Make previously deployed property values available in a PowerShell script

You can use the Deploy rules system and a PowerShell script to find and update the value of a previously deployed property with a new deployed property value.

For example, as a part of your deployment, you might copy a property value that changes with each deployment, such as a build version, into a file. The next time you run the deployment, you would need to search the file for the previous value and replace it with the new value.

To retrieve the previously deployed property value from the current deployment:

1. Create a rule in xl-rules.xml with the condition MODIFY. In the powershell-context tag, add:

   <previousDeployed expression="true">delta.previous</previousDeployed>

2. In the PowerShell script, refer to the previously deployed properties value using $previousDeployed and the suffix .propertyname. For example:

   $previousDeployed.processModelIdleTimeout

The complete entry in xl-rules.xml lookS like:

<rule name="AppPoolSpec.CREATE.MODIFY" scope="deployed">
    <conditions>
        <type>iis.ApplicationPool</type>
        <operation>CREATE</operation>
        <operation>MODIFY</operation>
    </conditions>
    <steps>
        <powershell>
            <order>60</order>
            <description>Modify the hosts file</description>
            <script>previous.ps1</script>
            <powershell-context>
                <previousDeployed expression="true">delta.previous</previousDeployed>
                <Deployed>Deployed</Deployed>           
            </powershell-context>
        </powershell>
    </steps>    
</rule>

note

For the initial deployment, the CREATE operation, the previousDeployed property will be null.

The PowerShell script looks like:

# Update file
# Replace previous processModelIdleTimeout with new value in file
$rFile = “C:\MyApp\myFile”

if ($previousdeployed.processModelIdleTimeout) {
    (Get-Content $rFile) -replace $previousdeployed.processModelIdleTimeout, $deployed.processModelIdleTimeout| Set-Content $rFile
    Write-Host "previousDeployed.processModelIdleTimeout = " $previousDeployed.processModelIdleTimeout
}