ALM Octane plugin

The ALM Octane plugin enables you to create, update, and manage OpenText ALM Octane work items as part of your deployment process.

Overview

The ALM Octane plugin provides a set of process steps for managing ALM Octane defects, user stories, features, and epics in your deployment processes. Using the plugin steps, you can create, update, comment on, and check the status of ALM Octane work items as well as generate a work item report in XML format.

The following table describes the plugin's steps.

Step Description
Add Comments Adds comments to one or more ALM Octane work items. See Step: Add Comments.
Check Status Checks the phase of one or more ALM Octane work items. See Step: Check Status.
Create Work Item Creates a new defect, epic, feature, or user story in ALM Octane. See Step: Create Work Item.
Publish Work Item Report Creates a list of ALM Octane work items in XML format. See Step: Publish Work Item Report.
Update Work Item Updates the phase and adds comments to one or more ALM Octane work items. See Step: Update Work Item.

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Before you begin

To use the ALM Octane plugin, complete the prerequisite tasks described in this section.

Before you can use the plugin:

  1. Verify that your Deployment Automation user role allows you to manage plugins. For details, see Server roles and system security.

  2. Download the Deployment Automation plugin bundle, extract the ALM Octane plugin zip file from the bundle, and load the file into Deployment Automation. For details, see Load and upgrade plugins.

To use the plugin steps, open a component or global process and navigate to Issue Tracking > ALM Octane in the Tools pane.

For details on creating processes, see Create and design component processes and Create and design global processes.

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Step: Add Comments

Use the Add Comments step to create a comment for one or more defects, user stories, features, and epics in ALM Octane.

The following table describes step-specific properties.

Property Description
Name Enter a name for the step. By default, the step is named Add Comments.
Work Item IDs Enter IDs of the ALM Octane work items for which you want to add comments. Separate each ID with a comma.
Comment Enter a comment to add to the work items. Use an example provided in the UI.
Comment Author (Optional) Enter the ID of the ALM Octane user on behalf of whom the comment is created. To comment as the API user, leave the field empty.
Fail Mode

Select conditions for failing the step:

  • Warn Only. Log a warning without failing the step if a work item ID is not found in ALM Octane.

  • Fail Fast. Fail the step immediately if a work item ID is not found in ALM Octane.

  • Fail on No Updates. Fail the step if none of the work item IDs are found in ALM Octane.

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Step: Check Status

Use the Check Status step to check the phase of one or more defects, user stories, features, and epics in ALM Octane.

The following table describes step-specific properties.

Property Description
Name Enter a name for the step. By default, the step is named Check Status.
Work Item IDs Enter IDs of the ALM Octane work items for which you want to check the phase. Separate each ID with a comma.
Phase Name

Enter the logical name of the phase against which to match the ALM Octane work items, for example, phase.defect.closed.

For phase names consisting of two or more words, combine them into one word, for example, phase.story.inprogress.

To get the logical names of custom phases, use the ALM Octane REST API or the Interactive API Client. For details, see the ALM Octane documentation.
Fail Mode

Select conditions for failing the step:

  • Warn Only. Log a warning without failing the step if a work item ID is not found in ALM Octane.

  • Fail Fast. Fail the step immediately if a work item ID is not found in ALM Octane.

  • Fail on No Updates. Fail the step if none of the work item IDs are found in ALM Octane or if none of the IDs match the specified phase.

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Step: Create Work Item

Use the Create Work Item step to create a defect, user story, feature, or epic in ALM Octane.

The following table describes step-specific properties.

Property Description
Name Enter a name for the step. By default, the step is named Create Work Item.
Work Item Type

Select the type of the work item to create in ALM Octane:

  • Defect

  • Epic

  • Feature

  • User Story
Work Item Name Enter a name for the new work item.
Description (Optional) Provide additional information about the work item.
Parent Type Specify the type of the parent entity for the work item. By default, the system uses the root work item, work_item_root.
Parent ID If the parent entity is an epic or feature, provide its ID.
Application Modules ID

(Optional) Enter application module IDs to associate with the work item. Separate each ID with a comma.

By default, the following property is used: ${p:system/octane.applicationModuleIds}

For details on how to create system properties, see Add or edit system properties.

To get application module IDs, in ALM Octane, open the Quality module and then select the Applications Module tab. For details, see the ALM Octane documentation.
Release ID (Optional) Enter the ID of the release with which to associate the work item.
Severity

(Optional) Specify the logical name of the severity level to assign to the work item. For example, for high-severity defects, enter:

list_node.severity.high

To get logical names, in ALM Octane, navigate to the Lists area in Settings. You need administrator permissions to work with lists.

