- test
extends:
- .windows_build_base
stage: build
script:
- nuget restore
- '& "${UPDATE_VERSION}" -srcDir . | Set-Variable -Name VERSION' # capture output of UPDATE_PRODUCTINFO script in variable VERSION
- echo "VERSION=${VERSION}"
- Add-Content -Path app_version.env -Value "VERSION=${VERSION}" # store value of VERSION in dotenv file to be passed to dependent stages, as per this workaround https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/212629#note_430278657
- Get-Content app_version.env
- '& "${MSBUILD_EXE}" /t:solution_path\to\MyApp /p:Configuration=Release /clp:Summary /verbosity:Minimal /p:OutDir=.\Artifacts'
artifacts:
expire_in: 1 day
paths:
- '${APP_FOLDER}'
reports:
dotenv: app_version.env
publish:
only:
- prod
- test
image:
name: octopusdeploy/octo
entrypoint: [""]
stage: publish
dependencies:
- build
script:
- echo "VERSION=$VERSION"
- octo pack --id="MyApp" --format="zip" --version="$VERSION" --basePath="path/to/Artifacts/_PublishedWebsites/MyApp" --outFolder="/output/"
- octo push --overwrite-mode="OverwriteExisting" --server="https://mycompany.octopus.app" --space "MyOctoSpace" --package="/output/MyApp.$VERSION.zip"
This script:
