Dynamic parameter values in Jenkins - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Dynamic Parameter Values in Jenkins Pipeline

📖 Scenario: You are setting up a Jenkins pipeline for a software project. You want to create a build parameter that changes its available options based on another parameter's value. This helps the team pick the right build options easily.

🎯 Goal: Build a Jenkins pipeline script that defines two parameters: ENVIRONMENT and VERSION. The VERSION parameter's options should change dynamically depending on the selected ENVIRONMENT value.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a string parameter called ENVIRONMENT with options: dev, test, prod

Create a dynamic choice parameter called VERSION whose options depend on the ENVIRONMENT value

Use a Groovy script inside the pipeline to set the VERSION options dynamically

Print the selected ENVIRONMENT and VERSION values in the pipeline output

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Dynamic parameters help teams avoid mistakes by showing only relevant options based on previous choices, making builds faster and less error-prone.

💼 Career

Understanding dynamic parameters is useful for Jenkins administrators and DevOps engineers to create flexible and user-friendly pipelines.

1

Create the ENVIRONMENT parameter

Create a Jenkins pipeline parameter called ENVIRONMENT with the choices dev, test, and prod using the parameters block.

Jenkins

pipeline {
    agent any
    parameters {
        // Your code here
    }
    stages {
        stage('Example') {
            steps {
                echo 'Starting pipeline'
            }
        }
    }
}

Need a hint?

Use the choice parameter type inside the parameters block.

2

Add a dynamic VERSION parameter

Add a VERSION parameter using the extendedChoice plugin or a Groovy script that will later be set dynamically based on ENVIRONMENT. For now, add the parameter with an empty placeholder list.

Jenkins

pipeline {
    agent any
    parameters {
        choice(name: 'ENVIRONMENT', choices: ['dev', 'test', 'prod'], description: 'Select the environment')
        // Your code here to add VERSION parameter
    }
    stages {
        stage('Example') {
            steps {
                echo 'Starting pipeline'
            }
        }
    }
}

Need a hint?

Add a choice parameter named VERSION with an empty list for now.

3

Set VERSION options dynamically based on ENVIRONMENT

Inside the stages block, add a script step that sets the VERSION parameter choices dynamically using a Groovy map. Use dev -> ["1.0-dev", "1.1-dev"], test -> ["1.0-test", "1.1-test"], and prod -> ["1.0", "1.1"]. Assign the correct list to a variable called versionOptions based on params.ENVIRONMENT.

Jenkins

pipeline {
    agent any
    parameters {
        choice(name: 'ENVIRONMENT', choices: ['dev', 'test', 'prod'], description: 'Select the environment')
        choice(name: 'VERSION', choices: [''], description: 'Select the version')
    }
    stages {
        stage('Example') {
            steps {
                echo 'Starting pipeline'
                // Set versionOptions based on params.ENVIRONMENT
                // Your code here
            }
        }
    }
}

Need a hint?

Use a Groovy map to store version lists and select based on params.ENVIRONMENT.

4

Print the selected ENVIRONMENT and VERSION

Add echo statements inside the steps block to print the selected ENVIRONMENT and VERSION values using params.ENVIRONMENT and params.VERSION.

Jenkins

pipeline {
    agent any
    parameters {
        choice(name: 'ENVIRONMENT', choices: ['dev', 'test', 'prod'], description: 'Select the environment')
        choice(name: 'VERSION', choices: [''], description: 'Select the version')
    }
    stages {
        stage('Example') {
            steps {
                echo 'Starting pipeline'
                script {
                    def versionsMap = [
                        dev: ['1.0-dev', '1.1-dev'],
                        test: ['1.0-test', '1.1-test'],
                        prod: ['1.0', '1.1']
                    ]
                    def versionOptions = versionsMap[params.ENVIRONMENT]
                }
                // Your code here to print selected parameters
            }
        }
    }
}

Need a hint?

Use echo with params.ENVIRONMENT and params.VERSION to show selections.