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Step: Publish Work Item Report

Use the Publish Work Item Report step to generate an XML list of selected ALM Octane defects, user stories, features, or epics.

The following table describes step-specific properties.

Property Description
Name Enter a name for the step. By default, the step is named Publish Work Item Report.
Work Item IDs Enter IDs of the ALM Octane work items to include in the report. Separate each ID with a comma.
Output File Enter a name and path for the output report file. The file is generated in XML format.

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Step: Update Work Item

Use the Update Work Item step to transition one or more ALM Octane work items to another phase or add comments to them.

The following table describes step-specific properties.

Property Description
Name Enter a name for the step. By default, the step is named Update Work Item.
Work Item IDs Enter IDs of the ALM Octane work items you want to update. Separate each ID with a comma.
Phase Name

(Optional) Enter the logical name of the phase to assign to ALM Octane work items, for example, phase.defect.closed.

For phase names consisting of two or more words, combine them into one word, for example, phase.story.inprogress.

To get the logical names of custom phases, use the ALM Octane REST API or the Interactive API Client. For details, see the ALM Octane documentation.
Comment (Optional) Enter a comment to add to the work items. Use an example provided in the UI.
Comment Author (Optional) Enter the ID of the ALM Octane user on behalf of whom the comment is created. To comment as the API user, leave the field empty.
Work Item Name (Optional) Enter a new name for the work items you are updating.
Description (Optional) Provide additional information about the work items.
Parent Type Specify the type of the parent entity for the work items you are updating. By default, the system uses the root work item, work_item_root.
Parent ID If the parent entity is an epic or feature, provide its ID.
Application Modules ID

(Optional) Enter application module IDs to associate with the work items. Separate each ID with a comma.

The following property is used by default: ${p:system/octane.applicationModuleIds}

For details on how to create system properties, see Add or edit system properties.

To get application module IDs, in ALM Octane, open the Quality module and then select the Applications Module tab. For details, see the ALM Octane documentation.
Release ID (Optional) Enter the ID of the release with which to associate the work items.
Severity

(Optional) Specify the logical name of the severity level to assign to the work items. For example, for high-severity defects, enter:

list_node.severity.high

To get logical names, in ALM Octane, navigate to the Lists area in Settings. You need administrator permissions to work with lists.
Fail Mode

Select conditions for failing the step:

  • Warn Only. Log a warning without failing the step if a work item ID is not found in ALM Octane.

  • Fail Fast. Fail the step immediately if a work item ID is not found in ALM Octane.

  • Fail on No Updates. Fail the step if none of the work item IDs are found or updated in ALM Octane.

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Common properties

The following properties are common to all ALM Octane plugin steps.

Property Description
Octane Server URL

Enter the URL of the ALM Octane instance, for example, http://localhost:8080.

The following property is used by default: ${p:system/octane.serverUrl}
Octane Client ID/Username

Enter the API Client ID key or the username for connecting to the ALM Octane instance.

The following property is used by default: ${p:system/octane.clientId}

For details about creating API access keys in ALM Octane, see the ALM Octane documentation.
Octane Shared Space ID

Enter the ID of the shared space in ALM Octane, for example, 1001.

The following property is used by default: ${p:system/octane.workSpaceId}
Octane Workspace ID

Enter the ID of the ALM Octane workspace, for example, 1002.

The following property is used by default: ${p:system/octane.workSpaceId}
Ignore Failure Select this option if you want the step to always be considered successful.
Working Directory Enter an alternative absolute path to the working directory for the step. To use the default working directory for the process, leave the field empty.
Post Processing Script

Select a custom post-processing script. To run the step's default script, leave the field empty.

To create your custom post-processing script, click Add , and enter script details in the Create Script dialog box.

A post-processing script helps ensure that expected results occur. It runs after a step finishes processing. For details, see Manage post-processing scripts.
Precondition (Optional) Enter a JavaScript script to define a condition that must exist before the step can run. The condition resolves to true or false.
Use Impersonation Select this option if you want an agent to run the step as a different user. Specify the impersonation details for a Windows or UNIX/Linux agent, as described in Use impersonation to run processes.
Hint (Optional) Add a comment to the step. To view the comment, point to the step in the design space.
Hidden properties (Optional)
Output properties secure rules

Specify properties you want to be treated as secure. Secure properties are stored encrypted, and their values are displayed obscured in the Deployment Automation user interface.

Use regular expressions to select multiple properties. Enter each property name or expression on a new line.

Example: To select all properties with names that start with prop, use this regular expression: prop.*
Debug Output Select this option to log debug information during the run.

For details on how to create system properties, see Add or edit system properties.

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See also: