YAML Implicit keys need to be on a single line, Implicit map keys need to be followed by map values

Question

trigger:
- develop

pool:
  vmImage: windows-2019

- task: MSBuild@1
  inputs:
    solution: '**/*.sln'
- task: DownloadBuildArtifacts@1
  inputs:
    buildType: 'current'
    downloadType: 'single'
    itemPattern: '**/*.exe'
    downloadPath: '$(System.ArtifactsDirectory)'

I get an error with this YAML in both Azure DevOps and using the YAML extension for VS Code. I'm trying to build a Windows Service and then put the .exe file somewhere that I can download it.

Azure DevOps: VSCode

Error:

Implicit keys need to be on a single line, Implicit map keys need to be followed by map values

Daman

Can you please paste the full yaml? From the screenshot it looks like something is wrong with line 10, but line 8 is lit red too. – Replenish

Added image of full YAML. It's also in the question body. – Daman

thanks, maybe you could also try to use a code block for your code snippet. meta.#251861 – Replenish

Just a note, this error is generic, and in my case it was because of tab/spaces mixes (so nothing to do with the key) hope it helps. – Wellfavored

Answer 1

Although the error looks some what confusing, your are missing the keyword steps.

trigger:
- develop

pool: 
  vmImage: windows-2019

steps:
- task: MSBuild@1 
  inputs: 
    solution: '**/*.sln'
- task: DownloadBuildArtifacts@1 
  inputs: 
    buildType: 'current' 
    downloadType: 'single' 
    itemPattern: '**/*.exe' 
    downloadPath: '$(System.ArtifactsDirectory)' 

Replenish

Answer 2

We've just run into the same error and it was being caused by invisible characters that appeared when we copied the code over from a Teams chat. We've removed these "spaces" and replaced them with regular spaces and it worked.

Lighten

Answer 3

When I ran into this error, it was caused by the next line having an extra level of indentation.

Exact error text:

Nested mappings are not allowed in compact mappingsYAML
Implicit keys need to be on a single line

Incorrect

    MultiStockQtysResponse:
      type: array
      items:
        type: object
          required: [standardID, storeCode, qtyAvailable]

Correct

    MultiStockQtysResponse:
      type: array
      items:
        type: object
        required: [standardID, storeCode, qtyAvailable]

The error started on the line with type: object, but un-indenting required... fixed the error.

Schuck