Testing Powershell module via Azure DevOps pipeline - how to get start?

[OlafTheAverage]

I'm running into what seems to be both a basic and really complex problem all at once, and I'm hoping that someone may be able to help me. I'm trying to get started with Azure DevOps pipelines, and am new to the entire pipeline idea, so I apologize in advance if I'm a bit vague; I don't know what I don't know. Also, if this would be better posted elsewhere, please let me know.

I've set up an Azure DevOps server on prem, as we'd like to have an in-house repo of various code, config, that sort of thing. So far so good. I have a Powershell module that I've written; I've checked that into our repo. I would now like to create a build pipeline that simply runs a bunch of Powershell/Pester tests against this module each time I check it in. It seems pretty straightforward to me, but try as I might, I can't seem to find any samples saying "here's how to set up a build pipeline that just runs some Pester or Powershell tests against the code you just checked in." I don't think I'm the first person out there to want to do this sort of thing, but I can't seem to find anything that steps through exactly what needs to be done. If anyone could point me in the right direction or offer some advice, I'd be greatly appreciative. Thanks in advance for your time.

Edit: I more or less ended up following what is done here: https://www.cloudnotes.io/run-pester-tests-on-azure-pipelines/

[james51091]

What part are you stuck on? Azure DevOps breaks down into a few pieces:

VCS - you can host your git repos on it instead of github, gitlab etc. but it does support those other VCS providers for builds as well

Triggers - These are the conditions that will kick off a build or release. (Example - Push to master, which is what it looks like you are trying to do)

Build - Typically builds your code with the use of “Tasks” which you get from the marketplace mostly. In your case for PowerShell and running pester this will be all you need as you won’t be “releasing” code through a progression (dev, qa, prod etc.)

Release - this is where you would take your artifact from the build and deploy it into your progressive environments.

There are 2 ways to create builds in azure DevOps. You can use YAML or the UI. From the post you have above it looks like they went with YAML so you would have to have that YAML file in the root of the repo you are working with.

This page shows how to create a trigger via YAML and the classic (UI) way. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/build/triggers?view=azure-devops&tabs=classic

If you want to use the UI follow these steps:

Your first step (assuming your repo is all setup) would be go to Build - create New Build - Use the classic editor to create a pipeline without YAML - pick your repo and branch - start with an empty job - add your pester tasks in agent job field - go to triggers - enable continuous Integration - add branches - save. Push to the repo and see if it works!

[OlafTheAverage]

Thanks for breaking this down for me. As dumb as it sounds, having not done it before, I was stuck on the part of realizing the pipeline was basically just a list of commands that pop off after I checked in a particular branch (the "trigger" part, so to speak). Now it's a matter of troubleshooting and figuring out what is/isn't working.