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C# (.NET Core) application

You can build and test a C# and .NET Core application using a Linux or Windows platform on Harness Cloud or a self-hosted Kubernetes cluster build infrastructure.

This guide assumes you've created a Harness CI pipeline. For more information about creating pipelines, go to:

tip

If you don't have a Harness account yet, you can create one for free at app.harness.io.

Specify architecture

You can use a Linux or Windows platform to build and test C# (.NET Core) apps. These examples use Linux build infrastructure.

 stages:
- stage:
name: build
identifier: build
type: CI
spec:
cloneCodebase: true
platform:
os: Linux
arch: Amd64 ## Can be Amd64 or Arm64
runtime:
type: Cloud
spec: {}

Install dependencies

The .NET Core SDK and other .NET libraries are pre-installed on Harness Cloud runners. For details about all available tools and versions, go to Platforms and image specifications. You can use Run steps to install additional dependencies or run dotnet restore.

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

Cache dependencies

Add caching to your Build (CI) stage.

Cache your .NET dependencies with Cache Intelligence. Add caching to your stage.spec:

    - stage:
spec:
caching:
enabled: true
key: cache-{{ checksum "packages.lock.json" }}
paths:
- "~/.local/share/NuGet/cache"
sharedPaths:
- ~/.local/share/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: Sh
command: |-
dotnet restore
dotnet build --no-restore
dotnet test --no-build --verbosity normal

Visualize test results

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

You can use a converter to output compatible JUnit XML reports, such as NUnit to JUnit or .NET trx2JUnit.

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.

              - step:
type: Run
identifier: install_converter
name: install converter
spec:
shell: Sh
command: |-
dotnet tool install -g trx2junit
export PATH="$:/root/.dotnet/tools"
- step:
type: Run
identifier: build_dotnet_app
name: Build DotNet App
spec:
shell: Sh
command: |-
dotnet restore
dotnet build
dotnet test --no-build --verbosity normal
trx2junit results.trx
reports:
type: JUnit
spec:
paths:
- results.xml

Run tests with Test Intelligence

Test Intelligence is available for C# (.NET Core), however, it is behind the feature flag TI_DOTNET. Contact Harness Support to enable the feature.

With this feature flag enabled, you can use Run Tests steps to run unit tests with Test Intelligence.

              - step:
type: RunTests
identifier: runTestsWithIntelligence
name: runTestsWithIntelligence
spec:
language: Csharp
buildEnvironment: Core
frameworkVersion: "6.0"
buildTool: Dotnet
args: --no-build --verbosity normal ## Equivalent to 'dotnet test --no-build --verbosity normal' in a Run step or shell.
namespaces: aw,fc
runOnlySelectedTests: true
preCommand: |-
dotnet tool install -g trx2junit
export PATH="$:/root/.dotnet/tools"
dotnet restore
dotnet build
postCommand: trx2junit results.trx
reports:
type: JUnit
spec:
paths:
- results.xml

Specify version

The .NET SDK is pre-installed on Hosted Cloud runners. For details about all available tools and versions, go to Platforms and image specifications.

If you need a specific .NET Core SDK version that isn't already installed, you can use a Run step to install it, or you can use the setup-dotnet action in a GitHub Action plugin step.

Install one .NET SDK version
              - step:
type: Action
name: Install dotnet
identifier: install_dotnet
spec:
uses: actions/setup-dotnet@v3
with:
dotnet-version: '3.1.x'

On Windows platforms, you might also need to run the setup-msbuild action.

              - step:
type: Action
name: Install dotnet
identifier: install_dotnet
spec:
uses: actions/setup-msbuild@v1
with: ## Optional. Specify a specific version of visual Studio if you have multiple versions installed.
vs-version: '16.4'
Install multiple .NET SDK versions
  1. Add the matrix looping strategy configuration to your stage.
        strategy:
matrix:
dotnetVersion:
- 7.0.x
- 5.0.x
  1. Reference the matrix variable in your steps.
              - step:
type: Action
name: Install dotnet
identifier: install_dotnet
spec:
uses: actions/setup-dotnet@v3
with:
dotnet-version: <+matrix.dotnetVersion>

On Windows platforms, you might also need to run the setup-msbuild action.

              - step:
type: Action
name: Install dotnet
identifier: install_dotnet
spec:
uses: actions/setup-msbuild@v1
with: ## Optional. Specify a specific version of visual Studio if you have multiple versions installed.
vs-version: '16.4'

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.

YAML example
pipeline:
name: default
identifier: default
projectIdentifier: default
orgIdentifier: default
properties:
ci:
codebase:
connectorRef: YOUR_CODE_REPO_CONNECTOR_ID
repoName: YOUR_REPO_NAME
build: <+input>
tags: {}
stages:
- stage:
name: build
identifier: build
description: ""
type: CI
spec:
cloneCodebase: true
caching:
enabled: true
key: cache-{{ checksum "packages.lock.json" }}
paths:
- "~/.local/share/NuGet/cache"
execution:
steps:
- step:
type: Run
identifier: dependencies
name: Dependencies
spec:
shell: Sh
command: |-
dotnet add package Newtonsoft.json --version 12.0.1
- step:
type: Run
identifier: install_converter
name: install converter
spec:
shell: Sh
command: |-
dotnet tool install -g trx2junit
export PATH="$:/root/.dotnet/tools"
- step:
type: Run
identifier: build_dotnet_app
name: Build DotNet App
spec:
shell: Sh
command: |-
dotnet restore
dotnet build
dotnet test --no-build --verbosity normal
trx2junit results.trx
reports:
type: JUnit
spec:
paths:
- results.xml
platform:
os: Linux
arch: Amd64
runtime:
type: Cloud
spec: {}
sharedPaths:
- ~/.local/share/NuGet/cache

Next steps

Now that you have created a pipeline that builds and tests a C# (.NET Core) app, you could: