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Microsoft Windows

You can build and test a Microsoft Windows application using a Windows platform on Harness Cloud or a self-managed Kubernetes cluster build infrastructure.

This guide assumes you've created a Harness CI pipeline.

Specify architecture​

stages:
  - stage:
      name: build
      identifier: build
      type: CI
      spec:
        cloneCodebase: true
        platform:
          os: Windows
          arch: Amd64
        runtime:
          type: Cloud
          spec: {}

Install dependencies​

Harness Cloud runners include pre-installed libraries and tools, and you can use Run steps to install additional dependencies or additional versions. For details about pre-installed tools and versions, go to Platforms and image specifications.

- step:
    type: Run
    identifier: dependencies
    name: Dependencies
    spec:
      shell: Powershell
      command: |-
        dotnet add package Newtonsoft.json --version 12.0.1

Cache dependencies​

Add caching to your Build stage.

Cache your Windows app dependencies with Cache Intelligence. Add caching to your stage.spec and specify the paths to cache:

- stage:
    spec:
      caching:
        enabled: true
        key: cache-{{ checksum "packages.lock.json" }}
        paths:
          - C:\%LocalAppData%\NuGet\Cache
      sharedPaths:
        - C:\%LocalAppData%\NuGet\Cache

Build and run tests​

Add Run steps to build and run your tests.

- step:
    type: Run
    identifier: build_dotnet_app
    name: Build DotNet App
    spec:
      shell: Powershell
      command: |-
        dotnet restore
        dotnet build --no-restore
        dotnet test C:\path\to\project.tests.csproj --no-build --verbosity normal
tip

For some languages, you can leverage Harness' Test Intelligence feature to reduce unit test time.

Harness CI also supports test splitting (parallelism) for both Run and Test steps.

Visualize test results​

You can view test results on the Tests tab of your pipeline executions. Test results must be in JUnit XML format.

For your pipeline to produce test reports, you need to modify the Run step that runs your tests. Make sure the command generates JUnit XML reports and add the reports specification.

If your test tool doesn't produce JUnit XML formatted reports by default, you can use a converter to output compatible JUnit XML reports, such as NUnit to JUnit or .NET trx2JUnit.

- step:
    type: Run
    identifier: install_converter
    name: install converter
    spec:
      shell: Powershell
      command: |-
        dotnet tool install -g trx2junit
        export PATH="C:\Users\USER\.dotnet\tools"
- step:
    type: Run
    identifier: build_dotnet_app
    name: Build DotNet App
    spec:
      shell: Powershell
      command: |-
        dotnet restore
        dotnet build
        dotnet test C:\path\to\project.tests.csproj --no-build --verbosity normal
        trx2junit results.trx
      reports:
        type: JUnit
        spec:
          paths:
            - results.xml

Install Visual Studio​

Visual Studio 2019 Enterprise is pre-installed on Hosted Cloud runners. For details about all available tools and versions, go to Platforms and image specifications.

You can use a Run step to install a different version or edition of Visual Studio.

- step:
    type: Run
    identifier: install_vs2022
    name: install vs2022
    spec:
      connectorRef: YOUR_IMAGE_REGISTRY_CONNECTOR
      image: mcr.microsoft.com/windows/servercore:ltsc2019
      shell: Powershell
      command: |-
        winget install --id Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.Enterprise

Specify shell​

In steps that allow you to supply your own commands, such as Run steps and Background steps, you specify the shell in the step's settings.

- step:
    type: Run
    identifier: dotnet restore
    name: dotnet restore
    spec:
      shell: Powershell ## Set to Bash, Powershell, Pwsh (PowerShell Core), Python, or Sh.
      command: |- ## Enter your script as you would in a command line shell.
        dotnet restore

Several shell binaries are pre-installed on Hosted Cloud runners, including Bash and PowerShell. For details about all available tools and versions, go to Platforms and image specifications.

You can also use Run steps to install different shell tools into the build environment, or specify a container image that has the necessary binaries for the command you want to run.

Setup .NET SDK​

For details about building and testing .NET with Harness CI, including how to setup different versions of the .NET SDK, go to the C# (.NET Core) guide.

Full pipeline examples​

The following full pipeline examples are based on the partial examples above.

If you copy this example, replace the placeholder values with appropriate values for your code repo connector and repository name. Depending on your project and organization, you may also need to replace projectIdentifier and orgIdentifier.

pipeline:
  name: default
  identifier: default
  projectIdentifier: default
  orgIdentifier: default
  tags: {}
  properties:
    ci:
      codebase:
        connectorRef: YOUR_CODE_REPO_CONNECTOR_ID
        repoName: YOUR_REPO_NAME
        build: <+input>
  stages:
    - stage:
        name: build and test
        identifier: build_and_test
        type: CI
        spec:
          cloneCodebase: true
          caching:
            enabled: true
            key: cache-{{ checksum "packages.lock.json" }}
            paths:
              - C:\%LocalAppData%\NuGet\Cache
          execution:
            steps:
              - step:
                  type: Run
                  identifier: dependencies
                  name: Dependencies
                  spec:
                    shell: Powershell
                    command: |-
                      dotnet add package Newtonsoft.json --version 12.0.1
              - step:
                  type: Run
                  identifier: install_converter
                  name: install converter
                  spec:
                    shell: Powershell
                    command: |-
                      dotnet tool install -g trx2junit
                      export PATH="C:\Users\USER\.dotnet\tools"
              - step:
                  type: Run
                  identifier: build_dotnet_app
                  name: Build DotNet App
                  spec:
                    shell: Powershell
                    command: |-
                      dotnet restore
                      dotnet build
                      dotnet test C:\path\to\project.tests.csproj --no-build --verbosity normal
                      trx2junit results.trx
                    reports:
                      type: JUnit
                      spec:
                        paths:
                          - results.xml
          sharedPaths:
            - C:\%LocalAppData%\NuGet\Cache
          platform:
            os: Windows
            arch: Amd64
          runtime:
            type: Cloud
            spec: {}

Next steps​

Now that you have created a pipeline that builds and tests a Windows app, you could: