Build status badges in Jenkins - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Build status badges

📖 Scenario: You are managing a Jenkins project and want to show the build status on your project page using badges. These badges help your team quickly see if the latest build passed or failed.

🎯 Goal: Create a Jenkins pipeline script that sets up a build status badge URL, configures a badge style, and prints the final badge URL to display the build status.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a variable called jobName with the exact value MyProject.

Create a variable called badgeStyle with the exact value flat.

Create a variable called badgeUrl that constructs the Jenkins badge URL using jobName and badgeStyle.

Print the badgeUrl to display the badge link.

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Build status badges are used in project documentation and dashboards to quickly show if the latest build passed or failed.

💼 Career

Knowing how to create and display build status badges helps DevOps engineers communicate build health clearly to their teams.

1

Set the Jenkins job name

Create a variable called jobName and set it to the string "MyProject".

Jenkins

# Create a variable called jobName with value "MyProject"
# Your code here

Hint

Use def jobName = "MyProject" to create the variable.

2

Set the badge style

Create a variable called badgeStyle and set it to the string "flat".

Jenkins

def jobName = "MyProject"
# Create a variable called badgeStyle with value "flat"
# Your code here

Hint

Use def badgeStyle = "flat" to create the variable.

3

Construct the badge URL

Create a variable called badgeUrl that uses jobName and badgeStyle to build the Jenkins badge URL string exactly as: "https://jenkins.example.com/job/MyProject/badge/icon?style=flat".

Jenkins

def jobName = "MyProject"
def badgeStyle = "flat"
# Create a variable called badgeUrl that builds the badge URL using jobName and badgeStyle
# Your code here

Hint

Use Groovy string interpolation with "https://jenkins.example.com/job/${jobName}/badge/icon?style=${badgeStyle}".

4

Print the badge URL

Write a println statement to print the badgeUrl variable.

Jenkins

def jobName = "MyProject"
def badgeStyle = "flat"
def badgeUrl = "https://jenkins.example.com/job/${jobName}/badge/icon?style=${badgeStyle}"
# Print the badgeUrl variable
# Your code here

Hint

Use println(badgeUrl) to display the badge URL.

Practice

1. What does a Jenkins build status badge typically indicate?

easy

A. Whether the build is passing or failing

B. The number of tests in the project

C. The size of the build artifact

D. The time taken to complete the build

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand the purpose of build status badges

   Build status badges visually show the current state of a Jenkins job's build, mainly if it is passing or failing.

2. Step 2: Identify what the badge communicates

   The badge does not show test counts, artifact size, or build time; it only shows build success or failure.

3. Final Answer:

   Whether the build is passing or failing -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Build status badge = Pass/Fail [OK]

Hint: Badges show pass or fail status only [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing badge with test reports
• Thinking badge shows build duration
• Assuming badge shows artifact details

2. Which of the following is the correct format to get a Jenkins build status badge URL for a job named MyJob on http://jenkins.example.com?

easy

A. http://jenkins.example.com/MyJob/badge

B. http://jenkins.example.com/job/MyJob/badge/icon

C. http://jenkins.example.com/job/MyJob/build/badge

D. http://jenkins.example.com/job/MyJob/status/badge

Solution

1. Step 1: Recall Jenkins badge URL pattern

   The standard Jenkins badge URL for a job is: http://[jenkins_url]/job/[job_name]/badge/icon.

2. Step 2: Match the correct URL format

   http://jenkins.example.com/job/MyJob/badge/icon matches this pattern exactly for job MyJob.

3. Final Answer:

   http://jenkins.example.com/job/MyJob/badge/icon -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   Badge URL = /job/JobName/badge/icon [OK]

Hint: Badge URL ends with /badge/icon [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Omitting /job/ in URL
• Adding extra path segments like /build or /status
• Using incorrect order of URL parts

3. Given the Jenkins badge URL http://jenkins.example.com/job/TestProject/badge/icon, what will the badge image show if the last build failed?

medium

A. A green badge with 'passing' text

B. A yellow badge with 'unstable' text

C. A gray badge with 'not built' text

D. A red badge with 'failing' text

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand badge colors and meanings

   In Jenkins, a failed build shows a red badge labeled 'failing'.

2. Step 2: Match badge color to build status

   Since the last build failed, the badge will be red with 'failing' text.

3. Final Answer:

   A red badge with 'failing' text -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   Failed build = red 'failing' badge [OK]

Hint: Red badge means build failed [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing red with green for success
• Thinking yellow means failure
• Assuming gray means failure

4. You added a build status badge URL to your README but the badge image shows 'not found'. What is the most likely cause?

medium

A. The Jenkins job name in the URL is incorrect

B. The Jenkins server is down

C. The badge URL is missing the /badge/icon suffix

D. The build is currently running

Solution

1. Step 1: Check common reasons for 'not found' badge

   A 'not found' badge usually means the URL points to a non-existent resource.

2. Step 2: Identify the most common URL mistake

   Incorrect job name in the URL causes Jenkins to return 404, showing 'not found' badge.

3. Final Answer:

   The Jenkins job name in the URL is incorrect -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Wrong job name = 'not found' badge [OK]

Hint: Check job name spelling in badge URL [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Assuming server down causes 'not found'
• Forgetting /badge/icon suffix
• Thinking running build causes 'not found'

5. You want to embed a Jenkins build status badge in your GitHub README.md file for a job named DeployApp on http://ci.example.com. Which markdown snippet correctly embeds the badge image linking to the Jenkins job page?

hard

A. [](http://ci.example.com/job/DeployApp/badge/icon)

B. [Build Status](http://ci.example.com/job/DeployApp/badge/icon)

C. [](http://ci.example.com/job/DeployApp/)

D. 

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand markdown syntax for linked images

   Markdown syntax for an image with a link is: [](link URL).

2. Step 2: Apply correct URLs for Jenkins badge and job page

   The badge image URL is http://ci.example.com/job/DeployApp/badge/icon and the link should go to the job page http://ci.example.com/job/DeployApp/.

3. Final Answer:

   [](http://ci.example.com/job/DeployApp/) -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   Markdown linked image = [](link) [OK]

Hint: Use [](job URL) for linked badge [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using image without link
• Linking badge URL instead of job URL
• Incorrect markdown syntax for images