How to use Run-AlValidation

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When releasing the first version of Run-AlValidation in BcContainerHelper, i did a quick blog post about the function here. This blog post serves to explain some common scenarios of how to run the function. The blog post will also explain the parameters of Run-AlValidation a bit more in depth, for people to have a good chance of using the function before submitting for AppSource Validation.

Note: The parameters and the functionality described in this blog post requires BcContainerHelper 1.0.19 or later (while writing this blog post 1.0.19 preview is available supporting this)

Important Parameters

Note: This is the list of parameters you must consider to get a trustworthy result out of Run-AlValidation.

licensefile (required) is the path or a secure URL to your developer license file.

installApps (optional) is the list of dependencies to 3rd party apps or unchanged apps in your submission. If your submission contains x library apps and some of these library apps are submitted in unchanged versions, then these apps are still needed (as they are a dependency) and must be specified here. If you specify the same app in previousApps and Apps – it will fail when trying to upgrade.

previousApps (optional) is the list of the previously successfully validated version of the apps. This is the version of the apps already in AppSource, including your main app and all modified library apps. If the new version of the app is the same as the previous version, the app belongs in installApps.

Apps (required) is the list of apps you want to run validation on. Include both the main app and all modified library apps here. If your submission includes both changed and new apps, then all changed and new apps should be specified in Apps, but of course only the previous versions of the changed apps should be specified in previousApps.

affixes (required) is a list of the affixes used in your app, following the guidelines here. In order to pass AppSource Validation, you need to make sure that these affixes are registered with Microsoft on your MPN ID and publisher name. This parameter can either be an array of strings or a comma separated string containing the affixes.

countries (required) is a list of the countries for which you want to validate your app. This parameter can either be an array of strings or a comma separated string containing the name or the country code of the countries.

Parameters indicating which version to validate against?

Note: By default, Run-AlValidation will validate against the current version of Business Central AND then version indicated in your app.json files as your minimum common dependency. This is the same mechanism used by Appsource validation and if you want to use this, then you should NOT specify any specific validation parameter.

ValidateCurrent (optional) is a switch you can include if you want to validate your app against the current version of Business Central specifically. During AppSource validation we always validate against current version.

ValidateVersion (optional) is a parameter which you can set to a specific version if you want to only validate against this version. During AppSource Validation we determine the minimum common dependency from all apps and validate against that.

validateNextMinor (optional) is a switch which you can include in order to solely or additionally validate against next minor. In order to validate against next minor, you need to specify a sasToken as well.

validateNextMajor (optional) is a switch which you can include in order to solely or additionally validate against next minor. In order to validate against next minor, you need to specify a sasToken as well.

sasToken (optional) is a shared access service token, which provides access to insider builds. The token for insider artifacts is published on Collaborate under packages and is called Working With Business Central Insider Builds.

Additional Parameters

Note: These parameters are all optional and seldomly needed. They are only there for you to test out validation runs in specific ways.

containerName (optional) specifies the containerName of the docker container used for every step of the validation. For every country a new container will be created, all using the same containerName and removing the previous container. Default is the defaultContainerName configuration, which is bcserver.

imageName (optional) specifies the name in which you want to cache images for faster subsequent turnaround time. Specifying this parameter will almost always make the validation go slower, because validation uses the latest artifacts, and they have probably changed since your last run.

credential (optional) specifies the credentials used for creating and using the containers. If you do not specify credentials, a random password will be generated and used with the admin username.

memoryLimit (optional) is per default set to 8Gb which is the same as used in AppSource validation. In seldom cases, it can be necessary to increase this value.

failOnError (optional) is a switch which can be included in order for validation to fail early. Default behavior is to collect all validation errors and display them all at the end of validation.

includeWarnings (optional) is a switch you can include to see AppSourceCop warnings. AppSource submissions do not fail due to warnings, but warnings might become errors in a later version.

skipVerification (optional) is a switch you can use to skip verification of whether or not your app files are signed with a code signing certificate. Note, In order to pass AppSource validation, your apps must be signed with a code signing certificate, so skipping verification might not be the best idea.

skipUpgrade (optional) is a switch you can use to skip Upgrade test. This switch comes in handy if the previous version of your app doesn’t install on the version of Business Central being validated against. f.ex. if your old version was for 17.5 and doesn’t install on 18.0. This is a valid scenario in AppSource validation as well.

