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powershellazure-devopsazure-pipelinesazure-pipelines-build-taskazure-pipelines-tasks

Calculate elapsed time for a task in azure pipeline using inline PowerShell tasks

I am trying to calculate the time elapsed for a task in Azure Pipeline using PowerShell task on inline mode. Simplified setup looks like in the image as attached. The inline code is mentioned below. I am getting below specified error.

Calculating Elapsed Time...
Cannot find an overload for "op_Subtraction" and the argument count: "2".
At D:\a\_temp\ba6b91f4-ef47-4a51-8088-efc6bcda310d.ps1:5 char:1
+ $duration_min = $end_time - $start_time
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : MethodCountCouldNotFindBest
 
##[error]PowerShell exited with code '1'.

What is the right approach to measure the time elapsed for a build task?

Pipeline Setup:

enter image description here

Code in Get Start Time inline powershell task:

$start_time = Get-Date
Write-Host "Scanning Start Timestamp: $($start_time)"

Code in Calculate Elapsed Time inline powershell task:

Write-Host "Calculating Elapsed Time..."
$end_time = Get-Date
$duration_min = $end_time - $start_time
Write-Host ("Total Time Elapsed in Minutes: ", $duration_min.TotalMinutes)
Solution

  • Variables between the tasks are independent. To pass the values between the tasks, we can use the pipeline variables. In your setup, go to Variables tab and create a new variable - say scan_start_time.

    In the "Get Start Time" task add another line

    Write-Output "##vso[task.setvariable variable=scan_start_time]$($start_time)"

    Then in the "Calculate Elapsed Time" task

    $start_time = "$(scan_start_time)"