How-to: Execute two modules in sequence

Overview

This example illustrates how the composite execution plugin can be used to execute two modules in sequence.

Two steps are required to use the plugin:

  • Define resource for enabling usage of the plugin
  • Define the module model which defines the execution sequence.

..And finally Pineapple should be invoked to execute the two modules.

For information about how to define resource, credentials and modules, refer to the plugin usage page.

Part of the default configuration

This example is included in the default configuration created by Pineapple, so there is no need to create it by hand.

Define resource

To define the resource, first open the resources file at ${user.home}/.pineapple/conf/resources.xml and add an environment that plugin should be executed in. As described on the plugin usage page the ideal way to define a resource for this plugin is to define the resource in the wild card environment, which will enable usage of the plugin all environments.

In this example we intend to use the plugin in an environment named local, but will configure the plugin in the wild card environment since it will also enable usage in the local environment.

The initial environment definition for the wild card environment will look like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration xmlns="http://pineapple.dev.java.net/ns/environment_1_0" 
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  
  <environments>
    <environment id="*" />                                                              
  </environments>
</configuration>

Then the resource is defined which enables usage of the plugin in all environments: 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration xmlns="http://pineapple.dev.java.net/ns/environment_1_0" 
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  
  <environments>
    <environment id="*" >
      <resources>
        <resource id="composite-execution" plugin-id="com.alpha.pineapple.plugin.composite.execution" />                  
      </resources>
    </environment>                                                              
  </environments>
</configuration>

Pineapple's default configuration

Pineapple's default configuration also creates the above configuration for the plugin, so you use the default configuration as a starting point for your configurations or just take a look at it for inspiration.

The configuration details

The resouce.xml file uses the http://pineapple.dev.java.net/ns/environment_1_0 schema which must be used to define the Pineapple environment configuration.

An environment with ID "*" is defined, which is the ID for wild card environments in Pineapple.

The resource is defined with the ID composite-execution which defines a key which is used to reference the resource from any module we may define in the future. Later on when the model is defined in a module, the composite-execution ID is then used to tell Pineapple that this resource (and thus the composite execution plugin) should be used to parse and execute the module model which defines composite execution of modules

The plugin-id in the resource is the technical part of the definition which binds the resource to some plugin code. Each plugin is identified with a Java package and the Java package for the composite execution plugin is com.alpha.pineapple.plugin.composite.execution.

Define the module

Pineapple's unit of work is modules. A module is a self contained unit which can contain models, scripts and binaries. Models serves to specify test cases, deployment of applications, configuration of devices or execution of scripts.

The default directory for modules is ${user.home}/.pineapple/modules so we will create a module named composite-execution-001-two-modules there. The module for this example will end up with the structure:

composite-execution-001-two-modules
 |
 +--- models     
       +--- local.xml

Define the module model local.xml

The model file for execution of the two modules infrastructure-test-001-forward-dns-resolution-localhost and infrastructure-test-004-host-listens-on-ports looks like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<mmd:models xmlns:mmd="http://pineapple.dev.java.net/ns/module_model_1_0"       
        xmlns:cep="http://pineapple.dev.java.net/ns/plugin/composite_execution_1_0" >
    <mmd:model target-resource="composite-execution">
        <mmd:content>
          <cep:composite-execution>
            <cep:module name="infrastructure-test-001-forward-dns-resolution-localhost" />
            <cep:module name="infrastructure-test-004-host-listens-on-ports" />                         
        </cep:composite-execution>                      
        </mmd:content>
    </mmd:model>
</mmd:models>

The configuration details

Two schema are used in the model file. The http://pineapple.dev.java.net/ns/module_model_1_0 is used to define the namespace mmd which defines the general infrastructure for models. The http://pineapple.dev.java.net/ns/plugin/composite_execution_1_0 schema is used to define the namespace cep which is used to define the model for the composite execution plugin. Since multiple schemas are used to define the model file, the elements are qualified.

The target-resource attribute defines a reference to the resource which is targeted when the model executed. In this case, the value composite-execution is a reference to resource defined previously in the example.

The composiste-execution element defines the root of model for the composite-execution plugin. The two module elements defines the sequence of modules which should be executed by the plugin.

Invoke Pineapple to execute model

Start your Pineapple client of choice:

  • Select the modules named composite-execution-001-two-modules
  • Select the local model.
  • Invoke the test operation to execute the two composite modules.