Azure Pipeline use template expression with queued variables

Question

I defined a YAML build-pipeline in azure:

variables:
  test: \'${{ variables.Environment }}\'

pool:
  vmImage: \'ubuntu-latest\'

steps:
- script: |
    echo $(         


        

Answer 1

A variation of this problem:

TL;DR:

Group variables do not seem to be available at template compile time, e.g. when conditionally setting a template to run, based on a variable from that group - only variables explicitly set in the pipeline seem to be available.

Long version:

I have a set of variable groups; 'Group-NonProd', 'Group-Prod', etc. Each contains variable 'identifier', with differing values ("dev", "prod", for the below example).

I have a master pipeline, 'main-pipeline.yml', and in that are several stages, each corresponding to the value of 'identifier', e.g.:

- stage: NonProd
  variables:
  - group: 'Group-NonProd' ## includes the variable 'identifier' with value "nonprod"
  jobs:
  - template: nonprod.yml
    parameters:
      identifier: $(identifier)
  - script: echo "environment is $(identifier)"

- stage: Prod
  variables:
  - group: 'Group-Prod' ## includes the variable 'identifier' with value "prod"
  jobs:
  - template: prod.yml
    parameters:
      identifier: $(identifier)
  - script: echo "environment is $(identifier)"

However, when I run the pipeline, the parameters 'identifier' do not expand to the value in the group variable 'identifier' - it is blank - I see that when I try using the variable in the below conditional logic (the aim being to use this logic to determine which template to call - see commented out lines - and pass that parameter down to them):

steps:
  - ${{ if eq(parameters.identifier, 'nonprod') }}:
    # - template: nonprod.yml
    - script: echo "Using nonprod template, environment is ${{ parameters.identifier }}"
  - ${{ if not(eq(parameters.identifier, 'prod')) }}:
    # - template: prod.yml
    - script: echo "Using prod template, environment is ${{ parameters.identifier }}"

The above script always resorts to the 2nd condition, because the result is always "Using prod template, environment is " (blank).

Here's the odd thing though - if I explicitly set the variable 'identifier' at each stage, it does work!

e.g. this works:

- stage: NonProd
  variables:
  - group: 'Group-NonProd'
  - name: identifier
    value: nonprod
  jobs:
  - template: nonprod.yml
    parameters:
      identifier: $(identifier)
  - script: echo "environment is ${{ parameters.identifier }}"