Jenkins global variables - jenkins

I'm trying to use global variables within Jenkins on Windows to "automagically" retrieve the proper code base from our SCM system, but in each case that I've tried the variable substitution is not happening.
I've set up some global variables, with default values, within "Configure System" and have tried to access them with $VARIABLE, ${VARIABLE} and %VARIABLE% as part of the Branch field for the Surround SCM plugin with no success whatsoever.
I've also installed the Global Variable String Parameter plugin with the same success rate (0%). Using a literal value works just fine, but no type of variable substitution seems to work at all and I'm sure that someone has come upon this before and resolved it.
I've tried searching for something similar to this but nothing really approaches this usage of globals, instead it is normally discussed as a function within an external script, or parameter passed to a batch file, etc.
I've run "set" as the first step and can see that the variable is available, but the substitution is just not happening. If it means I will have to script something, then so be it, as I am trying to make this extremely flexible and as headache free as possible, but that isn't seeming to be the case in this case thus far.
My problem is eerily similar to this post: How are environment variables used in Jenkins with Windows Batch Command?, but again, I'm not looking to script this as it is a MUCH simpler solution to use the variable values directly.

from https://wiki.jenkins-ci.org/display/JENKINS/Surround+SCM+Plugin
Troubleshooting
Please contact Seapine support with questions about the integration or
to report bugs or feature requests.

Set your Jenkins project to be parameterized. Create a string parameter GIT_BRANCH that will be your branch variable (for example).
Under Source Control Management, use your branch variable in the form $GIT_BRANCH
That’s it. When you run your project, you will be prompted to enter a value for your GIT_BRANCH parameter.

Related

Jenkins: Pass environment variable to the job parameter

Since I have the same static rarely changed parameters used by several jobs I decided to put it somewhere in one place of my Jenkins and use it across jobs.
The first thought that came to my mind was to move my 'static data' to the environment variables and get it using Active choice reactive parameter plugin which allows running simple groovy scripts on the job parameters page.
Please note that I know how to get environment parameters in the pipeline, but I do really need to have this data on the build with parameters screen, e.g. once I clicked build with parameters - I need my groovy code inside Active choice reactive parameter was able to read this environment variable and display as a parameter to the user.
A simple example of this need:
The environment variable contains the list of servers, the job is going to perform deployment of the application to the selected server. In this case, I want to be able to write something like this in the groovy script section of Active choice reactive parameter:
return[${env.SERVERS_LIST}]
Unfortunately the example above doesn't work. I wasn't able to find any working solution for this yet.
Well, after a few more tries I finally found a solution.
Instead of trying to read the environment variable in the pipeline manner the simple
return [SERVERS_LIST]
works perfect

FAKE get TeamCity build branch

I'm constructing some build scripts using FAKE for a TeamCity setup. Part of my build requires me to access the teamcity.build.branch parameter, however because it's not an environment variable, I'm not sure how to access it.
I've tried adding %teamcity.build.branch% to an environment variable in TeamCity but it doesn't seem to like that. I also can't access it using the FAKE git module because team city agents don't use git to get the project files, TeamCity hands it to them.
How would I go about getting the teamcity.build.branch parameter through to my FAKE scripts? Ideally I'd like it as an environment variable so I can pick it up straight from within the script, but I'm open to any other ideas.
Try passing %teamcity.build.branch% as a parameter in your build step.
I figured it out with a bit of help from #Nadeem's answer.
I now have my build.bat/cmd file taking in a parameter which I'm then passing into my Fake.exe call like so:
"packages\FAKE\tools\Fake.exe" build.fsx branch=%1
Then inside my FAKE code I'm using the getBuildParamOrDefault "branch" <default branch here>.
I'm then using this as the branch name. I'm also using a string split on the build param that comes in because normally it's in the format of ref/head/<branch name> and I only want the branch name.
I also had to pass in %teamcity.build.vcs.branch.<project>% instead of %teamcity.build.branch% as my agents didn't like the implicit requirement. I'm not entire sure why this is but all is working well now.

Setting custom build in Jenkins

I'm trying to create custom build format in Jenkins. My build ideally would have the ${GIT_TAG}.${BUILD_NUMBER}
I've installed the buildnamesetter plugin, https://wiki.jenkins-ci.org/display/JENKINS/Build+Name+Setter+Plugin.
However I can't figure out how can I access the build parameters, there is a way to access the environment parameters but not the build ones.
Eventually all I get with ${GIT_TAG}.${BUILD_NUMBER} is the running number of the build such as: #24 and error in the execution log:
Unrecognized macro 'GIT_TAG' in '${GIT_TAG}.${BUILD_NUMBER}'
I might be looking in the wrong direction and different plugin can be used, any help will be appreciated.
I'm still stuck since I have a requirement to have additional parameter as in the build number string and this one is selected by the user from Choice Parameter and Choice Parameter can't be converted to be environment AFAIK. Any ideas would be very appreciated.
Ok, finally after struggling for few hours seems that solution was found I'll post it here in case it might help to someone else:
Need the following plugins:
build-name-setter
Create your run time parameter that set by the user
Use the following built in Jenkins functionality to prepare the environment before the run:
Set the Properties Content to have any parameter that your user/script supplies and you would like it to be ENV parameter
How I used it:
When referring the env parameter in the build-name-setter plugin use the following example as reference on how to access the environment parameters ${ENV,var="SELECTED_DEVICE"}
How I used it:

Using environment variables with Jenkins

I'm building a group of projects from the SVN. There is a possibility of changing the SVN location time to time. As there are bunch of projects I hope to give the repository url with a environment variable so i can change all the url's easily. Any idea how to do that??
In Subversion Source Code Management, you can use variable in the Repository URL, simply type:
http://my.svn.com/path/to/${VARIABLE}
${VARIABLE} is a job parameters that is defined earlier. Never heard of anyone wanting to use actual environment variables for this, but you can try with the same syntax.
By default, it will give you a red warning that this is not a valid URL. You can disable this warning by going to Manage Jenkins -> Configure System and look for Validate repository URLs up to the first variable name. Put a checkmark there and save.

Is there a way to set multiple parameters with one choice in jenkins

I am trying to manage a jenkins build where a user may select to build either from master, or a specific branch. There are several variables that need to be set depending on what the user chooses. I've spent all day trying to find any reasonable way of doing this, and the best thing I've come up with is offering the user two dropdowns populated with low level parameter values.
I think you can just set up two jobs by using different branch, that will be better, since different branch might will has different datamodel, setup a different schema for each of them will make more sense.
You could use the environment script plugin and execute a shell script to define and populate your build variables.
Have a look at the Extensible Choice Parameter Plugin. The global choice parameter might be exactly what you want.
You make a single choice parameter and than add "Inject environment variables" step specifying MyBuildConfig\${ChosenParameter}.prop in Properties File Path. Create such a file for each of the choice options. Finally, specify additional variables you want to set together with particular chosen parameter in each of the created files.

Resources