Is there a way to have a variable group defined at stage level? If so how to access it at Job Level?

Question

I am trying to find a way to define a variable group at stage level and then access it in below jobs through a template? How would I go about doing this?

# Template file getchangedfilesandvariables.yaml
parameters:
  - name: "previouscommitid"
    type: string

    
steps:
  - task: PowerShell@2
    displayName: 'Get the changed files'
    name: CommitIds
    inputs:
      targetType: 'filePath'
      filePath: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)\AzureDevOpsPipelines\Get-COChangedfiles.ps1'
      arguments: >
        -old_commit_id ${{ previouscommitid }}

  - task: PowerShell@2
    name: PassOutput
    displayName: 'Getting Variables for Packaging'
    inputs:
        targetType: 'filepath'
        filepath: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)\AzureDevOpsPipelines\Get-COADOvariables.ps1'

And below is my yaml file.

trigger: none
name: $(BuildID)

variables:
  
  system.debug: true
  CodeSigningCertThumbprint: "somethumbprint"
  # Triggering builds on a branch itself.
  ${{ if startsWith(variables['Build.SourceBranch'], 'refs/heads/') }}:
    branchName: $[ replace(variables['Build.SourceBranch'], 'refs/heads/', '') ]
  # Triggering builds from a Pull Request.
  ${{ if startsWith(variables['Build.SourceBranch'], 'refs/pull/') }}:
    branchName: $[ replace(variables['System.PullRequest.SourceBranch'], 'refs/heads/', '') ]

## it will create pipeline package and it will push it private or public feed artifacts
stages:
  - stage: Stage1
    variables:
    - group: Cloudops
    - name: oldcommitid
      value: $[variables.lastcommitid]

    jobs:
    - job: IdentifyChangedFilesAndGetADOVariables
      

      pool:
        name: OnPrem

      workspace:
        clean: all # Ensure the agent's directories are wiped clean before building.

      steps:
      - powershell: |
          [System.Version]$PlatformVersion = ((Get-Content "$(Build.SourcesDirectory)\AzureDevOpsPipelines\PlatformVersion.json") | ConvertFrom-Json).PlatformVersion
          Write-Output "The repository's PlatformVersion is: $($PlatformVersion.ToString())"
          $NewPackageVersion = New-Object -TypeName "System.Version" -ArgumentList @($PlatformVersion.Major, $PlatformVersion.Minor, $(Build.BuildId))

          Write-Output "This run's package version is $($NewPackageVersion.ToString())"
          echo "##vso[task.setvariable variable=NewPackageVersion]$($NewPackageVersion.ToString())"
          echo "##vso[task.setvariable variable=commitidold;isOutput=true]$(oldcommitid)" 
        displayName: 'Define package version.'
        name: commitidorpackageversion
        errorActionPreference: stop

      - template: getchangedfilesandvariables.yaml
        parameters: 
          previouscommitid:
            - $(commitidorpackageversion.commitidold)
           # - $(oldcommitid)

I get the error at the second last line of the code that

/AzureDevOpsPipelines/azure-pipelines.yml (Line: 49, Col: 13): The 'previouscommitid' parameter is not a valid String.

I tried different combinations but I am still getting the errors.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

Thanks for your response. I already had the variable group setup in my library. I was just not able to use it.

The way I was able to achieve this I created another template file and supplied it to variables section under my stage. After doing this I was able to actually able to use the variables from my variable group in my successive jobs.

For more information you can review this doc : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/library/variable-groups?view=azure-devops&tabs=yaml

stagevariables.yaml 

variables:
- group: Cloudops

azure-pipelines.yml
    stages:
      - stage: Stage1
        variables:
          - template: stagevariables.yaml
        jobs:
        - job: CheckwhichfeedsAreAvailable

Answer 2

In YAML pipeline, you can't define a new variable group under the variables key.

Actually, we do not have the syntax can be available to create new variable group when running the YAML pipeline.

Under the variables key, you can:

• Define new variables with the specified values.
• Override the existing variables with new values.
• Reference the variables from the existing variable groups and variable templates.

So, if you want to use a variable group with some variables in the pipeline, you should manually define the variable group on the Pipelines > Library page, then reference it in the pipeline.