find an executable from a VSTS build task

vsts-foobar-path.bat

@echo off

Powershell.exe -executionpolicy remotesigned -File "%~dp0\vsts-foobar-path.ps1"

set /p foobarPath=< foobar-path.txt

PATH=%PATH%;%foobarPath%

vsts-foobar-path.ps1

# We're looking for the directory housing the foobar VSTS build task.

# At the time of this writing, it lives within the directory referenced by the
# AGENT_WORKFOLDER env var.

# (if this breaks in the future, maybe look at other variables here:)
# https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/docs/build/define/variables

# NOTE! The task will only be present if the build has a foobar build step.

$searchDir = [environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("AGENT_WORKFOLDER")

$search = Get-ChildItem -Path $searchDir -Recurse -Include "foobar.exe"

$foobarPath = $search.DirectoryName

Write-Host "Found foobar.exe at" $foobarPath

$outFile = "foobar-path.txt"

[System.IO.File]::WriteAllText($outFile, $foobarPath)

Write-Host 'wrote path to' $outFile

We wanted an .exe that comes with a VSTS build step to be available in other build steps. Together, these scripts find it and add it its path to PATH.

To use this, call the .bat from a Batch Script build step, with the Modify environment option enabled.