The Executable Task lets you invoke any command line executable. It doesn't offer as much specific integration as (for example) the NAnt Task, but does allow you to hook almost anything up as a build process to CCNet. CCNet will examine the exit code when the executable ends and act accordingly.
Examples
Minimalist example:
<exec executable="c:\projects\myproject\build.bat"/>
Full example:
<exec> <executable>make</executable> <baseDirectory>D:\dev\MyProject</baseDirectory> <buildArgs>all</buildArgs> <buildTimeoutSeconds>10</buildTimeoutSeconds> <successExitCodes>0,1,3,5</successExitCodes> <environment> <variable> <name>MyVar1</name> <value>Var1Value</value> </variable> <variable name="MyVar2" value="Var2Value"/> ... </environment> </exec>
Configuration Elements:
| Node | Description | Type | Required | Default |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| executable | The path of the program to run. If this is relative, then must be relative to either (a) the base directory, (b) the CCNet Server application, or (c) if the path doesn't contain any directory details then can be available in the system or application's 'path' environment variable | string | true | n/a |
| baseDirectory | The directory to run the process in. If relative, is a subdirectory of the Project Working Directory | string | false | Project Working Directory |
| buildArgs | Any command line arguments to pass in | string | false | no arguments |
| buildTimeoutSeconds | Number of seconds to wait before assuming that the process has hung and should be killed. | int | false | 600 (10 minutes) |
| successExitCodes | A comma-separated list of exit codes that indicate success. | list of ints | false | 0 |
| environment | Specifies any environment variables to set for the executable. | complex | false |
(none) |
| description | If filled in, this will be shown in the buildstage as the process name |
string |
false |
n/a |
Integration Properties
The following parameters are passed to the external program using environment variables, in addition to those you specify in the <environment> element.:
| Label | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| CCNetBuildCondition | The condition used to trigger the build, indicating if the build was triggered by new modifications or if it was forced. Legal values are: "IfModificationExists" or "ForceBuild" | ForceBuild |
| CCNetIntegrationStatus | The status of the current integration. Could be Success, Failure, Exception or Unknown | Success |
| CCNetLabel | The label used to identify the CCNet build. This label is generated by the CCNet labeller. | 1.0.2.120 |
| CCNetLastIntegrationStatus | The status of the previous integration. Could be Success, Failure, Exception or Unknown | Success |
| CCNetProject | The name of the CCNet project that is being integrated. | MyProject |
| CCNetBuildDate | The date of the build (in yyyy-MM-dd format) | 2005-08-10 |
| CCNetBuildTime | The time of the start of the build (in HH:mm:ss format) | 08:45:12 |
| CCNetArtifactDirectory | The project artifact directory (as an absolute path) | c:\program files\CruiseControl.NET\Server\MyProject\Artifacts |
| CCNetWorkingDirectory | The project working directory (as an absolute path) | c:\program files\CruiseControl.NET\Server\MyProject\WorkingDirectory |
| CCNetRequestSource | The source of the integration request; this will generally be the name of the trigger that raised the request. (Added in CCNet 1.1) | IntervalTrigger |
| CCNetFailureUsers | The list of users who have contributed modifications to a sequence of builds that has failed. | John, Smith |
| CCNetListenerFile | Viewing build progress with Nant and MSBuild (Added in CCNet 1.4) | c:\Project\Artifact\listener.xml |
| CCNetProjectUrl | The URL where the project is located | http://myhost/ccnet/server/ |
| CCNetNumericLabel | Contains the label as an integer if conversion is possible, otherwise zero. | 1 |
| CCNetModifyingUsers |
The list of users who have contributed to the current build only |
Smith |
 | Windows seems to change the case of environment variables occasionally. If your task target doesn't find one of these properties, try using all upper case or all lower case versions of these properties. |
Exit codes
| Code | Description | CCNet Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| a code in <successExitCodes> | Success | The build continues |
| -1 | Timed out | The operation timed out and the build fails |
| other | Failure | The build fails |
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the exec task pass the integration properties via the command line?
No. The integration properties are only available as environment variables. As there is no way of knowing the way in which the external program expects these properties to be formatted as command line arguments, environment variables are a simple, common medium for making these values accessible. To pass these environment variables into an external program, have the exec task call a batch file instead that will pick up the environment variables, format them and pass them as command line arguments to the external program.
