"Right" way to use a custom build?

[f3rrix]

I tried finding this on the main site and github, but I need some guidance:

If I want to make an AL build locally and deploy it to my own powershell, what's the right way? I can just paste over the changed files in Documents\PowerShell\Modules... but that seems barbaric.

The build items I can find in the repo all seem to be about appveyor and publishing. I know the .msi won't work in modern PS7-land. Am I missing something obvious?

[raandree]

For quick development and bug fixing I used the "barbaric" way of replacing files PowerShell modules folder. Uninstalling and installing all the modules makes the debugging process too slow.

If you want to build the whole AL project on your machine, all you need is Visual Studio 2022 with the WiX Toolset v3.11.2. Just open the project in VS and start the build process.

The MSI should work with PowerShell 7 as well. The MSI by default puts the modules in C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules which is still part of the PSModulePath in PowerShell 7.

In general, it is a good idea to share your improvements with the main project to keep in sync with us.

[nyanhp]

To expand on that @f3rrix , if you create your own free account with AppVeyor you can take builds from there as well using our pipeline definition. This is what I mostly do, unless - like Raimund - I just replace module contents locally or update my module path.

The build is really only necessary if the library gets updated. The module has grown over the years and is not as simple to build as other modules :) If the WiX toolset is installed, you don't need Visual Studio. A dotnet build in the solution directory should work just as well as using msbuild. You do need the .NET SDK installed though.

If I find some time, I will try a local build on a fresh VM to see if I missed anything.

[f3rrix]

In general, it is a good idea to share your improvements with the main project to keep in sync with us.

Oh yes, that's the plan. At the moment I'm working on something non-trivial (support for 32-bit VMs) that has been a chore to do by file bashing.

[raandree]

Interesting, what is the need to 32-bit VMs? I am curious where people use AL )

[f3rrix]

I use it to spin up test labs both for manual scenario troubleshooting and automated system testing.

We mostly use x64 of course, but need to support 32-bit because so does MS through Windows 10 :) Our stuff is low level system programming so we can't simply assume it will work the same on both.

[f3rrix]

When I mentioned the MSI didn't work I was just repeating from your doc, which states:

install from the PowerShell Gallery using the cmdlet Install-Module.
Please note that this is the ONLY way to install AutomatedLab and its dependencies in PowerShell Core/PowerShell 7