What's New: Run Page Scripts in CICD Pipelines (2024 release wave 2)
Page script replayer for CI/CD pipelines in Business Central (2024 release wave 2): a standalone replayer distributed as an NPM package that runs recorded page scripts in pipelines for regression testing. AL-Go for GitHub support is announced for the near future; ALOps and Alpaca support are also planned.
- Introduction to Page Scripting
- Prior Limitations of Client-Only Replay
- Introducing Page Script Replayer for Pipelines
- How to Use the BC Replayer Package
- Managed DevOps Solutions and Future Support
- Call to Action and Summary
Overview
The video builds on the page scripting tool, which lets customers and consultants record and replay user actions in the web client to create user acceptance tests. Partners asked for a way to run these scripts without replaying them manually in the client, since the earlier preview worked only that way. The release adds a standalone page script replayer, distributed as an NPM package, so recorded scripts can run in CI/CD pipelines as automated regression tests. The video demos installing and using the BC Replayer package. It also says support in managed DevOps solutions, mainly AL-Go for GitHub, is coming soon, with ALOps and Alpaca also planned.
Key points
- Page scripting records and replays user actions in the web client to build user acceptance tests.
- Before this release, replay was client-only, which partners flagged as a limitation.
- The standalone replayer is an NPM package; install the latest version and use it in pipelines. It is available today.
- It needs Node.js, Playwright and additional dependencies installed; Windows authentication is the default.
- AL-Go for GitHub support for the replayer is announced for the near future; ALOps and Alpaca support are also planned.
- The video describes the page scripting tool as having launched in the previous release as a preview.
Features
| Feature | Status | At | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Page Scripting Tool | preview | 0:06 | “an enhancement to the page scripting tool that we launched in the previous release as a preview” (0:06) |
| Page Script Replayer for CI/CD Pipelines | status not stated, demoed | 1:41 | |
| AL-Go for GitHub Support for Page Script Replayer | announced | 4:16 | “support for the BC replay page scripting replayer will come out soon in those different solutions” (4:16) |
AL objects mentioned
As heard in the captions. A name that matches one object page by exact type and name links to it; the others stay as named.
- other “BC Replayer” at 2:12
- other “AL-Go for GitHub” at 4:16
- other “ALOps” at 4:01
- other “Alpaca” at 4:01
Quotes
- 0:19 “page scripting allows customers and consultants to record and replay user actions directly in the web client”
- 1:41 “one of the most common feedbacks that we got from partners since we launched the preview has been, could there be a way to”
- 1:55 “in this release, we are enabling exactly that. We’re introducing a standalone page script replayer”
- 2:12 “script player is distributed as a node package manager on NPM package that you can then install latest version”
- 3:40 “this is available already today. So, you can go install this replayer and use it in your pipelines”
- 4:16 “support for the BC replay page scripting replayer will come out soon in those different solutions. We will be focusing, of course, on the”
Disclaimers in the video
- 0:06 preview: enhancement to the page scripting tool that we launched in the previous release as a preview
- 4:16 coming-later: support for the BC replay page scripting replayer will come out soon in those different solutions
Presenters (as heard): Peter Bøgh.