[JIRA] (JENKINS-40241) Detemine parameters before running job

Issue Type:	New Feature
Assignee:	Andrew Bayer
Components:	blueocean-pipeline-editor-plugin, pipeline-model-definition-plugin
Created:	2016/Dec/06 4:24 AM
Priority:	Major
Reporter:	Michael Neale

When job parameters are defined in the Jenkinsfile/script, Jenkins doesn't know what parameters are required until the job is run. You see the problem? to run the job you need the parameters. To know what parameters are required to run the job.

In scope:

Investigate if it is possible to know without executing what parameters will be required
If possible, an api to return such parameters

This could span general pipeline script, or pipeline model.

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andrew.bayer@gmail.com (JIRA)

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Dec 19, 2016, 10:51:01 AM12/19/16

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Andrew Bayer commented on

So I'm only thinking in terms of Declarative for the moment, because, well, viability.

The first thing coming to mind is to have the logic that takes the {{parameters

{ ... }

}} section check if each parameter is already defined on the job at that point (with the same type too), and if not, add an environment variable for the parameter name using the default value for the parameter. i.e., the first run still would not prompt for parameters, but it would act as if the default parameters had been specified.

andrew.bayer@gmail.com (JIRA)

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Dec 19, 2016, 12:34:01 PM12/19/16

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Andrew Bayer edited a comment on

So I'm only thinking in terms of Declarative for the moment, because, well, viability.

The first thing coming to mind is to have the logic that takes the {{parameters { ... } } } section check if each parameter is already defined on the job at that point (with the same type too), and if not, add an environment variable for the parameter name using the default value for the parameter. i.e., the first run still would not prompt for parameters, but it *would* act as if the default parameters had been specified.

andrew.bayer@gmail.com (JIRA)

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Dec 19, 2016, 12:36:01 PM12/19/16

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Andrew Bayer commented on

Also - the editor knows the parameters defined in the Jenkinsfile (even if the job isn't run) since it's parsing the Jenkinsfile. Not sure how we could get this to Blue Ocean for kicking off builds without also doing a Jenkinsfile parse there too...

andrew.bayer@gmail.com (JIRA)

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Dec 19, 2016, 7:29:02 PM12/19/16

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Andrew Bayer commented on

So since https://github.com/jenkinsci/workflow-cps-plugin/pull/60 landed, there's a new global variable, params. If you do a properties call adding parameters (let's say we add one named foo) and then do params.foo afterwards in the same run, you'll get the default value for foo, assuming one was defined. It's still not possible to prompt the user for parameters before having the build run with properties, but at least you can prevent the build from breaking due to undefined parameters this way. Thoughts as to whether that's sufficient? Should we also add it to the env global variable?

mneale@cloudbees.com (JIRA)

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Dec 19, 2016, 8:38:03 PM12/19/16

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Michael Neale updated an issue

Jenkins /

Change By:	Michael Neale

When job parameters are defined in the Jenkinsfile/script, Jenkins doesn't know what parameters are required until the job is run. You see the problem? to run the job you need the parameters. To know what parameters are required to run the job.

This is most visible with a new branch in multibranch jobs (there have been complaints).

In scope:
* Investigate if it is possible to know without executing what parameters will be required
* If possible, an api to return such parameters

This could span general pipeline script, or pipeline model.

mneale@cloudbees.com (JIRA)

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Dec 19, 2016, 9:50:03 PM12/19/16

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Michael Neale commented on

hrm ok.. this may have to sit in the backlog for a while.

So whilst PR#60 helps with error message, it is still a broken UX that pops up for the wrong things... so we may need to park this for some future work to make it work out ahead of time what the params are via some kind of evaluation... I don't think this is a problem specific to declarative, and perhaps declarative shouldn't solve it?

mneale@cloudbees.com (JIRA)

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Dec 20, 2016, 2:11:01 AM12/20/16

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Michael Neale edited a comment on

hrm ok.. this may have to sit in the backlog for a while.

So whilst PR#60 helps with error message, it is still a broken UX that pops up for the wrong things... so we may need to park this for some future work to make it work out ahead of time what the params are via some kind of evaluation... I don't think this is a problem specific to declarative, and perhaps declarative shouldn't solve it?

EDIT: I am prepared to park this and then let things come in as bug reports... more thought is needed ...

domi@fortysix.ch (JIRA)

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Dec 22, 2016, 8:34:01 AM12/22/16

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Dominik Bartholdi commented on

Andrew Bayer although the params really works well, I would still add them to env too - thats just what people are used to.

jdumay@cloudbees.com (JIRA)

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Jan 3, 2017, 6:53:01 PM1/3/17

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James Dumay updated an issue

Jenkins /

Change By:	James Dumay
Priority:	Major Minor

jdumay@cloudbees.com (JIRA)

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Jan 3, 2017, 7:01:04 PM1/3/17

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James Dumay commented on

Vivek Pandey https://github.com/jenkinsci/blueocean-plugin/pull/669/files#r94509252

vivek.pandey@gmail.com (JIRA)

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Jan 4, 2017, 10:15:05 AM1/4/17

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Vivek Pandey commented on

Andrew Bayer params.foo will give it's default value, how about type? Can we get type value without executing a run of the script?

jdumay@cloudbees.com (JIRA)

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Feb 14, 2017, 9:36:03 PM2/14/17

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James Dumay updated an issue

Jenkins /

Change By:	James Dumay
Sprint:	post-release

jdumay@cloudbees.com (JIRA)

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Feb 14, 2017, 9:36:03 PM2/14/17

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James Dumay updated an issue

Jenkins /

Change By:	James Dumay
Priority:	Minor Major

jdumay@cloudbees.com (JIRA)

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Feb 19, 2017, 3:52:02 PM2/19/17

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James Dumay updated an issue

Jenkins /

Change By:	James Dumay
Sprint:	post-release 1.1

jdumay@cloudbees.com (JIRA)

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Feb 19, 2017, 4:23:01 PM2/19/17

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James Dumay commented on