Trigger a GitLab workflow from a Test Plan and report the results back to it

GitLab configuration

We need to create a trigger token so that we can use GitLab API later on. That can be done from within Settings > CI/CD.




Then, in your GitLab repository containing the project's code and tests, create a pipeline /.gitlab-ci.yml; this pipeline will be triggered using GitLab's API.


In the following example, the pipeline will receive the Test Plan issue key as an input parameter. It will then run the build, including the automated tests, and in the end it will report the results back to Xray using "curl" utility.

/.gilab-ci.yml
# Use Maven 3.5 and JDK8
image: maven:3.5-jdk-8

variables:
  # This will supress any download for dependencies and plugins or upload messages which would clutter the console log.
  # `showDateTime` will show the passed time in milliseconds. You need to specify `--batch-mode` to make this work.
  MAVEN_OPTS: "-Dmaven.repo.local=.m2/repository -Dorg.slf4j.simpleLogger.log.org.apache.maven.cli.transfer.Slf4jMavenTransferListener=WARN -Dorg.slf4j.simpleLogger.showDateTime=true -Djava.awt.headless=true"
  # As of Maven 3.3.0 instead of this you may define these options in `.mvn/maven.config` so the same config is used
  # when running from the command line.
  # `installAtEnd` and `deployAtEnd`are only effective with recent version of the corresponding plugins.
  MAVEN_CLI_OPTS: "--batch-mode --errors --fail-at-end --show-version -DinstallAtEnd=true -DdeployAtEnd=true"


# Cache downloaded dependencies and plugins between builds.
# To keep cache across branches add 'key: "$CI_JOB_REF_NAME"'
cache:
  paths:
    - .m2/repository


maven_build:
  script:
    - |
        echo "building my amazing repo..."
        mvn test
        export token=$(curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST --data "{ \"client_id\": \"$client_id\",\"client_secret\": \"$client_secret\" }" https://$xray_endpoint/api/v2/authenticate| tr -d '"')  
        echo $token
        curl -H "Content-Type: text/xml" -H "Authorization: Bearer $token" --data @target/surefire-reports/TEST-com.xpand.java.CalcTest.xml  "https://$xray_endpoint/api/v2/import/execution/junit?projectKey=CALC&testPlanKey=${TESTPLAN}"
        echo "done"


Xray endpoint's base URL and the API key credentials (i.e. client id + client secret) are defined in GitLab as variables.

 


Automation configuration

  1. create a new rule and define the "When" (i.e. when it to should be triggered ), to be "Manually triggered"

2. define the condition so that this rule can only be executed from Test Plan issue; we can also implement that on the previous step

3. define an action (i.e. the "Then") as "Send web request" and configure it as follows


  • the web request URL provided above follows this syntax:
    • https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/<project_id_in_gitlab>/trigger/pipeline
  • the "Content-Type" header should be "multipart/form-data"

  • the HTTP POST body content, defined in the "Custom data" field, will be used to identify the branch and also the original Test Plan issue key; authentication is done using the "token" variable, created earlier in GitLab

    custom data (i.e. HTTP body content) 
    token=9e347219182813....&ref=master&variables[TESTPLAN]={{issue.key}}


After publishing the rule, you can go to the screen of an issue and trigger a pipeline run in GitLab.



In this case, since the pipeline was configured to report results back to Xray, a new Test Execution would be created and linked back to the source Test Plan where the automation was triggered from.

References