Test Environment Data in Chef Integration tests with PowerShell/Pester

I was reviewing a set of integration tests for a cookbook the other day and realized I had hard-coded a folder name in the test .  Pester Integration Test The test was passing because the hard-coded folder and the folder used in the recipe matched.  What happens if we change the folder in the future?  …

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Deploying SQL Scripts with MSDeploy

I’ve posted previously about deploying SQL database schema changes with MSDeploy but glossed over deploying custom SQL scripts.  That post explained how to extend MSBuild for your deployments but its even easier now with the release of the MSDeployAllTheThings Nuget packages: Setup The basic steps to setup a SQL script deployment are as follows: 1 …

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2017 Summer User Group Talks

Over the next few months I will be speaking for several user groups virtually.  I’ve never done remote presentations for user groups  but am excited to try it out.  Seems like a great way to meet new folks and reach the broader community. June 14th – MTUG Script Club (Norway): Configuration management with Chef, Kitchen, …

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ChefDK 1.4.3 Upgrade

I finally found some time to upgrade and test ChefDK 1.3 from 1.2.22 this weekend.  When I went to download the bits I found 1.4.3 is now the latest stable release.  Chef moves fast! The install was quick and painless, as usual. Chef Development Kit Version: 1.4.3chef-client version: 12.19.36delivery version: master (41b94ffb5efd33723cf72a89bf4d273c8151c9dc)berks version: 5.6.4kitchen version: …

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Reducing Feature Test Time

Back in the day, we would spend weeks, sometimes months, manually testing applications for regressions after adding new or changing features. So, we started our Continuous Delivery journey with a new definition of done 4 years ago: All new feature development must also have automated feature tests. At the time we utilized CodedUI (Microsoft’s user …

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Visual Studio Extension Debug Issue – Initialize never called

In updating my Parameterization Preview extension this week I had a problem where debugging the extension didn’t work.  Debugging would startup a new instance of Studio with the extension installed but the Initialize method in my Package was never called.  After some searching I couldn’t find any options to fix it or others with the …

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Parameterization Preview v1.3 Released with VS2017 Support!

A couple years ago I created an extension to Visual Studio for previewing config transformations similar to the old config transform preview feature.  We have found this tools really helpful at work for converting from config transforms to parameterization and generally to preview config parameterizations. This week I upgraded the extension to include support for …

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