How can I control my build number with Azure DevOps?

Question

I get so many frustrations with Azure DevOps. In my Build number format I would like to have both

• A number that restart to 0 when I update my major an minor version.
• But I also would like to have a real build number that is never reset whatever is my build number format. This build number can also be shared by all my build pipeline of my project. Is it possible?

I'm not using YAML format. I use the classic interfaces with the option page to set my build format. At this moment I have this:

It work except each month the r number restart at 0. I want it to continue.

EDIT

I still didn't decided my final format. I would like to understand all the possibilities. Now I discovered the $(BuildID) property I have another question. Is it possible to have something similar to $(Rev:r) variable but that only check the left part of my build number.

Example:

4.16.$(SequenceFor[4.16]).$(BuildID)

In fact I would like to manually set the Major and Minor version and let the system update one by one the Build and use the Revision for the global $(BuildID).

Answer 1

The $(rev:r) is restarted when the build number changes in any character, so this is the reason why it's restarted whenever the major/minor or the date changed.

So if you want to use an incremental unique number you can't use the $(rev:r) because then it will be restarted each build.

If you want a number that depends on the major and the minor numbers you need to use the counter expression:

Create 2 variables:

1. major-minor = 4.16

And a variable that depends on his value and also is a counter:

2. revision = $[ counter(variables['major-minor'],0) ]

The build number will be:

$(major-minor).$(revision).$(Build.BuildId)

Now, if you will change the major-minor (to 4.17 or 5.16) the revision will be again 0.