Is it possible to display custom variables in the build details and/or in the build activity/history page

Continua CI Discussion
#1

Hi Guys,

100% of our deployment process is currently running from within FinalBuilder 8 project(s) (Continua CI is only used to run it via a web interface by multiple deleopers) -
For this reason we would like to know:
Is there a way to display custom variables (In our case these will be passed from FB8 to Continua CI)
in the Build details page (http://continuaci.local/Server/ci/builds/view/616)
and/or in the build activity/history page (http://continuaci.local/Server/ci/configurations/view/QA)
I’m looking for ways the relevant information (git branch, commit id, other build summary details provided from FinalBuilder 8 to be displayed in an orderly fashion for the developers who run their builds.

Thanks!

#2

Build Tags and Comments are displayed on the Build Details page. Build Tags are also displayed on the Configuration Activity and History page.

These can be updated using the Tag Build and Log Entry actions in Continua CI.

There are currently no actions in FinalBuilder for updating these directly. You can however use the Continua CI - Set Variable action in FinalBuilder to update Continua CI variables and then follow the FB action in Continua CI with Tag Build and Log Entry actions using these variables.

You can also update build tags using Custom Log Messages in FB scripts e.g.

function AfterAction(Action, ActionResult, Continue) {
    Action.SendLogMessage("@@continua[tagBuild tag='" + FBVariables.var1 + "' replaceExisting='false']");

We plan to implement some more Continua CI actions in FinalBuilder in the next few weeks, including ones to add build tags and build comments.

#3

Thank you Dave,

Is it possible to increase the comment character limit above the current 1024 limit?
I’d like each build to have an automatic summary comment (crafted inside Finalbuilder 8, and displayed in Continua CI)
and since our FB8 projects allow many things, the summary can be some what longish… (list of services deployed, etc’) .

I take it that there is no way to customize these views at all?
For example - edit fields displayed under the configuration Activity and History page?

#4

Hi @ktopaz,

This issue is that there is not really a lot space available on the Build Details page without requiring scrolling, but I dare-say that we can increase the length to some degree. How many characters do you need? Can you split you summary up into more than one comment?

There is no way to customise the views. This is something we may consider in the future, although probably not in the short term. What fields would you like to see?

#5

4096 characters would fit very nice in terms of our usual build messages we want to display.

I can, and probably will do just that until/unless you extend the 1024 characters limitation :slight_smile:

In general, Since our main issues arise from the decoupling of FinalBuilder 8 from FinalBuilder Server, and having to run under Continua CI Instead - I would propose a general solution that allows the usage of custom variables (as these can be set by FinalBuilder) as fields.

View multiple configurations build history
View multiple configurations build history
#6

Interestingly, the max length for the comments field in the database is already set to 10240 characters, so you can already create a build comment of that length using the Log Entry action - just not using the UI.

We have now updated the UI to correspond with the 10240 characters limit in the database. This will be available in the next version.

FinalBuilder Server didn’t allow you to show any custom variables on the build history page. It did however show a list of Project Variables on the Build Log page. Note that you can currently view the list of all CI variables on the Build Artifacts page by selecting the “variable” menu item from the View As menu for VariableNamespaces.xml. e.g.

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I realise this is not obvious and we will look into how we can make further changes to the UI to improve access to the build variables in the future.

#7

How about an option to create a HTML Output Report that will be made available by the [Reports] tab sheet? We generate such reports with our tools for similar purposes.

#8

A new Build Variables tab is on its way :soon:

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#9

Hi @ktopaz,

Version 1.9.1.471 adds a Variables tab to the Build view.

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Is there a way to capture errors that occur during build and save them to a variable / list?