Copy variables from one Octopus Deploy process to another

Cloning Octopus Deploy steps from one process to another does not copy any variables between the two, for understandable reasons, and there is no inbuilt method for cloning variables.

This powershell script:

• gets the project variables from an Octopus Deploy process
• presents the variables in a Powershell gridview
• adds the variables selected in the gridview to the target Octopus Deploy process - there is no logic checking if the variables already exist

$sourceProjectName="API.SourceProject"

$targetProjectName="API.TargetProject"

# OD API KEY

$ODAPIKey = "API-PUT-YOUR-KEY-HERE"

$ODUrl = "http://od.somecompany.org"

$credential = "?apikey=$ODAPIKey"

# for all projects

$ODProjectQuery = "$ODUrl/api/projects/all$credential"

$headers = @{

 "X-Octopus-ApiKey"="$ODAPIKey"

 "accept"="application/json"

}

function putData ($link, $body)

{

    $QueryString = "{0}{1}" -f $ODUrl, $link

    #UTF-8 conversion is required to handle international letters like ö å ñ

    $body_utf8=([System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetBytes($($body | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 15)))

    $requestResponse=Invoke-WebRequest -uri $QueryString -Method Put -Body $body_utf8 -ContentType "application/json" -Headers $headers

    Write-Host "Update Status: $($requestResponse.StatusCode) $($requestResponse.StatusDescription)"

}

function getData ($link)

{

    # Create querystring from partial link

    $QueryString = "{0}{1}{2}" -f $ODUrl, $link, $credential

    Invoke-RestMethod -uri $QueryString -Method Get

}

try {

    #Get a list of all projects

    $projects = Invoke-RestMethod -uri $ODProjectQuery -Method get

       

    # Select Source Project

    $sourceProject=$projects | Where-Object { $_.Name -eq $sourceProjectName}

    # Get variables

    $sourceVars=getData $sourceProject.Links.Variables

    # Display variables in gridview and save selected variables

    $importVars = $sourceVars.Variables | Select-Object -Property * -ExcludeProperty Id | Out-GridView -PassThru -Title "Select variables to copy to target project"

    # write out selected variables to output

    $importVars | ConvertTo-Json    

    # Get Target project

    $targetProject=$projects | Where-Object { $_.Name -eq $targetProjectName}

   

    # get target variables

    $targetVariables = getData $targetProject.Links.Variables

    Write-Host "Target variable version pre-update: $($targetVariables.Version)"

    # Add selected variables to target variables

    $targetVariables.Variables += $importVars

    # Send updated variable list back to target OD process

    putData $targetProject.Links.Variables $targetVariables

}

catch

{

    Write-Host $_.Exception.Message

    Write-Host $_.Exception.Response.StatusDescription

    Write-Host $_.ErrorDetails

}

Using Azure Devops Invoke REST API task in yaml

 Documentation on using the Invoke REST API Azure DevOps task is sparse so I am documenting my solution; hopefully I can spare someone some time and headaches.

First, to be clear, this task is categorized in the GUI as a gate so the Get use case is for true/falseness. This means it is not possible to access any part of the response outside of this step. Although it would be straight forward to script calling a rest method, it is appealing to have a simple step that handles all that and I just configure a condition. It is worth noting, if you don't need to parse the response then Invoke REST API post is a great way for fire and forget type messaging - like sending a teams notification.

In my scenario, I want to automate release branch creation and steps required around that in our corporate processes. Before creating the branch, I want to make sure that Master is not ahead of Develop. Ahead count is available in the Git Stats API. There is a sample response in the documentation that shows that aheadCount is a root property. 

These are the steps I followed

• Configure a generic service connection without user or password/token information.
• Create a yaml file with the stages and jobs needed. Note that this is a Server task.
• Under steps, add an Invoke REST API step, the gui gives some guidance here but remove the default headers and add an Authorization header containing "Bearer $(System.AccessToken)".
• Add the url, using system variables for simpler re-use.
• Set the success criteria to "eq(root['aheadCount'], 0)"
  
• Following jobs or tasks in the stage should have a dependsOn configured for this task or job.

The GUI interface looks like this

 

The yaml looks like this. I use a simple delay step just to test the gate quickly before adding the rest of the logic.

stages:

  - stage: Release_Branch

    displayName: Create release branch

    condition: always()

    jobs:

      - job: EntryGate

        displayName: Entry gate

        pool: Server

        steps:      

        - task: InvokeRESTAPI@1

          displayName: Check ahead count is 0

          inputs:

            connectionType: 'connectedServiceName'

            serviceConnection: 'AzureDevOpsRest'

            method: 'GET'

            headers: |

              {

              "Authorization": "Bearer $(system.AccessToken)"

              }

            urlSuffix: '/$(System.TeamProject)/_apis/git/repositories/$(Build.Repository.ID)/stats/branches?name=master&api-version=6.0'

            waitForCompletion: 'false'

            successCriteria: "eq(root['aheadCount'], 0)" 

      - job: one_min_delay

        pool: Server

        dependsOn: 

        - EntryGate

        steps:

        - task: Delay@1

          inputs:

            delayForMinutes: '1'