This page last changed on Nov 10, 2008 by edwin@atlassian.com.
Please keep in mind that customisations are beyond the scope of what's covered by Atlassian Support.

Bamboo Plugins Overview

A Bamboo plugin is a single JAR containing code, a plugin descriptor (XML) and usually some Freemarker template files to render HTML.

The plugin descriptor is the only mandatory part of the plugin. It must be called atlassian-plugin.xml and be located in the root of your JAR file.

Each plugin consists of one or more plugin modules. These are of different types (for example a report, or a post-build action) and each has an individual XML element describing it. Each module is described below together with the XML element required for it.

Here is a sample of the descriptor with highlighted elements:

<!-- the plugin key must be unique, think of it as the 'package' of the plugin -->
<atlassian-plugin key="com.atlassian.plugin.sample" name="Sample Plugin">
<!-- a short block describing the plugin itself -->
<plugin-info>
<description>This is a brief textual description of the plugin</description>
<!-- the version of the plugin -->
<version>1.1</version>
<!-- the versions of the application this plugin is for -->
<application-version min="3.0" max="3.0"/>
<!-- details of the plugin vendor -->
<vendor name="Atlassian Software Systems Pty Ltd" url="http://www.atlassian.com"/>
</plugin-info>

. . . 1 or more plugin modules . . .
</atlassian-plugin>

Each plugin has a plugin key which is unique among all plugins (eg "com.atlassian.plugin.sample"). Semantically this equates to the package of a Java class. Each module within the plugin also has a module key which is unique within the plugin (eg "myreport"). Semantically this equates to the class name of a Java class.

The plugin key + module key are combined to make the complete key of the plugin module (combining the examples above, the complete key would be "com.atlassian.plugin.sample:myreport"). Note: a : is used to separate the plugin key from the module key.

How does the Bamboo plugin system work?

Below is a diagram which shows Bamboo's build process flow, as well as the available plugin modules you can build.

The following types of plugin modules are supported by Bamboo:

Module Type Since version... Documentation Description
builder 1.0 Builder Plugin Module Add new builders to Bamboo.
xwork 1.0 XWork Plugin Module XWork actions and views bundled with the plugin. This enables building generic user interfaces.
report 1.0 Report Module Defines a report of build telemetry data.
preBuildQueuedAction 2.1 Pre Build Queued Action Prepends a custom synchronous process to the build. Occurs before a build is queued.
preBuildAction 1.1 Pre Build Action Module Prepends a custom synchronous process to the build. Occurs before the builder has run.
buildProcessor 1.0 Build Processor Module Append a custom synchronous process to the build. Occurs on the Agent (both local and remote) after the builder has run.
buildProcessorServer 2.0 Build Processor Server Module Append a custom synchronous process to the build. Occurs on the Server after the build has been returned by the Agent.
buildCompleteAction 1.0 Build Complete Action Module Add a custom asynchronous action after the build process has completed.
postBuildIndexWriter 1.0 Post Build Index Writer Module Writes custom build data into the index for report generation.
indexReader 1.0 Index Reader Module Reads out custom index information written by the postBuildIndexWriter from the index.
web-item 1.0 Web Item Module Add new links to the Bamboo interface.
web-section 1.0 Web Section Module Add a new section to the Bamboo interface.
notification-condition 1.1 Notification Condition Module Add new notification condition.
repository 1.1 Source Repository Module Add a custom source repository.
triggerReason 2.0 Trigger Reason Module Add a new trigger reason.

Setting up a Bamboo Plugin Project

Refer to the Getting started with Atlassian plugins guide for information on how to set up a Bamboo plugin using the Atlassian Plugin Archetypes. You will require Maven 2 and JDK 5.

If you have a Commercial License you can obtain the Bamboo Source code. Refer to the Building Bamboo from source page for more information on how set this up.

Testing your Bamboo plugin.

Plugins in Bamboo are not dynamically loadable. They must be installed in Bamboo's WEB-INF/lib and the application restarted. The Atlassian Plugin Maven Archetypes come with a profile called plugin-debug which makes testing your plugin easy. Running the command

mvn -Pplugin-debug

will compile your plugin's classes, create a jar in the /target directory, download a copy of the Bamboo war, copy the plugin jar into Bamboo's WEB-INF/lib directory and start up Bamboo. Maven will also install some default data such as the license and database configuration.

Bamboo will be running at http://localhost:1990/bamboo, so you can go directly there in your browser and see your latest changes. You'll be able to log in with the username admin and the password admin.

As you make changes, you'll have to kill the Bamboo process (ctrl-c) and then run mvn -Pplugin-debug again.

When you run Bamboo with the plugin-debug profile, it is automatically configured to accept a remote debugger. So you'll want to create a remote debug target in your IDE for your plugin and/or the bamboo source.

Deploy a Bamboo Plugin

Installing plugins in Bamboo is easy.

Once you have downloaded or created your plugin jar, follow these steps:

  1. Shut down Bamboo
  2. copy '$MY_COOL_PLUGIN.jar' into '.../webapp/WEB-INF/lib/'
  3. Start up Bamboo. Your plugin should be automatically installed and activated.
  4. Enjoy!

Built-in Bamboo system plugins

A number of functions and areas within Bamboo are shipped as built in plugins. These can also be useful for plugin developers who want to know more about how to create their own plugins, as they showcase the functionality that can be built.

The system plugins are referenced from the following files (located in /WEB-INF/classes:

  • system-actions-plugin.xml - the built in per-plan build expiry configuration
  • system-builder-plugin.xml - the built in builders, including Ant, Maven, and Maven 2.
  • system-clover-plugin.xml - the built in Clover analytics.
  • system-jira-plugin.xml - the built in JIRA issue integration.
  • system-labelling-plugin.xml - the built in automatic build labeller.
  • system-reports-plugin.xml - the built reports of builds grouped by time periods under the Reports tab.
  • system-repository-plugin.xml - definition for the CVS, SVN and Perforce repositories shipped with Bamboo.
  • system-triggerReason-plugin.xml - definition of all the built in build trigger reasons such as manual build, dependency build and Scheduled build.
  • system-webUI-plugin.xml - the built in menu items under the Administration tab as well as the tab menu items on the View Plan page and the View Build Results page.
  • system-notifications-plugin.xml - the build in notification conditions, including all builds, failed builds, after X failed builds. 

Further Information



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Document generated by Confluence on Mar 02, 2009 18:52