skipConnectionTest (optional) is a switch you can use to skip the Connection Test. By default AppSource Validation uses Connection Test to check whether your app causes Business Central to become unresponsive. Connection Test will open a Rolecenter and a few pages. During AppSource validation, we will NOT fail you if connection test fails, we will flag the app for manual test validation (which will cause validation to take more time). If manual tests fail, we will fail you.

skipAppSourceCop (optional) is a switch you can use to bypass AppSourceCop if you just want to test the other things. Note, that AppSource validation requires AppSourceCop and you cannot request that we include this parameter when validating your app.

supportedCountries (obsolete) this parameter is no longer used. It used to be a list of the countries in which your app will be available. This parameter can either be an array of strings or a comma separated string containing the name or the country code of the countries.

Beside this, there are some parameters to override the container creation and other things. These are rarely used, but can be specified if for some reason your setup requires this and you cannot specify what you need in BcContainerHelper configuration.

Examples

The following is a few examples on how to run validation for your app depending on the scenario you have. Remember that multiple apps can be specified as an array of strings (appfiles) or one comma separated string.

Example #1 – a new submission – a single app

Run-AlValidation `
    -licenseFile $licenseFile `
    -apps "C:\apps\my.app" `
    -affixes "fab" `
    -countries "us"

Will validate c:\apps\my.app requiring affix fab for country us on the current version of Business Central and the version indicated by app.json.

Example #2 – an update to your app – a single app

Run-AlValidation `
    -licenseFile $licenseFile `
    -previousApps "c:\prevApps\my.app" `
    -apps "C:\apps\my.app" `
    -affixes "fab" `
    -countries "us"

Will validate c:\apps\my.app as an update to c:\prevApps\my.app requiring affix fab for country us on the current version of Business Central and the version indicated by app.json.

Example #3 – a new submission – an app with a library app

Run-AlValidation `
    -licenseFile $licenseFile `
    -apps @("C:\apps\my.app", "c:\apps\mylib.app") `
    -affixes @("fab", "con") `
    -countries @("us", "ca")

Will validate c:\apps\my.app with a library app c:\apps\mylib.app requiring affixes fab or con for countries us and ca on the current version of Business Central and the version indicated by app.json.

Example #4 – a update to your apps – an app with a library app

Run-AlValidation `
    -licenseFile $licenseFile `
    -previousApps @("c:\prevApps\my.app", "c:\prevApps\mylib.app") `
    -apps @("C:\apps\my.app", "c:\apps\mylib.app") `
    -affixes @("fab", "con") `
    -countries @("us", "ca")

Will validate c:\apps\my.app with a library app c:\apps\mylib.app as an update to c:\prevApps\my.app and c:\prevApps\mylib.app requiring affixes fab or con for countries us and ca on the current version of Business Central and the version indicated by app.json.

Example #5 – a update to your apps – an app with a library app and a third party dependency app

Run-AlValidation `
    -licenseFile $licenseFile `
    -installApps @("c:\thirdparty\licensing.app") `
    -previousApps @("c:\prevApps\my.app", "c:\prevApps\mylib.app") `
    -apps @("C:\apps\my.app", "c:\apps\mylib.app") `
    -affixes @("fab", "con") `
    -countries @("us", "ca")

Will validate c:\apps\my.app with a library app c:\apps\mylib.app and a dependency to c:\thirdparty\licensing.app as an update to c:\prevApps\my.app and c:\prevApps\mylib.app requiring affixes fab or con for countries us and ca on the current version of Business Central and the version indicated by app.json.

Enjoy

Freddy Kristiansen
Technical Evangelist

35 thoughts on “How to use Run-AlValidation”

  1. Hi Freddy,

    Very useful this function. Anyway, you say that this pipeline is the one that passes AppSource Validation, but it does not run any test.

    Does the Microsoft test validation just run in another pipeline?
    To be sure that the Microsoft test validation is the same as in my environment, should I just execute the Run-TestsInNavContainer.ps1 function in the navcontainerhelper?

