Update TFS Build Definition from Text File

Question

At my company we are using Team Foundation Server 2015 and Visual Studio 2013. Our build definitions use a xaml build process template.

Using "Edit Build Definition..." to make changes to the build definition can be extremely tedious and error-prone, especially if changes need to be made in many places, over several builds etc.

I have Community TFS Build Manager, which allows you to export a build definition to json. It also allows you to create a new build definition from json. What it does not appear to do, which I badly need, is to update an existing build definition from json.

Is there a way for me to completely define a build definition in a text file (xaml, xml, json, etc) and update an existing build definition from it?

Answer 1

Simply: No

Complexly: You can use TFS API: Build Process Object Model Reference to create an app to archieve this.

However, I would recommend you to use vNext build if you want to edit the defition via json. With vNext build, you can update the build definition via REST API in json format easily. This API support XAML build defitnion too but it can only change few things for XAML definition.