File Transform task does not work in Release pipeline for Xamarin.Forms

Question

I am trying to deploy a Xamarin.Forms application using Azure DevOps. Before actual deployment, I need to use File Transform task to change values in a json file. I provide a path to .apk (for Android) or to .ipa (for iOS) in the "Package or folder" field of the task. I get the following error:

Invalidwebapppackageorfolderpathprovided D:\a\r1\a_Android App-CI\drop\Release\com.somename.mobile.apk

Does it mean that I cannot use File Transform with .apk and .ipa, and the only type allowed is .zip?

P.S. I have this task in the release pipeline rather than in build pipeline for a reason.

Answer 1

Does it mean that I cannot use File Transform with .apk and .ipa, and the only type allowed is .zip?

Yes, you are right. This task does not support the .apk and .ipa file.

You could check the source code for this task on the github, you could find following code snippet:

import path = require('path');
import { Package } from 'azure-pipelines-tasks-webdeployment-common/packageUtility';

For the { Package }, we check the code from azure-pipelines-tasks-webdeployment-common/packageUtility.ts file:

packageUtility.ts

export enum PackageType {
    war,
    zip,
    jar,
    folder
}

So, the type allowed are war zip jar folder but not .apk and .ipa.