Invoke-Build Release Notes

With PowerShell 7.2+ and $PSStyle.OutputRendering ANSI, Write-Build uses ANSI escape sequences. As far as Write-Build is used by the engine itself, build/task headers/footers and build messages are rendered accordingly, for example, colored in GitHub workflow terminals.

v5.9.0

New switch Auto of Build-Checkpoint.

New build script helper Confirm-Build

See Tasks/Confirm for Confirm-Build demo and notes
Tasks/Confirm replaces its predecessor Tasks/Ask

The build variable $Task previously defined for tasks is also defined in the script scope. It has the only property Name set to $BuildFile, the build script path. Scripts should not set this variable or change its content.

v5.8.8

Work around potential strict mode issues, #190.

v5.8.7

Add parameter ShowParameter to Build-Parallel, #189.

v5.8.6

Fix Resolve-MSBuild.ps1 BuildTools 2022, #188.

v5.8.5

Support MSBuild 17.0 (VS 2022).

v5.8.4

Make the variable $Job read only, #185.

v5.8.3

Use $Job variable instead of argument, #185.

v5.8.2

Enter-BuildJob and Exit-BuildJob are called with the job script block as the first argument, #185.

v5.8.1

Added the variable $OriginalLocation, where the build starts, #183.

v5.8.0

Published nuget.org/packages/ib, the dotnet tool ib.

Removed ib.cmd, ib.sh from the package avoiding conflicts with the tool ib.
The scripts are still available in the repository, slightly adjusted for their new roles.

Users decide which of the ib shell commands is more suitable for their scenarios.
For details see ib commands.

v5.7.3

Add $pwd information to exec -echo, #179.

v5.7.2

Add the ErrorMessage parameter to exec, #178.

v5.7.1

Inherit build headers and footers from parent builds.

v5.7.0

Add the switch Echo to exec.

v5.6.5

Resolve-MSBuild Get-MSBuild15Guess - stop search as soon as items found.

v5.6.4

Tweak use of dynamic parameters.

v5.6.3

Fixed potential issues with tasks and parameters named Count, Keys, Values, #173.

Created Invoke-Build.template

v5.6.2

Fail on adding tasks after loading build scripts, #171.

v5.6.1

Add InvocationInfo to Write-Warning records and use in post build text.

New-VSCodeTask.ps1 1.3.1 - suppress echo and reuse messages in terminal.

v5.6.0

Changed the default script resolution rule, see #166.

This change is potentially breaking but the chances are low.

v5.5.11

Support PowerShell doc comment format for task synopsis #165

v5.5.10

Invoke-Build ** includes hidden test files.

v5.5.9

Add ib.sh to the package, #162.

v5.5.8

Add the workaround notes to exec help.

v5.5.7

Add version to Invoke-Build.ps1 header comment.

New-VSCodeTask.ps1

merges custom .vscode/tasks-merge.json with generated
new parameter Merge specifies the custom merge path
new parameter Shell specifies the custom shell path
new parameter WhereTask filters build tasks

v5.5.6

Show-TaskHelp.ps1 - process Inputs and Outputs as well as If and Jobs.

v5.5.5

Add parameter MinimumVersion to Resolve-MSBuild #154

v5.5.4

Fix sorting by product in Resolve-MSBuild #153

v5.5.3

Do not make script parameters named, fix #152

v5.5.2

Add the switch Preserve to Build-Checkpoint #150

v5.5.1

Resolve-MSBuild - allow some spaces in versions #148

v5.5.0

Support MSBuild 16.0 of VS 2019, #146.

v5.4.6

Support remove -Verbose, #147.

v5.4.5

Amend help about Write-Build, #144.

v5.4.4

Fix wrong task info in warning records, #142.

v5.4.3

Save checkpoints after each task and before the first, #140.

Tools

New Build-JustTask.ps1 invokes tasks without references.
Show-BuildGraph.ps1 uses the latest viz.js, see #139.

v5.4.2

Tiny internal tweak for Show-BuildGraph.ps1, #137

Show-BuildGraph.ps1, see #136:

Show conditional tasks as diamonds.
Show job numbers only on edges.

v5.4.1

Add help for Set-BuildHeader, Set-BuildFooter.

v5.4.0

Add Set-BuildFooter in addition to Set-BuildHeader, #125
Update the sample Tasks/Header, use custom footers, too.
Tweak remove for more useful error location info.

v5.3.0

Add the robust helper remove, the alternative to Remove-Item, see #123

Tools

New-VSCodeTask.ps1 1.1.6 - Confirm removal of not generated file.

v5.2.1

New switch Latest of Resolve-MSBuild, #122

v5.2.0

New: Alternative syntax of task parameters, kind of inline splatting, #119
Add "missing output" message to incremental task processing, #120

Tools

Invoke-TaskFromVSCode.ps1 should save the file on invoking, #118
Improve Invoke-TaskFromVSCode.ps1 error info in some cases
Support viz.js in Show-BuildGraph.ps1

v5.1.1

Show-TaskHelp - switches are shown after other parameters.
Optimized calls of Show-TaskHelp from Invoke-Build.

v5.1.0

New internal tool, #117

The new tool Show-TaskHelp.ps1 is included to packages.
Invoke-Build ... -WhatIf uses the new Show-TaskHelp.

