azure devops - Is there a way to use VSTS Variable Groups per environment?

Question

I'm moving my configuration from using web.config transforms to being based on VSTS variables. I get process variables, you define a variable, pick an environment, and you're good to go. I also see "Variable Groups", these seem great, have KeyVault integration, and overall seem like a much better option.

But...I don't see a way to bind a Variable Group to a specific environment in my VSTS release process. I can't honestly see how these would be any use to me without this feature.

I've experimented with one workaround, but it didn't work. I tried:

• Naming my variable group & variables with an environment prefix e.g.
  • Variable Group Name="Production ConnectionStrings"
  • Variable name="Production_LoggingConnectionString"
  • I thought once I linked the "Production_ConnectionStrings" variable, I could reference $(Production_LoggingConnectionString) from within a standard Process variable, but this didn't work.

I think I could come up with some powershell that would do something like the above and set variables, but this seems a bit too custom for me.

Does anyone else have an idea that I can use variable groups per environment, easily, without waiting around for VSTS to build this feature (if ever). Btw, if you want this feature, there is a suggestion here you can upvote: Make it possible to link a variable group to a specific environment in a release definition

Answer 1

This has now been implemented in VSTS variable groups as scopes. Go to your release definition -> Variables -> Variable Groups -> Link variable group, and you get the link window as below, where you can choose the scope to be either release or one or more of your environments!

I did not manage to find any release information on this feature, I just stumbled upon it as I was tweaking my releases.