Azure Pipeline - nested tasks or other way to run task for selected hosts

Question

I have parameter "parameters.affectedHosts" with 4 hosts:

${{ parameters.affectedHosts }} = "host1, host2, host3, host4"

I need to check if Edge is installed and then install if not. Is there any option to upload artifact only to hosts that don't have Egde installed? For now it upload Artifact to all hosts from "parameters.affectedHosts" :(

    # check if Edge is already installed
    - task: PowerShellOnTargetMachines@3
      displayName: "Check if MS Edge is already installed"
      inputs:
        Machines: ${{ parameters.affectedHosts }}
        UserName: '$(User)'
        UserPassword: '$(Pass)'
        ScriptType: 'inline'
        InlineScript: |
          if (Test-Path -Path "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge") {
            Write-Host "************* Edge installed *************"
            # SET goWithInstall TO "false"
            #write-host "##vso[task.setvariable variable=goWithInstall]false"
            #$hl = "1234567890"
            #write-host "##vso[task.setvariable variable=newHostList]$(newHostList)$hl-$env:computername"                
          } else {
            Write-Host "************* Edge not installed *************"
            # SET goWithInstall TO "true"
            #write-host "##vso[task.setvariable variable=goWithInstall]true"                
          }
        CommunicationProtocol: 'Http'

    # Download Edge to the agent, this should run only for host with no Edge
    - task: DownloadPackage@1
      displayName: 'Download Edge artifact'
      #condition: and(succeeded(), eq(variables['goWithInstall'], 'true'))
      inputs:
        packageType: 'upack'
        feed: '4564356-45645-3456-456-ghdfghdfgh/dfgh-dfgh-dgfh-dfgh-dfghdfghdfgh'
        view: 'dfghdfgh-dfghfg-4d4c-dfgh-dfghdfghdfgh'
        definition: '4b40429d-865a-456d-ba0b-05ff4a860023'
        version: '98.0.1108.50'
        downloadPath: '$(System.ArtifactsDirectory)'

    # Copy Edge to target host, this should run only for host with no Edge
    - task: WindowsMachineFileCopy@2
      displayName: 'Copy Edge files to the target server'
      #condition: and(succeeded(), eq(variables['goWithInstall'], 'true'))
      inputs:
        SourcePath: '$(System.ArtifactsDirectory)'
        MachineNames: '${{ parameters.affectedHosts }}'
        AdminUserName: '$(User)'
        AdminPassword: '$(Pass)'
        TargetPath: 'D:\Tools'
        CleanTargetBeforeCopy: false

But lets imagine that I have written 4 hosts in parameters.affectedHosts:

${{ parameters.affectedHosts }} = "host1, host2, host3 host4"

When I check hosts for Edge I see that Edge is installed on host2 and host4 but not on host1 and host3. Is there any options to run task with uploading artifact only for host1 and host3? Because now, when this task with Edge verification runs, it sets:

for host 1 - goWithInstall = "true"

for host 2 - goWithInstall = "false"

for host 3 - goWithInstall = "true"

for host 4 - goWithInstall = "false"

and I guess it is random and depent which host will be checked as last. So it could be that last checked host can be host4 with installed Edge, goWithInstall will be set to "false" and next tasks with installation will not run.

Answer 1

Based on the definition that you shared, the condition variable should work. Please uncomment the Write-Host commands and the condition in the subsequent tasks. Kindly refer to my test script below.

    - task: PowerShell@2
      inputs:
        targetType: 'inline'
        script: |
          if (Test-Path -Path "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge") {
                      Write-Host "************* Edge installed *************"
                      # SET goWithInstall TO "false"
                      write-host "##vso[task.setvariable variable=goWithInstall]false"
                          
                    } else {
                      Write-Host "************* Edge not installed *************"
                      # SET goWithInstall TO "true"
                      write-host "##vso[task.setvariable variable=goWithInstall]true"                
                    }
    - task: CmdLine@2
      condition: and(succeeded(), eq(variables['goWithInstall'], 'true'))
      inputs:
        script: |
          echo goWithInstall value is $(goWithInstall)
    - task: CmdLine@2
      condition: and(succeeded(), eq(variables['goWithInstall'], 'false'))
      inputs:
        script: |
          echo goWithInstall value is $(goWithInstall)

The first commandline task was skippied as the value of goWithInstall was false