    Kind regards,

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    Reply ↓

  2. Pingback: How to use Run-AlValidation | Pardaan.com

  3. Pingback: How to use Run-AlValidation - StackJourney

  4. Hello Freddy,
    I have one question regarding the RUN-ALValidation.
    How is this one different to RUN-ALPipeline? Are there any distinct differences between those scripts?

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    Reply ↓

    • Run-AlPipeline is a CI pipeline, which builds the app based on source files, typically using a fixed version to build against.
      Run-AlValidation runs self validation on a set of .app files (to give you the opportunity to validate your app against multiple versions and countries in one go)

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      Reply ↓

      • Aha ok thanks a lot, I just had the impression that the Run-AlPipeline had the validations integrated as well. Thanks a lot for the clarification 🙂

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  5. Hi Freddy
    I am trying to run RUN-Alvalidation on Azure pipeline
    but coming this error

    Run-AlValidation -licenseFile $licenseFile -apps $AppPath -affixes $P …
    | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    | The term ‘Run-AlValidation’ is not recognized as a name of a
    | cmdlet, function, script file, or executable program. Check
    | the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify
    | that the path is correct and try again.

    is there any comment?

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    Reply ↓

  6. Hi Freddy,

    When I run command, I get the error:
    Cannot install the extension because the tenant default already uses a different version of it.

    Command:
    $validationResults = Run-AlValidation `
    -licenseFile $licenseFile `
    -validateCurrent `
    -previousApps $MyPreviousAppPath `
    -apps $MyNewAppPath `
    -countries “VN” `
    -affixes “DIC” `
    $validationResults | Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red

    BCCointainerHelp Version: 2.0.11
    image mcr.microsoft.com/businesscentral:10.0.17763.437
    bcartifacts: 18.0.23013.24873

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  7. Hi Freddy,
    Some of our apps are available for “all markets” (currently 44 countries).
    Should I indicate all 44 countries in the “-countries” parameter or is there a way for me to validate against w1?
    Thanks

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  8. Hi Freddy,
    I am using below script but it does nothing .

    $validationResults = Run-AlValidation `
    -licenseFile $licencePath `
    -installApps @($AppPath) `
    -previousApps @($PrevAppPath) `
    -apps @($NewAppPath) `
    -countries @(“US”) `
    $validationResults | Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red

    When I run the above script, it gives below result . Is I am doing something wrong?

    Pulling mcr.microsoft.com/businesscentral:10.0.19042.985

    Pulling generic image took 1 seconds

    AL Validation finished in 0 seconds

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  9. Hi Freddy, As far as I have tested the command Run-AlValidation cannot process the Testing Apps as the testing Toolkit is not installed. To my knowledge the Test Apps are not processed during validation but we still have to provide the Test App. Therefore it would make sense to be able to include the test app in this check. We had a case where the Test App could not be compiled but did not notice it and I always got an error using Run-AlValidation when the Test App has been included.

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  10. Hi Freddy,

    I am suddenly getting an error when executing the Run-AlValidation. The error is “error AL1040: The guid number ” does not match the expected pattern: “^[0-9a-fA-F]{8}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{12}$”. App generation failed with exit code 1″. I can’t seem to find any info regarding AL1040.

    Best Regards,
    Paul

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  11. Hi Freddy,
    I’m running ALValidation and for the 3rd party app, the provider has sent me only the runtime package. I tried to run ALValidation with it and it fails. I have also tried to run the validation using the alpackage generated in my local server, after downloading the symbols. No sucess also.
    My question is: can I do it with the runtime package or my 3rd party app must be a “real” app?
    Thanks

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  12. Hi Freddy,

    I’m running on the BcContainerHelper version 2.0.15 and I got an error AL1040 : The guid number ” does not match the expected pattern: “^[0-9a-fA-F]{8}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-f
    A-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{12}$”. The app is already published in the appsource I’m just adding library app in the AL validation both app getting the same error.

    Thanks,
    Glenn

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  13. Hi Freddy,

    I am trying to run the validation with validateNextMajor parameter. It looks like the sas token is required for that. So, I was trying to find the BC Insider package in Collaborate (Partner Center), but couldn’t find it. I also tried the URL you provided in this blog (https://partner.microsoft.com/en-us/dashboard/collaborate/packages/9387), but it returned error 404. Do you have an updated URL for the package?

    Thanks,

    Joe

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