VSTS - Is there a way to only run a task if a specific task has failed?

Question

I need to run a publish task in my build definition but only if a certain task before it has failed. If the other task passes I want this to be ignored and not run.

Is there a way of doing this?

I was hoping that I could set an output variable based on the task success and then use that variable in a custom condition to run the task if it's failed.

I can't see how to set an output variable if the task fails. Is this possible?

Answer 1

• In the Task settings expand the "Control Options"
• Choose in "Run this task" - Only when a previous task has failed.

If you want to run the task only if last/specific task failed:

Suppose your specific task (the one you examine in regards to its status) is called A. The goal is to call another build task (let's say B) only in case A fails.

• Define a custom build variable, call it task.A.status and set to success
• Create another build task, e.g. C and schedule it right after A; condition it to only run if A fails - there's a standard condition for that
• The task C should only do one thing - set task.A.status build variable to 'failure' (like this, if we are talking PowerShell: Write-Host "##vso[task.setvariable variable=task.A.status]failure")
• Finally, the task B is scheduled sometime after C and is conditioned to run in case task.A.status equals failure, like this: eq(variables['task.A.status'], 'failure')