The RunPipeline action currently fails with an unhelpful error message if no models can be determined to build.

Instead, the action should fail earlier in the "Getting the list of models to build" section with a more helpful error message.

In my case, the model was not found because it contained the text "test" in its name. It seems models with that text are assumed to be unit test models that by default are not build and packaged, because those models cannot be deployed to T2+ environments. It might be better to by default build, but not package them. But that is for another issue 😄

Current error message

[16:51:36][Invoke-FSCCompile] Error: | No X++ binary package(s) found
[16:51:41][Invoke-FSCPSCompile] Something went wrong while compiling | Stopping because of errors
[ 2024.06.02-16:51:41 ]: Execution is done.
Error: Unexpected error when running action (::Error::Stopping because of errors)
Error: Process completed with exit code 1.

Sample output from a failing run

[16:49:00][Set-FSCPSSettings] Running on GitHub
[16:49:01][Set-FSCPSSettings] Settings were updated succesfully.
Main model:
Models:
Models to package:
[16:49:02][Invoke-FSCCompile] //================= Reading current FSC-PS settings ============================//
[16:49:02][Invoke-FSCCompile] IsOneBox:
[16:49:02][Invoke-FSCCompile] //================= Getting the list of models to build ========================//
[16:49:02][Invoke-FSCCompile] Models to build:
[16:49:02][Invoke-FSCCompile] Models to package:
[16:49:02][Invoke-FSCCompile] //================= Generate solution folder ===================================//
[16:49:02][Invoke-FSCCompile] Complete
[16:49:02][Invoke-FSCCompile] //================= Copy source files to the build folder ======================//
[16:49:02][Invoke-FSCCompile] Source folder: D:\a\fscsimpletpltest01\fscsimpletpltest01
[16:49:02][Invoke-FSCCompile] Destination folder: c:\temp\fscps.tools_bld
[16:49:02][Invoke-FSCCompile] Complete
[16:49:02][Invoke-FSCCompile] //================= Download NuGet packages ====================================//
[16:49:07][Set-FSCPSActiveAzureStorageConfig] An Azure Storage Account with that name doesn't exists.
WARNING: [16:49:07][Set-FSCPSActiveAzureStorageConfig] Stopping because an Azure Storage Account with that name doesn't
exists.
[16:49:15][Invoke-FSCCompile] Complete
[16:49:15][Invoke-FSCCompile] //================= Install NuGet packages =====================================//
[16:51:35][Invoke-FSCCompile] Complete
[16:51:35][Invoke-FSCCompile] //================= Copy binaries to the build folder ==========================//
[16:51:35][Invoke-FSCCompile] Complete
[16:51:35][Invoke-FSCCompile] //================= Generate package ==========================================//
[16:51:36][Invoke-FSCCompile] Error: | No X++ binary package(s) found
[16:51:41][Invoke-FSCPSCompile] Something went wrong while compiling | Stopping because of errors
[ 2024.06.02-16:51:41 ]: Execution is done.
Error: Unexpected error when running action (::Error::Stopping because of errors)
Error: Process completed with exit code 1.

FSC-PS uses the approach where the AOSService folder of a D365FSCM environment is used as folder of the Git repository. This requires to .gitignore all the contents of the folder that are Microsoft standard. It includes a list of all the standard modules: https://github.com/fscpscollaborative/fscps.fsctpl/blob/9558c71b42cd8ba61f8b9939b4bfda9431e16721/.gitignore#L76-L243

This long list often becomes outdated when Microsoft adds new modules. For the initial setup of a repository on a development environment, this could be covered by keeping the .gitignore file current with the modules of the latest D365FSCM version. However, after the initial setup, if a new version is installed on the environment, the .gitignore might not contain new modules added by that version.

Currently, the logic to update the FSC-PS files in a repository does not seem to cover the .gitignore file. It might also not be easy to update the file, since it is often customized to exclude additional files that are specific to a repository.

Instead, a PowerShell script (or maybe a cmdlet as part of fscps.tools, though that would require installing the module on a development environment) should be provided that could generate/update the list of modules in .gitignore. For the update part, the script would need to be able to differentiate Microsoft from custom modules. The logic of the -ExcludeMicrosoftModels parameter of the d365fo.tools cmdlet Get-D365Model might help here.

I think the current templates and onboarding documentation work. For people unfamiliar with FSC-PS and GitHub, I propose a more simplified template and onboarding.

The template would just be for D365FSC extensions. It would have one build action and just the minimum of .json files to support that. Documentation for the template would explain

• how to set it up
• how to connect to it from a development environment
• how to add a simple extension
• how to run the build for that extension

Future work could add similar templates for commerce extensions. It could also add documentation that show how to add the other stuff (CI, CD, repo update, ...).

Aside from a more simplified onboarding, I also think this would remove concerns around allowing a third party access to the repo (the repo update) or having to upload an existing extension to a public url (for the import).

Could we enable the GitHub discussion feature for this repo? This would enable some more highlevel/meta/organizational discussions that do not really fit the issues format.