Release Application - how it works

Hi,

how exactly it works? Every release we have the same steps. Can it generate the same template with all steps by clicking:

image

Can I change status by clicking on icon or I need to edit page source to change step icon?

There’s some basic doc at https://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Extension/Release%20Application

It’s an app that we use on https://dev.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/ReleasePlans/ if you want to see it in action.

You need to edit the page. Nobody has spent the time to make it clickable in view mode :slight_smile:

OK, thanks.

Hi,

Two small follow up questions on this:

  1. I’ve recently installed the Release application and one thing I can’t quite understand is linking to Release notes.
    When editing through Objects, I can add text that shows in the Release notes column, but can’t seem to get an external link to Release notes, like there is on https://dev.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/ReleasePlans/

  2. Since I’m new to the xwiki platform, it’s not immediately clear what was meant by “You can control the different steps of a release by editing the template document located at ReleaseCode.ReleaseTemplate.” - can you please elaborate a bit on where/how I can access this so that I can modify the template we use for different versions? Thanks!

Hi @vk1

WDYM by external link? You can put whatever URL you wish in the field. Can you provide an example of your problem?

This means you can edit ##ReleaseCode.ReleaseTemplate## to create your own release note templates (and thus release steps).

PS: Please start a new thread when you have new questions (hijacking an existing thread is a bit frown upon ;)).

Thanks for getting back to me! I’ll try and elaborate a bit on my questions, as I’m still stuck in the same place :slight_smile:

  1. Regarding the release notes column, i’ll try to show an example. When I edit through objects, I see the “release notes” column, but it looks like it always outputs a text string, regardless of the content that I input there (tried pasting a link and copying a page reference, both came out as text, as will be shown in the pictures).
    Here’s how the input field looks - https://prnt.sc/t91z04
    Here’s the output table after I try and paste a page reference in the input field (marked with yellow) - https://prnt.sc/t923go
    Here’s the output table after I try and paste a link in the input field (marked with yellow) - https://prnt.sc/t927ya

Here’s what I’d like it to look like - https://prnt.sc/t925zz

How can I add an external link to the “Release notes” field, like in the last picture? There’s likely a code of some sort that I’m missing :slight_smile:

  1. Regarding the release note templates:
    For this, let’s assume (nearly correctly) that I’ve never used a computer in my life. How can I access “ReleaseCode.ReleaseTemplate”?
    Do I go to my homepage (**/bin/view/Dashboard/) and change it to **/bin/view/ReleaseCode.ReleaseTemplate (tried, doesn’t work)? Or do I access that through somewhere else on though the site? Or is this something that I can only find on the FTP server filesystem?

I understand that this is a silly question, but a brief step-by-step instruction on how exactly I can access “ReleaseCode.ReleaseTemplate” would be much appreciated so that I can change the template for all upcoming releases :slight_smile:

So it’s a bug in the Release app, would be great if you could open a jira issue for it at https://jira.xwiki.org/issues/?jql=project%20%3D%20XWIKI%20AND%20component%20%3D%20Release

To work around it for now, you need to:

  • Edit Release.WebHome and add the line in yellow on: Screenshot 2020-06-30 at 15.17.05
  • Edit ReleaseCode.ReleaseClass in class editor and add a custom displayer for the “releasenotes” xproperty, as on: Screenshot 2020-06-30 at 15.28.44

Here’s the code:

{{velocity}}
#set ($propertyClass = $object.getxWikiClass().get($name))
#if ($type == 'edit')
  {{html clean='false'}}
    $doc.displayEdit($propertyClass, $prefix, $object).replaceAll("value='[^']*+' size=", "value='$!{valueString}' size=")
  {{/html}}
#else
  #if ("$!value" != "")
    #set ($releaseNotesRef = $services.model.resolveDocument($value))
    #set($releaseNotesDoc = $xwiki.getDocument($releaseNotesRef))
    {{html}}<a href='$releaseNotesDoc.getURL()'>Release Notes</a>{{/html}}
  #else
    ## Compute automatically the link if you want to here...
  #end
#end
{{/velocity}}

You should also report an issue about the missing ability to edit the releasenotes xproperty in inline edit mode :slight_smile:

Does that help https://www.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/FAQ/How%20can%20I%20navigate%20to%20a%20given%20page ?

Thanks

First of all - finally managed to get the template corrected, thanks for being so patient there! :slight_smile:

Now, about the Release app issue - I did manage to add everything as you listed, but there’s now a small issue with the hyperlinks.
Anything I now put into the input field for Release Notes is seen as an addition/subpage of the Release page.

Here’s an example of what I mean:
The Release page is located at myxwiki/bin/view/Release

Once I put anything as a Release Note, a hyperlink is created by adding my input to the Release page link.
For example, if I write “test” as my Release Note input, the link gets automatically changed to myxwiki/bin/view/Release/test

This means that each of my Release Notes would need to become subpages of Release and I am not able to link to any external page, even if it’s located on my own xwiki (but is not a subpage of /Release) - is it supposed to be like this?

Even if that is the case, this problem in general seems to be solved as I’m able to just create the necessary subpages and am able to add Release Notes now - thanks a lot for your help! :slight_smile:

You’re not supposed to put “test”! You’re supposed to put a page reference. If you put just “test” then you’re using the syntax for a relative reference so it’s normal it goes under myxwiki/bin/view/Release/test.

Try putting Main.WebHome for example just to see.

Page references work as needed, thanks for all your help! :slight_smile: