Enhancing Collaboration: Triggering Azure DevOps Pipelines with Pull Requests

Ensuring code quality before merging changes into your main branch is crucial. This article explores utilizing Azure Repos branch policies to trigger Azure DevOps pipelines on pull request (PR) creation and update. We'll configure pipelines to execute automated checks and require successful pipeline execution before allowing PR merges, promoting a robust development workflow.

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1. The Power of Pull Requests: Collaborative Code Review

• Pull requests (PRs) offer a collaborative code review process within Azure Repos.
• Developers propose changes by creating branches and submitting PRs for review and merging.

Benefits of PR-Triggered Pipelines:

• Early Feedback: Automated pipelines provide immediate feedback on code changes upon PR creation.
• Improved Quality: Enforces code quality checks and automated testing before merging.
• Reduced Risk: Mitigates the risk of introducing regressions or broken code into the main branch.

2. Branch Policies: Enforcing Pipeline Execution

• Navigate to your Azure Repos project and select the desired repository.
• Click on "Settings" and then "Branch policies."

Creating a Branch Policy:

• Click on "Create branch policy."
• Provide a descriptive name for the policy (e.g., "Require pipeline for PRs").
• Choose "Build validation" as the policy type.

Configuring the Policy:

• Under "Build pipeline," select the Azure DevOps pipeline you want to trigger upon PR creation/update.
• Optionally, choose specific branches to enforce the policy on (e.g., only target the "main" branch).
• Click "Save" to create the branch policy.

With this policy in place, any PR targeting the specified branches will trigger the chosen pipeline execution when created or updated.

3. Pipeline Configuration: Responding to PR Events

• Navigate to your Azure DevOps pipeline and access the editor.
• Click on "Triggers" within the pipeline editor.

Enabling PR Triggers (YAML Pipelines):

For YAML pipelines, you can leverage the built-in pr trigger:

YAML

trigger:
  - pr

This trigger configures the pipeline to run whenever a PR is created or updated.

Classic Pipelines:

For classic pipelines, navigate to the "Continuous deployment" section and enable "Pull request validation."

4. Enforcing Pipeline Success for Merges

• Navigate back to your branch policy settings in Azure Repos.
• Click on the previously created policy (e.g., "Require pipeline for PRs").

Enforcing Merge Checks:

• Under "Build validation," enable the option "Block merge until successful."
• Click "Save" to enforce successful pipeline execution before allowing PR merges.

With this setting activated, any PR that triggers the pipeline will block the merge option until the pipeline execution completes successfully. Developers can then review any pipeline failures and address them before merging their code changes.

5. Benefits and Considerations

Benefits:

• Automated Checks: Ensures code quality and adherence to coding standards before merging.
• Early Detection: Catches potential issues early in the development process, saving time and effort.
• Improved Collaboration: Promotes communication and collaboration between developers through automated feedback.

Considerations:

• Pipeline Performance: Ensure your pipelines are performant to avoid hindering the development workflow.
• False Positives: Minimize false positives in your pipelines to avoid unnecessary delays in merging code.

By implementing branch policies and configuring pipelines to trigger on PR creation/update, you establish a robust code review process. Automated checks and enforced pipeline success for merges ensure code quality and promote collaboration within your development team.