TFS 2015 Build vNext recursive variable substitution

Question

Is it possible that the variable substitution is not recursive?

Example1:

Variable Value

SqlInstance (localDb)\mssqllocaldb

DbCatalogName FooDb

ConnStr data source=$(SqlInstance);initial catalog=$(DbCatalogName)$(Build.BuildId);

During the build the connection string substituted to: data source=(localDb)\mssqllocaldb;initial catalog=FooDb3211;

This configuration works perfectly. But if i move the BuildId parameter to DbCatalogName variable it won't be substituted.

Example2:

Variable Value

SqlInstance (localDb)\mssqllocaldb

DbCatalogName FooDb$(Build.BuildId)

ConnStr data source=$(SqlInstance);initial catalog=$(DbCatalogName);

With this configuration the connection string is substituted to: data source=(localDb)\mssqllocaldb;initial catalog=FooDb$(Build.BuildId);

So how can i chain variables with vNext?

Answer 1

If you want the "DbCatalogName" variable contain the BuildID value, I recommend you to add an additional power-shell build step to set the value of "DbCatalogName".

The code to set a variable value:

##vso[task.setvariable variable=testvar;]testvalue

Answer 2

Variable chaining seems to work with TFS 2015 Update 3.