SharePoint solution ALM actions

This project is created for automating the deployment process of SharePoint solution packages to the App Catalog. This module uses the new ALM APIs that are available on SharePoint Online tenants.

More information about the Application Lifecycle Management (API) can be found here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/apis/alm-api-for-spfx-add-ins

Installation

Run the following command to install the node-sp-alm:

$ npm install node-sp-alm --save-exact

Usage

Once you installed this dependency to your project. You can make use of the following provides sample to add and deploy the solution package:

const sppkg = require('node-sp-alm');
const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');
 
const fileName = "solution-package.sppkg";
 
const spAlm = new sppkg.ALM({
  "username": "your-username",
  "password": "your-password",
  "tenant": "your-tenant-name (ex.: contoso)",
  "verbose": true
});
 
// Retrieve the solution package
const fileContent = fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, `./${fileName}`));
// First add the SharePoint package
const appData = await spAlm.add(fileName, fileContent);
console.log('Solution package added');
// Deploy the SharePoint package based on the package ID
await spAlm.deploy(appData.UniqueId, skipFeatureDeployment)
console.log('Solution package deployed');

Available actions

Currently the following actions are supported:

Action: list

List returns the available apps.

spAlm.list()

// OR 

spAlm.list(false)

Arguments:

1. Use the tenant app catalog or site-collection app catalog (not required - default: true -> uses the tenant app catalog)

Action: appDetails

Returns information about the provided solution package ID.

spAlm.appDetails("00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000");

// OR

spAlm.appDetails("00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000", false);

Arguments:

1. Package ID
2. Use the tenant app catalog or site-collection app catalog (not required - default: true -> uses the tenant app catalog)

Action: add

Adds the provided solution package to the app catalog.

spAlm.add(fileName, fileContent);

// OR 

spAlm.add(fileName, fileContent, true, false);

Arguments:

1. File name
2. File contents (Buffer)
3. Overwrite file in app catalog (not required - default: true)
4. Use the tenant app catalog or site-collection app catalog (not required - default: true -> uses the tenant app catalog)

Action: deploy

Deploys the previously added solution package.

deploy.deploy(pkgId, true)

// OR

deploy.deploy(pkgId, true, false)

Arguments:

1. Package ID
2. Skip feature deployment
3. Use the tenant app catalog or site-collection app catalog (not required - default: true -> uses the tenant app catalog)

More information about the skipFeatureDeployment option can be found here: Tenant-Scoped solution deployment for SharePoint Framework solutions.

Action: retract

Retracts the solution package.

spAlm.retract(pkgId)

// OR

spAlm.retract(pkgId, false)

Arguments:

1. Package ID
2. Use the tenant app catalog or site-collection app catalog (not required - default: true -> uses the tenant app catalog)

Action: remove

Removed the solution package.

spAlm.remove(pkgId)

// OR

spAlm.remove(pkgId, false)

Arguments:

1. Package ID
2. Use the tenant app catalog or site-collection app catalog (not required - default: true -> uses the tenant app catalog)

Action: install

Installs the solution package to the site.

spAlm.install(pkgId)

Arguments:

1. Package ID

Action: uninstall

Uninstalls the solution package from the site.

spAlm.uninstall(pkgId)

Arguments:

1. Package ID

Action: upgrade

Upgrades the solution package on the site.

spAlm.upgrade(pkgId)

Arguments:

1. Package ID

Action: getCatalogSites

Retrieve all available app catalog sites.

spAlm.getCatalogSites()

This returns the following object:

{
  'odata.metadata': string;
  value: [{
    'odata.type': string;
    'odata.id': string;
    'odata.editLink': string;
    AbsoluteUrl: string;
    SiteID: string;
  }]
}

Arguments / options

The following arguments / options can be passed for deploying the package.

username (required)

Type: String Default: ""

Sets the username to be used for the deployment.

password (required)

Type: String Default: ""

Sets the password to be used for the deployment.

tenant (optional)

Type: String Default: ""

Sets the tenant name to be used for the deployment. Example: https://<tenant>.sharepoint.com

Important: You have to specify this property or the absoluteUrl property

site (optional)

Type: String Default: ""

Specify the relative path to the app catalog site. Example: "sites/catalog"

absoluteUrl (optional)

Type: String Default: ""

Sets the absoluteUrl to the app catalog site that needs to be used for the deployment. Example: https://tenant.sharepoint.com/sites/catalog.

Important: You have to specify this property or the combination tenant and site property.

filename (optional)

Type: Boolean Default: false

Specify if you want to show the console logs.

Where can this be used?

This dependency can for example be used in your SharePoint Framework release process. Here is a sample gulp task that you can add to your SPFx project:

const sppkg = require('node-sp-alm');
const through = require('through2');
 
const environmentInfo = {
  "username": "",
  "password": "",
  "tenant": ""
}
 
build.task('add-deploy-sppkg', {
  execute: (config) => {
    environmentInfo.username = config.args['username'] || environmentInfo.username;
    environmentInfo.password = config.args['password'] || environmentInfo.password;
    environmentInfo.tenant = config.args['tenant'] || environmentInfo.tenant;
 
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
      // Retrieve the package solution file
      const pkgFile = require('./config/package-solution.json');
      // Get the solution name from the package file
      const solutionFile = pkgFile.paths.zippedPackage;
      const fileLocation = `./sharepoint/${solutionFile}`;
      // Retrieve the file name, this will be used for uploading the solution package to the app catalog
      const fileName = solutionFile.split('/').pop();
      // Retrieve the skip feature deployment setting from the package solution config file
      const skipFeatureDeployment = pkgFile.solution.skipFeatureDeployment ? pkgFile.solution.skipFeatureDeployment : false;
 
      const spAlm = new sppkg.ALM({
        "username": environmentInfo.username,
        "password": environmentInfo.password,
        "tenant": environmentInfo.tenant,
        "verbose": true
      });
 
      // Get the solution file and pass it to the ALM module
      return gulp.src(fileLocation).pipe(through.obj((file, enc, cb) => {
        spAlm.add(fileName, file.contents).then(data => {
          build.log('Solution package added');
          // Deploy the SharePoint package based on the package ID
          spAlm.deploy(data.UniqueId, skipFeatureDeployment).then(data => {
            build.log('Solution package deployed');
            cb(null, file);
          });
        });
      })).on('finish', resolve);
    });
  }
});

Once this task is in place, you can run it with: gulp add-deploy-sppkg or gulp add-deploy-sppkg --username "your-username" --password "your-password" --tenant "your-tenant".

More information about using arguments in SPFx gulp tasks can be found here: Passing arguments with custom Gulp tasks for SharePoint Framework projects.

Output of the task: