AL-Go for Github April Office Hour

Overview

The April office hour covers AL-Go v7.0, which includes deploying to a sandbox from a pull request (previously in preview). It also shows the page scripting visualizer, which is in preview and displays failing, passing and skipped tests and the run time in CI/CD runs. Build modes and preprocessor symbols let one source build for different targets, and runtime package generation with Nougat integration is targeted for completion before October 1st.

The team announced that BC Container Helper versions before 6.1 will have major functions broken after May 1st because of security work, and that the tool is slated for retirement in two to three years. DevOps functionality will move into AL-Go, and a slim PowerShell module for local development is planned. The session also covers GitHub Discussions with voting, branching and pull request practices, and Azure DevOps support.

Key points

• AL-Go v7.0 shipped with deploy to sandbox from a pull request, which was previously in preview, and the new page scripting visualizer in preview.
• The page scripting visualizer shows failing, passing and skipped tests and the overall test run time in CI/CD runs. Page scripting itself is not new; only the visualizing part is.
• BC Container Helper versions before 6.1 may not work after May 1st because of security work. Repositories running any version of AL-Go for GitHub are not affected.
• BC Container Helper is slated for retirement in two to three years. DevOps functionality moves into modules shipped inside AL-Go. A slim PowerShell gallery module of maybe five to ten commands will cover local tasks. Expect functionality gaps, because it will not be moved as is.
• To pass parameters such as useSSL to New-BcContainer from localDevEnv, use a script override that Run-AlPipeline picks up.
• Build modes with preprocessor symbols, added in the last version, let one source build AppSource and on-prem variants. Runtime package and Nougat generation is targeted before October 1st. It will be built without waiting for a container-free compiler from the modern dev team.
• AL-Go is moving from GitHub Issues to Discussions. The most voted ideas move to the project backlog, but implementation is not promised.

Features

AL objects mentioned

As heard in the captions. A name that matches one object page by exact type and name links to it; the others stay as named.

• other “newb container” at 4:45
• other “local dev” at 3:55
• other “runo pipeline” at 5:19

Quotes

• 0:11 “we did ship version 7.0 and that included the support for deploying to sandbox environments from a pool request that was previously in preview”
• 1:31 “all BC container helper versions before version 6.1 might not work after May 1st. At least like major functionalities will be broken”
• 1:56 “it’s worth noting that repositories that run any version of a go for GitHub will not be affected”
• 2:31 “it is one of the two big topics that that we’re going to work on I’m going to work on at least in this”
• 3:06 “The the issue that we’ve been waiting for was the modern dev team to create a compiler that could generate runtime packages without us”
• 3:37 “october 1st is the best date but it’s probably going to be before that”
• 5:19 “runo pipeline when it creates the new container it’ll look for a script with a specific name”
• 9:31 “the latest edition in the last version where you can now do build modes and you can do pre processor symbols in”
• 13:17 “busy container helper slated for retirement in the next two three years”
• 14:11 “there’s definitely going to be some gaps in the functionality. We’re not going to just take new BC container and move it as is”
• 14:11 “there’s definitely going to be some gaps in the functionality. We’re not going to just take new BC container and move it as is.”
• 15:32 “the idea on the container helper deprecation is really that we’ll take all the things that we need for DevOps and put those into”
• 18:21 “the announcement of the retiring of basic container helper doesn’t mean that there’s not going to be uh some um some other solution.”
• 21:02 “last month we announced that we’re going to start using discussions. The um GitHub feature has GitHub has this feature called discussions where you”
• 22:46 “in certain periods we’re going to get the top most voted ideas. We don’t have like a set count but something that we’re going”
• 23:15 “stuff like the NG get thing is definitely something we’re working on.”
• 26:27 “like if it works for you that’s fine I mean it’s branching strategies like change all the time.”
• 26:37 “if you feel that that way you manage to ship a stable code and you manage to kind of quickly revert if something uh”
• 28:00 “one of the things I like to do and I actually learned that from Maria is to open a pull request early because that”
• 31:01 “on GitHub, I think what also Freddy was referring to a little bit ago. Um you can set up this way. You can kind”
• 34:10 “we’re looking forward to next month where the office hour will be a morning one. I think that’s what we agreed on.”

Disclaimers in the video

• 0:26 preview: page scripting visualizer uh in preview. Right now
• 1:31 subject-to-change: all BC container helper versions before version 6.1 might not work after May 1st due to security related work
• 2:45 coming-later: entire Nougat story should be finalized before October 1st is the goal
• 13:17 coming-later: BC container helper slated for retirement in the next two three years
• 23:15 preview: code coverage is also something that that we we I hope we’ll be be able to do
• 34:10 coming-later: next month where the office hour will be a morning one

Presenters (as heard): Freddy, Sebastian Shu, Florian, Maria, Jose Martinez, Alex, Florian Roka, Eric Van, Steve Christristianos, Spassin, Sebastian.