Step-by-Step Guide to Developing a Jenkins Plugin with FireLine

The article introduces Jenkins plugin development, noting that many resources only cover basic Jenkins usage and that this guide will demonstrate creating a custom plugin using the FireLine example.

It lists the required environment: Maven 3, JDK 6+, and an IDE such as Eclipse.

To generate a plugin skeleton, run the Maven command mvn -U org.jenkins-ci.tools:maven-hpi-plugin:create, providing the groupId and artifactId when prompted; this creates a FireLinePlugin directory with a basic plugin template.

The generated project follows a standard structure: src/main/java for Java source, src/main/resources for Jelly/Groovy view files, and src/main/webapp for static resources.

Jenkins uses Jelly for UI rendering; configuration files such as config.jelly and global.jelly define the plugin’s job configuration and global settings, respectively.

If Eclipse lacks the Maven plugin, the command mvn eclipse:eclipse converts the project into an Eclipse project; otherwise, the Maven project can be imported directly.

The core plugin class extends Builder and uses @DataBoundConstructor to map constructor parameters to Jelly fields. The perform() method receives build, workspace, launcher, and listener objects to execute the plugin’s logic.

An inner DescriptorImpl class annotated with @Extension provides the display name and form validation methods such as doCheckName for parameter checking.

For debugging, set JVM options with

set MAVEN_OPTS=-Xdebug -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,server=y,address=8000,suspend=n

and run mvn hpi:run, then access http://localhost:8080/Jenkins to test the plugin.

To package the plugin, execute mvn package, which produces a firelineplugin.hpi file in the target directory. Install the plugin by copying it to $JENKINS_HOME/plugins and restarting Jenkins, or upload it via the Jenkins “Manage Plugins → Advanced” UI.