New external tool, #116

Show-BuildDgml.ps1 generates build graphs as DGML for Visual Studio.

v5.0.1

Tidy up some check failure errors, #115

Convert FormatTaskName by Convert-psake, #114

v5.0.0

Allow empty lines between synopsis comments and tasks, #111.

Remove actions on dot-sourcing, #112.

Retire obsolete features:

(job TaskName -Safe) - instead, use ?TaskName, see #105.
use VisualStudio - not used much, not designed for VS 2017

v4.2.0

Preserve attributes of build script parameters, #109.

Amend exit codes on -Safe in cmd: 1 on argument errors, 0 otherwise.

v4.1.2

Add ability to use MSBuild from Visual Studio Preview, #107.

Avoid trailing \r in task synopses extracted from block comments.

Amend the role of Done in custom tasks. It is always called and works as finally for a task. Handlers check for $Task.Error if it matters.

v4.1.1

Improve Result on invalid arguments

Ensure Result's variable or hashtable Value entry is always created.
Fail with a proper error if Result is not a string or hashtable.
On invalid calls ensure at least a surrogate result Error.

Amend Build-Parallel

Better errors on invalid builds parameters.
Do not count incomplete build results.

Tidy up help.

v4.1.0

Improve syntax and usability of safe references. #105
- Introduce ?TaskName instead of deprecated (job TaskName -Safe).
- Support ?TaskName in the parameter -Task of Invoke-Build.
Redesign error output.
- Improve for VSCode, AppVeyor, and redirection. #106
- If a task fails in If, add it to the list of invoked tasks.

v4.0.2

Build-Checkpoint should fail if not supported WhatIf is specified.

v4.0.1

Support colored output in AppVeyor, #103
Deprecate use VisualStudio.

v4.0.0

New command Build-Checkpoint replaces Invoke-Build -Checkpoint. If you use persistent builds then change the command and parameters, see #101.

New command Build-Parallel replaces Invoke-Builds (mind "s"). If you use parallel builds then simply rename the command, see #100.

v3.7.2

Normalize, test, and make $BuildRoot constant after loading tasks (#95).

v3.7.1

Invoke-Builds (parallel builds)

Add FailHard, it tells to abort builds if any build fails.
Redesign the script without using runspace pools.
Avoid some duplicated info in output.

v3.7.0

Package the module files together with scripts. As a result, the script package may be used as the module, too. This change does not affect the module package.

Retire Get-BuildVersion. Use (Get-Module InvokeBuild).Version instead. In theory, this change is breaking but it seems the function was not used. The standard module version is used from now on.

v3.6.5

Fix resuming of persistent builds after failures in task -If (#90).

v3.6.4

Support version suffix x86 in use and Resolve-MSBuild (#85).

v3.6.3

Resolve MSBuild 15 to ../amd64/MSBuild.exe on x64 (#84).

v3.6.2

Warn about always skipped double references (#82).

v3.6.1

Fix #80, lost Task in the collected errors.
Fix potential PS v6-beta.3 issues in ib.cmd.

v3.6.0

Support script block as File (#78).

v3.5.3

Improved product selection logic in Resolve-MSBuild (#77). If you use the module VSSetup make sure it is not too old. It should support -Product *.

v3.5.2

Avoid some property limitations (#75).
Use & in exec, it looks safer.
Tweak help.

v3.5.1

Remove redundant information from safe errors.
Remove retired "Parameters" from reserved.

v3.5.0

New block Set-BuildHeader for writing custom task headers.
New function Get-BuildSynopsis, e.g. for Set-BuildHeader.

See repo/Tasks/Header for examples of Set-BuildHeader and Get-BuildSynopsis.

v3.4.0

New command requires, the alias of Test-BuildAsset (#73).

v3.3.11

Rework engine variables to reduce noise on debugging (#72).

v3.3.10

Add exported aliases to .psd1, work around #71.
Fix leaked variable on dot-sourcing Invoke-Build.

v3.3.9

Fix incremental tasks on Mono (#69).

v3.3.8

Write messages about redefined tasks, resolve #68.
Fix unexpected output on some debugging cases.

v3.3.7

Improve errors on tasks check failures (#67).

v3.3.6

Retire obsolete events defined as functions, see #66.

v3.3.5

Use less cryptic names for internal functions (#63).

v3.3.4

Adjust property behaviour to PowerShell and MSBuild (#60):

get the session variable value if it is not $null or ''
get the environment value if it is not $null or ''
get the specified default if it is not $null
throw an error

v3.3.3

Resolve-MSBuild supports the BuildTools installation (#57).

v3.3.2

Improve info on typical mistakes:

missing comma in job lists
unexpected build output
dangling script blocks

v3.3.1

Improve errors on invalid script syntax (#56).

v3.3.0

New Resolve-MSBuild.ps1 for finding MSBuild 2.0-15.0, specified or the latest. It may be used directly. Build scripts use it via the alias Resolve-MSBuild. NuGet and PSGallery packages include this script.

The old way use <version> MSBuild is supported and works with all versions. But the new script is used internally, Invoke-Build.ps1 alone is not enough.

v3.2.4

Fix #54, exec should use $global:LastExitCode.

v3.2.3

Use exit /B in ib.cmd (#52).

v3.2.2

Incremental tasks print some more info (#49)
Outputs block receives piped Inputs (#50)