Compiling on Hosted build controller on Visual Studio Online

Hello,

I am attempting to get FTN95 compiling our source code on a hosted build controller on Visual Studio Online. Because the project is compiled using a non-standard toolchain, MSBuild cannot be used, so I have to modify the build process definition to call devenv instead.

This website contains useful information on the process: http://donovanbrown.com/post/I-need-to-build-a-project-that-is-not-supported-by-MSBuild.aspx

The issue I have is that I cannot install Silverfrost FTN95 7.1 on the build server because it is not under our control. What would be the alternative solution? Can I check in the FTN95 compiler into source control and set the system up to build using that? If this is the best way, how would I configure the system to use it? Is there a better way?

Thank you,

Sterren

That sounds quite tricky. It seems a bit odd you have to compile on a machine you cannot install FTN95 onto.

If your application is just Win32 (i.e. no .net) then you can probably just use a copy of the FTN95 directory and compile against that. In this situation you could just add the compile to source control and use it. You cannot use the Visual Studio plug-in if you cannot install it. FTN95 itself if built with batch files - maybe using the invoke method in the article will allow that.

Why do you have such a restrictive system?

Hi Robert,

The reason we cannot install software on the build server is because it is cloud hosted by Microsoft through the Visual Studio Online system - see http://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/get-started/hosted-build-controller-vs.aspx

That page is a little confusing because the first Q in the Q&A states that I cannot use the hosted build controller if my software depends on other software being installed on the build server. However, under the heading 'Add assemblies for custom activities and other unit test frameworks' they describe the process of adding binaries that the build depends on, so the first statement appears untrue.

If you have no particular suggestions or experience with this matter, I will fall back to setting up our own build server with local build controller / agents. In this case I can install FTN95 on the server directly.

Oh, and unfortunately we do need .NET support.

For .NET support you might be able to get away with adding the contents of /redist into your applications directory.

Thank you Robert. I managed to get our Visual Studio FTN95 projects building on our internal build server. For anyone else attempting to do this, be aware that MSBuild does not support building custom projects such as .ftn95p projects. You will need to invoke Visual Studio on the build server instead. Instructions are provided in the link below; http://donovanbrown.com/post/I-need-to-build-a-project-that-is-not-supported-by-MSBuild.aspx

Remember to add the individual .ftn95p projects to the build configuration, not the solution. Once configured, it works great.

Thanks, Sterren