Allow to transfer parameters as ENV variables to task

[Rabattkarte]

In our pipelines, we have the following syntax on multiple occasions. This is because we are using the replacetokens task in pipeline step templates, where you are unable to define a variables: block and we must not call templates with magic numbers.

Please have a look at the following example:

replaceTemplate.yaml

parameters:
  - name: myParam1
    type: string
  - name: myParam1
    type: string
  - name: myTargetFile
    type: string

steps:
  - checkout: self

  - bash: |
      echo "Using myParam1: ${{ parameters.myParam1 }}"
      echo "##vso[task.setvariable variable=myParam1]${{ parameters.myParam1 }}"

      echo "Using myParam1: ${{ parameters.myParam2 }}"
      echo "##vso[task.setvariable variable=myParam1]${{ parameters.myParam2 }}"
    displayName: Transfer params to vars for replacetokens task

  - task: replacetokens@4
    inputs:
      targetFiles: '${{ parameters.myTargetFile }}'
    displayName: 'Replace tokens in: ${{ parameters.myTargetFile }}'

My proposal would be a input parameter similar to the Bash task's bashEnvValue:, using the example above:

replaceTemplate.yaml

parameters:
  - name: myParam1
    type: string
  - name: myParam1
    type: string
  - name: myTargetFile
    type: string

steps:
  - checkout: self

  - task: replacetokens@4
    inputs:
      targetFiles: '${{ parameters.myTargetFile }}'
      replaceMapping:
        - myParam1: ${{ parameters.myParam1 }}
        - myParam2: ${{ parameters.myParam2 }}
    displayName: 'Replace tokens in: ${{ parameters.myTargetFile }}'

[Rabattkarte]

I guess this relates to #237 and should be possible to implement since the rendering takes place before the task is created.

So the proposed replaceMapping object can be used by the code running the replacetokens task.

[qetza]

Hi @Rabattkarte,
Thanks for the feedback, i will think about the feasibility to add a parameter with a list of key/value and inject this as variables which are available for replacement.

[kwaazaar]

Sounds like a good plan @Rabattkarte.

I'm the author of #237 and run into a similar issue today. I'm doing the replacetokens from a template that receives the 'data' als parameters. In template files you cannot specify variables (unless used as a variables-template, but that's another thing). Specifying a mappingtable would be very handy for me, as I need to replace just 3 tokens.

[kwaazaar]

I just solved it by using an external variables file which I generate in a previous step using Bash. Works too, but a bit cumbersome.

[qetza]

Hi @Rabattkarte, @kwaazaar,
The latest version of the task allows you to supply inline variables using the YAML syntax so you can inject parameter values now like this:

- task: qetza.replacetokens-dev.replacetokens-task.replacetokens@4
   displayName: 'inline variables'
   inputs:
     targetFiles: '*.json'
     inlineVariables: |
       myParam1: '${{ parameters.myParam1 }}'
       myParam2: '${{ parameters.myParam2 }}'