TFS check if file exists in build directory

Question

Is there a way to check if a specific .xml file exists in build directory when TFS build runs?

I'm trying to get a Boolean result true/false based on the result found/not found

I tried creating a variable that would store this result (I'm guessing that is the way to do it). However I get an error when trying to use it.

Answer 1

Found the solution. I added a new variable "dcMatchedFile" - which is a IEnumerable type. Use this dcMatchedFile as "Result" option for FindMatchingFiles" item (see images below)

Then you can simply use "If" statement to check Any().

Answer 2

The expression editor uses standard VB.NET, so you can call into System.IO.File.Exists(path) to detect whether a file already exists.

Answer 3

You can try writing a script to check if the specific file exist, then check in the script and run as Pre-build script in your build process:

e.g.:

$Source = $Env:TF_BUILD_BUILDDIRECTORY
$filename = "*.xml"

if (!(Test-Path "$Source\$filename"))
{
  Write-Warning "$filename absent from build directory"
  # Write-Error "$filename absent from build directory"
  #exit 1
}

Reference Using Environment Variables in Visual Studio 2013 and TFS 2013