What is Jenkins?

Jenkins is an open-source automation server that facilitates continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) in software development. It is a Java-based platform designed to automate various stages of the development lifecycle, including build, test, and deployment processes. By enabling developers and DevOps engineers to integrate changes more frequently, Jenkins improves collaboration and the speed at which software can be delivered.

As a widely used CI/CD server, Jenkins is installed on over 300,000 servers worldwide, automating tasks and workflows to enhance productivity. It supports a range of operations such as building, testing, packaging, and deploying, as well as more specialized tasks like documentation and static analysis. Jenkins achieves this level of automation through a rich set of plugins, which also allows for the integration with other DevOps tools, thus supporting a transparent and efficient development process.

The history of Jenkins dates back to 2004 when it was initially developed as Hudson by Kohsuke Kawaguchi at Sun Microsystems. After Hudson was donated to the Eclipse Foundation and ceased development, Jenkins emerged as its successor. Now, the Jenkins project is administered by the CD Foundation and continues to be an essential tool for teams seeking to adopt CI/CD practices.

Jenkins Plugins for Excel

Maven Plugin for Excel Projects

The Maven plugin is utilized within Jenkins to create Maven projects. This is particularly useful when those projects are to be integrated or managed in an Excel environment via additional tools or plugins.

Jira Plugin for Issue Tracking

Integrating Jenkins with Jira through the Jira plugin allows for enhanced tracking and management of issues which can be reported and analyzed within Excel spreadsheets.

Build Pipeline Plugin for Visualization

The Build Pipeline plugin offers a visual representation of the build pipeline which can be useful for creating reports or charts in Excel for project management and oversight.

Blue Ocean for Modern Interface

While the Blue Ocean plugin provides a modern interface for Jenkins, the ease of visualization and interaction can facilitate the management of Jenkins jobs that are related to Excel tasks.

ThinBackup for Automated Backups

The ThinBackup plugin is key for automating backups of Jenkins jobs and settings, ensuring that the data relevant to Excel integrations is preserved and can be restored if needed.

Multijob Plugin for Job Cleanup

The Multijob plugin streamlines the job process by cleaning up chain descriptions from upstream and downstream jobs, which maintains clarity when managing complex Excel-related job configurations in Jenkins.

Subversion Plugin for Repository Integration

Addition of Subversion repositories is made possible in the job configuration screen with the Subversion plugin, which could be an essential step for projects that involve Excel files stored in Subversion repositories.

Dashboard View for Enhanced Tracking

The Dashboard View plugin enhances Jenkins with a new dashboard that displays the status of all jobs, including those related to Excel, and incorporates time tracking capabilities for efficient project management.

Common Use Cases

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  Use case 1: Updating a row in an Excel worksheet when there are changes in Jenkins
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  Use case 2: Finding or creating a new row in Excel in response to Jenkins events
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  Use case 3: Automatically creating a new spreadsheet in Excel from Jenkins
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  Use case 4: Searching for a specific row in Excel using column and value criteria from Jenkins

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Jenkins service encounter issues when reading from Excel?

The Jenkins service may encounter issues with Excel-related commands like xlsread because it is running as a Windows service, which may not have the same permissions as a regular user session.

What happens when MATLAB tries to open Excel on a Jenkins node running as a service?

When Jenkins is running as a service on a node, MATLAB attempts to open Excel but it closes immediately, indicating a possible permissions issue.

How can the Excel reading issue be resolved when Jenkins is running as a service?

To resolve the issue, specific permissions may be required, and creating a 'Desktop' folder in specific locations for the service account can help, as the Jenkins Excel plugin might expect a Desktop folder for each user.

Does the issue with Jenkins and Excel affect both reading and writing to Excel files?

Yes, the problem affects both xlsread and xlswrite commands.