Publishing Your Documentation through Git and Azure DevOps

In this tutorial, we'll focus on the essential skills needed to publish your documentation by integrating your local changes with a remote Git repository and utilizing an Azure DevOps pipeline for deployment. This process will involve managing local changes, pushing those changes to a repository, and submitting a pull request. The tutorial assumes the presence of an Azure DevOps pipeline that automatically converts and publishes the documentation upon changes to the repository. You don't need to understand the pipeline or build process in detail; instead, we'll concentrate on the Git workflow that interacts with it.

Setting Up Your Local Environment

Before you start, ensure you have Git installed on your local machine and have access to your Azure DevOps repository. If you're new to Git, you might want to familiarize yourself with basic commands (git clone, git add, git commit, git push) and concepts (repositories, branches, commits).

Cloning the Repository

1. Find the Repository URL: Navigate to your Azure DevOps project, and locate the repository URL.
2. Clone the Repository: Open your terminal or command prompt, navigate to the directory where you want to work, and clone the repository using git clone <repository-URL>. This command copies the repository to your local machine.

Managing Local Changes

After setting up your local environment and making changes to your documentation in VS Code, it's time to manage these changes using Git.

Adding Changes

1. Review Changes: Use git status to see which files you've changed.
2. Stage Changes: To prepare your changes for a commit, use git add <file-name> for individual files or git add . to add all changes.

Committing Changes

Once you've staged your changes, you need to commit them with a message describing what you've done:

git commit -m "Updated documentation for feature XYZ"

Pushing Changes and Submitting a Pull Request

After committing your changes, you're ready to share them with your team by pushing them to the repository.

Pushing Changes

1. Push to Remote: Use git push to upload your commits to the remote repository. If you're working on a specific branch, you might need to set the upstream branch with git push --set-upstream origin <branch-name>.

Creating a Pull Request

A pull request (PR) is a way to propose changes to a repository. It allows your team to review the changes before they become part of the main project.

1. Navigate to Your Repository: Go to Azure DevOps, and open your project's repository.
2. Create a New Pull Request: Find and click the "New pull request" button. Select the branch with your changes and the branch you want to merge into (usually the main branch).
3. Fill Out the PR Form: Add a title and description for your pull request. Specify any reviewers if needed.
4. Submit the Pull Request: Once you've filled out the form, submit your pull request.

Conclusion

You've now gone through the process of managing local changes, pushing those changes to a repository, and submitting a pull request using Git and Azure DevOps. This workflow is crucial for maintaining up-to-date and accurate documentation. Once your pull request is approved and merged, the Azure DevOps pipeline will automatically handle the conversion and publication of your documentation, making it accessible to your audience.

In our next tutorial, we'll discuss best practices for maintaining your documentation, ensuring it remains an effective resource for your users over time.