Can we convert a freestyle job in jenkins into a template - templates

Question

I have configured a freestyle Jenkins job to perform build, run some tests, perform code analysis and upload artifacts to Nexus. I will need to create more of such jobs in future and so I want to create a template so that its easy for anyone else to create those jobs in future. Is there a way to convert the freestyle job into template?

Answer 1

You can create generic mechanisms using Ant(In my case NAnt), and use them using a set of imported variables.
My config for web app looks like:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<webapps>
<add basedir="deploys\JobLocation" deploydir="C:\CIReference\Sites" appname="JobLocation" appid="5" appuri="http/*:8081" apppool.runtineversion="v4.0" />
</webapps>
The add tag has the basic configuration of the webapp
And the generic mechanism to deploy web application is like this
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<project name="webdeploy" xmlns="http://nant.sf.net/release/0.92/nant.xsd">
<include buildfile="baseconfigs.xml" />
<include buildfile="external_tools.xml" />
<call target="baseConfigs" />
<property name="current.environment.path" value="${path::combine(nant.environmentsdir,environment)}"/>
<foreachxml file="${path::combine(current.environment.path,'webapps.xml')}" xpath="/webapps/add" property="basedir,deploydir,appname,appid,appuri,apppool.runtineversion">
<exec program="${appcmd.path}" failonerror="false">
<arg value="delete" />
<arg value="site" />
<arg value="/site.name: ${appname}" />
</exec>
<exec program="${appcmd.path}" failonerror="false">
<arg value="delete" />
<arg value="apppool" />
<arg value="/apppool.name: ${appname}" />
</exec>
<echo message="Deleting directory: ${path::combine(deploydir, appname)}" />
<delete dir="${path::combine(deploydir, appname)}" failonerror="false" />
<echo message="Coping directory to: ${path::combine(deploydir, appname)}" />
<copy todir="${path::combine(deploydir, appname)}" includeemptydirs="true" overwrite="true" verbose="true">
<fileset basedir="${path::combine(directory::get-current-directory(), basedir)}">
<include name="**\*.*" />
</fileset>
</copy>
<exec program="${appcmd.path}">
<arg value="add" />
<arg value="apppool" />
<arg value="/name: ${appname}" />
</exec>
<exec program="${appcmd.path}">
<arg value="set" />
<arg value="apppool" />
<arg value="/name: ${appname}" />
<arg value="/managedRuntimeVersion:${apppool.runtineversion}" />
</exec>
<exec program="${appcmd.path}">
<arg value="add" />
<arg value="site" />
<arg value="/name: ${appname}" />
<arg value="/id: ${appid}" />
<arg value="/bindings: ${appuri}" />
<arg value="/physicalPath: ${path::combine(deploydir, appname)}" />
</exec>
<exec program="${appcmd.path}" failonerror="false">
<arg value="set" />
<arg value="site" />
<arg value="${appname}" />
<arg value="/applicationPool:${appname}" />
</exec>
</foreachxml>
</project>
You can use this tool to create whatever mechanism do you need for your CI solution.
Order files...
baseconfigs.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<project>
<property name="nant.dir" value="" />
<property name="nant.environmentsdir" value="" />
<target name="baseConfigs">
<cd dir="..\..\" />
<property name="nant.dir" value="${path::combine(directory::get-current-directory(),'jenkins\NAnt')}" />
<property name="nant.environmentsdir" value="${path::combine(nant.dir,'environments')}" />
</target>
</project>
external_tools.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<project>
<property name="appcmd.path" value="c:\windows\System32\InetSrv\appcmd.exe" />
<property name="java_path" value="C:\Program Files (x86)\Jenkins\jre\bin"/>
<property name="liquibase_exe_path" value="C:\Program Files (x86)\Jenkins\tools\liquibase\"/>
<loadtasks assembly="C:\Program Files (x86)\Jenkins\tools\nant\nantcontrib\NAnt.Contrib.Tasks.dll" />
<loadtasks assembly="C:\Program Files (x86)\Jenkins\tools\nant\NAnt.GF.Custom.Tasks.dll" />
</project>