Automatically promote a nuget packge using a relese definition

Question

In onprem Azure DevOps (Version 17.143.28621.4) is there a way to automatically promote a nuget package from one view to another using a task in a release definition?

When we trigger a release for a build, the artefacts (i.e. nuget packages) go through two stages

1. PreRelease: The packages are pushed to the feed (ending up in the @Local view).
2. Release: The packages should be promoted from the @Local to the @Release view.

Unfortunately stage 2. is currently a manual step in the Azure DevOps web UI. Can it be automated via the release definition?

If this is not possible, is there a better way to organise our release pipeline and package feeds/views to make a release of nuget packages fully automatic?

Answer 1

Edit: Now I see you are with on-prem server so the extension will not work for you, so you must use the Update Package Version Rest API.

Add a PowerShell task to execute the API, something like this (it's for update work item, just change the body and the URL to the correct Rest API):

Don't forget to check the checkbox on the agent job options: Allow scripts to access the OAuth token.

If you use Azure DevOps you can install the Promote package to Release View extension and add it to your pipeline:

Answer 2

The following powershell script you can use to promote multiple packages. This script assumes that all packages have the same version (one product consisting of several packages). It is working fine with our "DevOps Server 2019".

param(
  [Parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
  [string]$tfsCollectionUri,
  [Parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
  [string]$feedName,
  [Parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
  [string]$packageVersion,
  [Parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
  [string]$packageQuality
)

$ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"

[regex]$nameExpression = "(?<name>[^0-9]*)\."
$json = '{ "views": { "op":"add", "path":"/views/-", "value":"' + $packageQuality + '" } }'
Write-Verbose -Message $json

Get-ChildItem . -Filter *.nupkg | Foreach-Object {
  $matches = $nameExpression.Match($_.Name)
  $packageName = $matches.groups['name']
  $requestUri = $tfsCollectionUri + "/_apis/packaging/feeds/$feedName/nuget/packages/$packageName/versions/$packageVersion" + "?api-version=5.0-preview.1"
  Write-Verbose -Message $requestUri
  $reponse = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $requestUri -UseDefaultCredentials -ContentType "application/json" -Method Patch -Body $json
  Write-Verbose -Message "Response: '$reponse'"
}

The parameter packageQuality should be e.g. "Release" or "Prerelease", without leading "@".

Many thanks to Shayki Abramczyk for the tip in the right direction.