Input step for manual approval in Jenkins - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What is the output of this Jenkins pipeline snippet with input step?

Consider this Jenkins pipeline snippet:

pipeline {
  agent any
  stages {
    stage('Approval') {
      steps {
        script {
          def userInput = input message: 'Approve deployment?', ok: 'Yes'
          echo "User selected: ${userInput}"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

What will Jenkins print in the console after the user clicks 'Yes'?

Jenkins

pipeline {
  agent any
  stages {
    stage('Approval') {
      steps {
        script {
          def userInput = input message: 'Approve deployment?', ok: 'Yes'
          echo "User selected: ${userInput}"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

A User selected: false

B User selected: true

C User selected: Yes

D User selected: null

💡 Hint

Think about what the input step returns when the user clicks the OK button with label 'Yes'.

The input step returns the label of the button clicked by the user. Since the OK button is labeled 'Yes', the variable userInput will be 'Yes'.

❓ Configuration

intermediate

Which Jenkinsfile snippet correctly implements a manual approval with a timeout of 5 minutes?

You want to add a manual approval step in your Jenkins pipeline that waits for user input but times out after 5 minutes if no input is given. Which snippet achieves this?

A input message: 'Approve?', ok: 'Proceed', timeout: 5, unit: 'MINUTES'

B input message: 'Approve?', ok: 'Proceed', timeout: 300

C input message: 'Approve?', ok: 'Proceed', timeout: 5, timeoutUnit: 'MINUTES'

D input message: 'Approve?', ok: 'Proceed', timeout: 5

💡 Hint

Check the Jenkins input step documentation for the correct way to specify timeout in seconds.

The input step's timeout parameter expects an integer number of seconds. To set 5 minutes, use 300 seconds. Options B and C use invalid or unsupported parameters; D is only 5 seconds.

❓ Troubleshoot

advanced

Why does this Jenkins pipeline fail with an error during the input step?

Given this snippet:

stage('Approval') {
  steps {
    input 'Approve deployment?'
    echo 'Deployment approved'
  }
}

When running, Jenkins throws an error: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: No valid parameters provided. What is the cause?

Jenkins

stage('Approval') {
  steps {
    input 'Approve deployment?'
    echo 'Deployment approved'
  }
}

A The input step requires a message parameter with key 'message', not a plain string.

B The input step requires at least one button label specified with 'ok' parameter.

C The input step cannot be used inside steps block, it must be in script block.

D The input step requires a timeout parameter to avoid errors.

💡 Hint

Check the required parameters for the input step in Jenkins pipeline.

The input step requires named parameters such as message: 'Approve deployment?'. A plain string is invalid and results in a "No valid parameters provided" error.

🔀 Workflow

advanced

What happens to the Jenkins pipeline if the input step times out?

Consider this pipeline snippet:

stage('Approval') {
  steps {
    input message: 'Approve?', ok: 'Yes', timeout: 60
    echo 'Approved'
  }
}

If no user input is given within 60 seconds, what is the pipeline behavior?

Jenkins

stage('Approval') {
  steps {
    input message: 'Approve?', ok: 'Yes', timeout: 60
    echo 'Approved'
  }
}

A The pipeline aborts the build with an error.

B The pipeline continues immediately to the next step without approval.

C The pipeline retries the input step indefinitely.

D The pipeline pauses indefinitely until manual intervention.

💡 Hint

Think about what Jenkins does when a timeout occurs on an input step.

When the input step times out, Jenkins aborts the build with an error indicating the timeout. It does not continue or retry automatically.

✅ Best Practice

expert

Which Jenkins pipeline snippet correctly captures user input with multiple options and stores the result?

You want to ask the user to select an environment to deploy to, with options 'dev', 'staging', and 'prod'. The pipeline should store the selected environment in a variable. Which snippet does this correctly?

A def env = input message: 'Select environment', parameters: [password(name: 'env', defaultValue: 'dev', description: 'Choose environment')]

B def env = input message: 'Select environment', parameters: [string(name: 'env', defaultValue: 'dev', description: 'Choose environment')]

C def env = input message: 'Select environment', ok: 'Select', parameters: [booleanParam(name: 'env', defaultValue: true, description: 'Choose environment')]

D def env = input message: 'Select environment', parameters: [choice(name: 'env', choices: 'dev\nstaging\nprod', description: 'Choose environment')]

💡 Hint

Which parameter type allows selecting from multiple predefined options?

The choice parameter lets the user pick from a list of options. The other parameter types do not provide a dropdown selection.