Build sqlproj on Azure DevOps - build

Question

I'm trying to use Azure DevOps Pipelines to build my .NET Core 2.1 solution from GitHub. It includes a SQL project that has a TargetFrameworkVersion of v4.6.2. This project always fails to build.
Build FAILED.
/home/vsts/work/1/s/MySolution/MyDatabase/MyDatabase.sqlproj : warning NU1503: Skipping restore for project '/home/vsts/work/1/s/MySolution/MyDatabase/MyDatabase.sqlproj'. The project file may be invalid or missing targets required for restore. [/home/vsts/work/1/s/MySolution/MySolution.sln]
/home/vsts/work/1/s/MySolution/MyDatabase/MyDatabase.sqlproj(57,3): error MSB4019: The imported project "/usr/share/dotnet/sdk/2.1.403/Microsoft/VisualStudio/v15.0/SSDT/Microsoft.Data.Tools.Schema.SqlTasks.targets" was not found. Confirm that the path in the <Import> declaration is correct, and that the file exists on disk.
1 Warning(s)
1 Error(s)
How do I reference or include those targets for the build server? It builds fine in VS2017. I've spent more than a day hunting and cannot find any information on this problem.

Answer 1

Thanks to Herman Cordes for directing my investigation.
The problem was the selected build server. SSDT is a Windows-only package, so I had to use a Windows VM instead of the default Ubuntu VM, and use the VSBuild#1 task instead of DotNetCoreCLI#2.
azure-pipelines.yml
pool:
vmImage: 'vs2017-win2016'
steps:
- task: VSBuild#1
displayName: 'vsbuild $(buildConfiguration)'
inputs:
configuration: $(buildConfiguration)
EDIT: The MSBuild#1 task also works.

Answer 2

Here is a solution for linux build agent
Easiest way to build DacPac file on a linux agent is done via MSBuild.Sdk.SqlProj
Go to your database project directory in parallel to .sqlproj file create a directory like DB.Build under it create DB.Build.csproj copy.pase the content as below
<Project Sdk="MSBuild.Sdk.SqlProj/1.1.0"> <!-- This will pull in the required tools and dependencies to build a .dacpac with .NET Core -->
<PropertyGroup>
<TargetFramework>netstandard2.0</TargetFramework>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="..\src\DB\masterdata\**\*.sql" /> <!-- link in the new .csproj to the .sql scripts in your existing database project -->
</ItemGroup>
</Project>
After run you will see dacpac file appears under DB.Build/bin/Release/netstandard2.0/DB.Build.dacpac
Here's my build agent output (Ubuntu agent on Azure devops)
Starting: SQL DB build Release
==============================================================================
Task : .NET Core
Description : Build, test, package, or publish a dotnet application, or run a custom dotnet command
Version : 2.187.0
Author : Microsoft Corporation
Help : https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/devops/pipelines/tasks/build/dotnet-core-cli
==============================================================================
Info: .NET Core SDK/runtime 2.2 and 3.0 are now End of Life(EOL) and have been removed from all hosted agents. If you're using these SDK/runtimes on hosted agents, kindly upgrade to newer versions which are not EOL, or else use UseDotNet task to install the required version.
/opt/hostedtoolcache/dotnet/dotnet build /home/vsts/work/1/s/src/RecommenderAPI.DB/RecommenderAPI.DB/RecommenderAPI.DB.Build/RecommenderAPI.DB.Build.csproj -dl:CentralLogger,"/home/vsts/work/_tasks/DotNetCoreCLI_5541a522-603c-47ad-91fc-a4b1d163081b/2.187.0/dotnet-build-helpers/Microsoft.TeamFoundation.DistributedTask.MSBuild.Logger.dll"*ForwardingLogger,"/home/vsts/work/_tasks/DotNetCoreCLI_5541a522-603c-47ad-91fc-a4b1d163081b/2.187.0/dotnet-build-helpers/Microsoft.TeamFoundation.DistributedTask.MSBuild.Logger.dll" --configuration Release /p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:WebPublishMethod=Package /p:PackageAsSingleFile=true /p:SkipInvalidConfigurations=true /p:PackageLocation=/home/vsts/work/1/recommender-service-cicd/DacPac/
Microsoft (R) Build Engine version 16.5.0+d4cbfca49 for .NET Core
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Restore completed in 51.72 ms for /home/vsts/work/1/s/src/RecommenderAPI.DB/RecommenderAPI.DB/RecommenderAPI.DB.Build/RecommenderAPI.DB.Build.csproj.
Using package name RecommenderAPI.DB.Build and version 1.0.0
Using SQL Server version Sql150
Deleting existing file /home/vsts/work/1/s/src/RecommenderAPI.DB/RecommenderAPI.DB/RecommenderAPI.DB.Build/obj/Release/netstandard2.0/RecommenderAPI.DB.Build.dacpac
Writing model to /home/vsts/work/1/s/src/RecommenderAPI.DB/RecommenderAPI.DB/RecommenderAPI.DB.Build/obj/Release/netstandard2.0/RecommenderAPI.DB.Build.dacpac
RecommenderAPI.DB.Build -> /home/vsts/work/1/s/src/RecommenderAPI.DB/RecommenderAPI.DB/RecommenderAPI.DB.Build/bin/Release/netstandard2.0/RecommenderAPI.DB.Build.dacpac
Build succeeded.
0 Warning(s)
0 Error(s)
Time Elapsed 00:00:01.71
Finishing: SQL DB build Release
Note: Make sure to restore you NuGet packages in step prior to build
Your ADO pipeline manifest should look like this:
...
- task: DotNetCoreCLI#2
displayName: 'Restore SQL Project'
inputs:
command: 'restore'
projects: '**/*DB*/*.csproj'
feedsToUse: 'select'
vstsFeed: 'db-feed'
...
- task: DotNetCoreCLI#2
displayName: 'SQL DB build $(buildConfiguration)'
inputs:
command: build
projects: '**/*DB*/*.csproj'
platform: '$(buildPlatform)'
arguments: '--configuration $(buildConfiguration) /p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:WebPublishMethod=Package /p:PackageAsSingleFile=true /p:SkipInvalidConfigurations=true /p:PackageLocation=$(Pipeline.Workspace)/$(pipelineArtifactName)/DacPac/'

Answer 3

I was having the exact same issue building a SQL Server project on an Azure DevOps CI/CD pipeline. None of the pre-built build tasks would work for me!
I solved this by avoiding to add a SQL Server project to the solution.
I achieved this by using an MSBuild SDK, capable of producing a SQL Server Data-Tier Application package (.dacpac) from the set of SQL scripts. By adding this second project to the solution, I managed to continue taking advantage of linking the project to a live database through SQL Server Object Explorer on Visual Studio. I gave a more detailed explanation about my implementation in this answer.