Part 3: Unlocking the Potential of Pull Requests with Azure Repos

Introduction to Azure Repos and Pull Requests

Azure Repos is part of the Azure DevOps suite, a set of collaborative development tools provided by Microsoft. It offers unlimited Git repository hosting with pull request features that allow for collaborative code reviews, comments, and more. Azure Repos seamlessly integrates with Azure Pipelines, Microsoft’s cloud-based continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) platform.

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Creating a Pull Request in Azure Repos

To create a pull request in Azure Repos, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to your Azure DevOps project and choose ‘Repos’ from the sidebar.
2. Select the source and target branches from the top panel.
3. Click on ‘New pull request.’
4. Fill in the title, description, and add any reviewers.
5. Click ‘Create’ to create the pull request.

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Automated Checks with Azure Repos and Azure Pipelines

Azure Repos can be easily configured to run automated checks through Azure Pipelines. Here’s an example azure-pipelines.yml file that you can add to your repository:

trigger:
  branches:
    exclude:
    - '*'

pr:
  branches:
    include:
    - 'master'
    - 'stage'


jobs:
- job: BuildAndTest
  pool:
    vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'

  steps:
  - checkout: self
  - script: |
      echo "Write your build and test commands here."Code language: PHP (php)

In Azure Pipelines:

1. Navigate to your Azure DevOps project and go to ‘Pipelines.’
2. Click ‘New Pipeline.’
3. Connect it to your Azure Repos repository and select the azure-pipelines.yml file.

This will automatically run your pipeline whenever a pull request is created or updated, and the status will be displayed in Azure Repos.

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Approving and Rejecting Pull Requests

Azure Repos allows you to set branch policies, including minimum number of reviewers, required successful builds, and work item linking. These help ensure that only approved and validated code gets merged.

To approve a pull request:

1. Navigate to the pull request in Azure Repos.
2. Under ‘Reviewers,’ click ‘Approve.’

To reject a pull request:

1. Go to the pull request.
2. Leave a comment with your reasons.
3. Click ‘Reject.’

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Conclusion of Part 3

Azure Repos offers a comprehensive set of features for managing pull requests, including seamless integration with Azure Pipelines for automated checks. These capabilities make it a powerful tool for team collaboration, code quality, and streamlined development cycles.

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In the next section, we will look at how GitHub, the world’s leading platform for open-source software, handles pull requests and automated checks.

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This concludes Part 3, where we focused on Azure Repos. Stay tuned for an exploration of GitHub and AWS CodeCommit as we continue to delve into the intricacies of pull requests and automated checks across different platforms.