TFS Build definition argument in custom activity

Question

Got a build definition template, with custom argument 'NpmEnabled' (if i look at the xml of the xaml template, it is a part of the

<x:Members>
  <x:Property Name="NpmEnabled" Type="InArgument(x:Boolean)" />
</x:Members>

I can set the NpmEnable in my Build Definition.

Now i have a CustomActivity, and want to use this setting. How do I get this setting from the context?

The next code does not work...

[BuildActivity(HostEnvironmentOption.All)]
[ActivityTracking(ActivityTrackingOption.ActivityOnly)]
public sealed class NpmInstall : CodeActivity
{
    public InArgument<string> NpmEnabled { get; set; }

    public override void Execute(CodeActivityContext contect)
    {
        string x = context.GetValue<string>(this.NpmEnabled);
    }
}

This way i need to set the NpmEnabled variable in the workflow template to a specific value, but i want the value of the setting I see in the build definition.

Answer 1

It is very easy: in your custom template, you will refer to the assembly containing your custom activity at the beginning of the build template

<Activity xmlns:myns="clr-namespace:MyCompany.TfsBuild.Activities;assembly=MyCompany.TfsBuild.Activities"

and then invoke the activity like this

<myns:NpmInstall NpmEnabled="[NpmEnabled]" />

the square parenthesis introduce a VB expression.

Everything is done in the XAML.

Please, fix the incoherence in your code: the NpmEnabled variable is declared as Boolean, while the Activity property is of type string.