Visual Studio Templates Release Workflow

Quick Reference

  • Workflow file: .github/workflows/templates-release.yml
  • Workflow name: Visual Studio Templates Release
  • Triggers: push (template-related paths), workflow_dispatch
  • Runner: windows-2025-vs2026
  • Permissions: contents: write
  • Environment: production

Overview

The templates-release.yml workflow builds and publishes Visual Studio template artifacts (ZIP templates and VSIX package) to GitHub Releases.

  • Workflow file: .github/workflows/templates-release.yml
  • Workflow name: Visual Studio Templates Release
  • Runner: windows-2025-vs2026
  • Environment: production

Purpose

  • Package Krypton item/project templates in distributable formats.
  • Build a VSIX installer for one-click template installation in Visual Studio.
  • Publish channel-specific artifacts to GitHub Releases.

Triggers

The workflow runs on:

  • push to master, alpha, canary, V110
  • only when files under Templates/** or the workflow file itself change
  • manual trigger via workflow_dispatch

Kill Switch

Variable: TEMPLATES_RELEASE_DISABLED

  • true -> workflow logs warning and exits via step gating.
  • false or unset -> workflow proceeds.

Location: Repository Settings -> Secrets and variables -> Actions -> Variables.

Channel Resolution

Release metadata is derived from the source branch:

  • master -> stable
  • canary -> canary
  • alpha -> alpha
  • V110 -> current
  • other branches -> dev-<sanitized-branch>

The workflow computes:

  • release tag
  • release title
  • prerelease flag
  • build-stamped template version (<channel>-<UTC timestamp>)
  • VSIX version (110.0.MMdd.HHmm)

Artifacts Produced

The workflow creates:

  1. Item template zip: Krypton Form
  2. Item template zip: Krypton Ribbon Form
  3. Project template zip: Krypton WinForms App
  4. Project template zip: Krypton Ribbon WinForms App
  5. Bundle zip of full Templates tree
  6. VSIX package built from Templates/Vsix/Krypton.Templates.Vsix

All artifacts are also uploaded as workflow artifacts using actions/upload-artifact@v4.

VSIX Build Details

Before building VSIX:

  • The workflow updates source.extension.vsixmanifest version dynamically.
  • It writes UTF-8 content without BOM handling issues.

Build execution:

  • dotnet restore on VSIX project
  • dotnet msbuild with:
    • Configuration=Release
    • DeployExtension=false
    • VsixVersion=<computed>

Publishing

Publishing uses softprops/action-gh-release@v2:

  • tag_name and release metadata from resolved channel.
  • make_latest=true only for stable channel.
  • Existing files are overwritten (overwrite_files: true).

Release body includes installation guidance and asset list.

Permissions and Safety

  • Permission scope: contents: write
  • No external package publication (NuGet) in this workflow.
  • Environment protection (production) can enforce approvals.

Troubleshooting

Workflow skips immediately

Check TEMPLATES_RELEASE_DISABLED.

Missing artifact errors

Check template directories exist:

  • Templates/ItemTemplates/KryptonForm
  • Templates/ItemTemplates/KryptonRibbonForm
  • Templates/ProjectTemplates/KryptonWinFormsApp
  • Templates/ProjectTemplates/KryptonRibbonWinFormsApp
  • Templates/README.md

VSIX not produced

Check:

  • VSIX project path and manifest path exist.
  • Manifest version replacement succeeded.
  • Build logs under VSIX build step.