Kaizen #160: Automating ZDK CLI commands using shell scripting

Hello everyone,

Welcome back to Kaizen.  ZDK CLI's command-line nature allows you to easily incorporate it within a shell script, to achieve any custom action that you want to execute.  It allows you to execute multiple ZDK CLI commands seamlessly, enhancing productivity.

In this week's Kaizen post, we will discuss a shell script designed to automate the process of pushing locally modified metadata to our CRM environment. Before executing the push operation, ensure that the local metadata is up-to-date and conflicts (same file has been modified in both the local ZDK environment and the remote UI environment) are resolved. To achieve this, we will perform the following steps for files in conflict where manual intervention is required:

• Retrieve the latest metadata from Zoho CRM to our local environment using zdk org:pull command
• Address conflicts that may arise during the pull operation using zdk org:pull:resolve command 
• Update our local directory with the newly pulled file using zdk org:pull:update command
• Push changes from your local environment to the CRM using zdk org:push command
• Update local directory and check status of push command using zdk org:push:result command

This script automates the sequential execution of these commands.

Prerequisites

• ZDK CLI Version 1.0.2-beta

To update ZDK CLI, execute the following command in your terminal

npm install -g @zohocrm/zdk-cli

This will initiate the installation process for the latest version.

Crafting the Shell Script

 

1.Create a new shell script file zdk_automation.sh in your ZDK project's root directory.

#!/bin/bash touch stdout.txt #This script is used to automate ZDK CLI conflict resolve flow conflict_flag=false # Clear stdout.txt at the start > stdout.txt #Step 1: Initial Push Command echo "====Start of the script ====" >> stdout.txt echo "**Executing the initial zdk org:push -j" >> stdout.txt json_content=$(zdk org:push -j) echo "Output  $json_content" >> stdout.txt next_command=$(echo "$json_content" | jq -r '.next_command_sequence // empty') echo "next_command after initial push  is $next_command">> stdout.txt # Check if the JSON is valid if echo "$json_content" | jq empty 2>/dev/null; then #Step 2: Conflict Detection     message=$(echo "$json_content" | jq -r '.message')     echo "message: $message" >>stdout.txt     if [[ "$message" == *"Merge Conflicts!"* ]]; then         #Step 3: Resolving Conflicts         conflict_flag=true         # Pull changes to the local repository and store the output in a variable         echo "**Executing zdk org:pull -j" >> stdout.txt         json_content=$(zdk org:pull -j)         echo "Output  $json_content" >> stdout.txt         if echo "$json_content" | jq empty 2>/dev/null; then             message=$(echo "$json_content" | jq -r '.result')             echo "message $message" >>stdout.txt             IFS=$'\n' read -r -d '' -a filenames <<< "$message"             # Iterate over each filename and execute the resolve command             for filename in "${filenames[@]}"; do                 echo "**Executing zdk org:pull:resolve for $filename" >> stdout.txt                 # Executing zdk org:pull:resolve                  json_content=$(zdk org:pull:resolve -f "$filename" -j)                 echo "Output  $json_content" >> stdout.txt             done             echo "***Executing zdk org:pull:update" >> stdout.txt             json_content=$(zdk org:pull:update -j)             echo "Output  $json_content" >> stdout.txt         fi     fi fi #Step 4: Second Push Attempt after conflict if [ "$conflict_flag" = true ]; then # Push changes to the org and store the output in a variable again echo "***Executing: zdk org:push -j after conflict resolution" >> stdout.txt json_content=$(zdk org:push -j) echo "Output  $json_content" >> stdout.txt # Extract the line containing "next_command_sequence" from the push output next_command=$(echo "$json_content" | jq -r '.next_command_sequence') echo "Next command $next_command " >> stdout.txt fi #Step 5: Push result command # Execute the next command if it exists counter=0  # Initialize a counter if [ -n "$next_command" ]; then     while true; do     # Execute the command stored in next_command and capture the output     echo "***Executing: $next_command -j"  >> stdout.txt     output=$(eval "$next_command -j")     echo "Output $output" >>stdout.txt     # Check if the output contains "Process in progress"     if echo "$output" | grep -q "Process in progress"; then         echo "Push process in progress. Waiting for 5 seconds..."  >> stdout.txt         sleep 5  # Wait for 5 seconds     else         # If not found, break the loop and handle the output         echo "Command executed successfully or completed."  >> stdout.txt         break     fi      # Increment the counter     counter=$((counter + 1))     # Break the loop after 10 iterations     if [ "$counter" -ge 10 ]; then         echo "Maximum number of attempts(10) reached. Exiting the loop." >> stdout.txt         echo "Try executing $next_command after some time" >> stdout.txt         break     fi done fi

Explanation of the script

Step 1: Initial Push Command

• The script starts by executing the zdk org:push -j command. 
• The commands executed using -j option ensures that the output is in a machine-readable JSON format, which facilitates easier parsing and processing.
  
• The conflict_flag is set to false.

Step 2: Conflict Detection

• The script checks the output for any merge conflicts. 
• If conflicts are detected, it executes the zdk org:pull -j  command to retrieve the latest changes from the organization. The conflict_flag is set to true.
• If conflicts are not present, the script proceeds to Step 5: Executing the push:result command.

Step 3: Resolving Conflicts

• If conflicts are present, the script extracts a list of filenames associated with these conflicts. 
• It iterates through this list and executes the zdk org:pull:resolve -j command for each filename, allowing for manual resolution of conflicts as needed. 
• This opens a three-way editor in the browser where the conflicts can be resolved.

Step 4: Second Push Attempt after conflict

• Once all conflicts are resolved, the script attempts to push any changes back to Zoho CRM by executing the zdk org:push -j command. 

Step 5: Executing push:result command 

• This command should be followed by zdk org:push:result --jobid {id} command (indicated by a next_command_sequence) which displays the result of the push process with the mentioned job id and updates the local directory. 
• During this process, if the result is shown as "Process in progress", a subsequent push:result command is required. In this case, the script waits for five seconds before trying again to ensure that operations complete successfully. 
  

2.Make the script executable

chmod +x zdk_automation.sh

3.Run your script

./zdk_automation.sh & tail -f stdout.txt

Logging Actions: All actions taken by the script are logged in stdout.txt. This serves as a record for later reference and troubleshooting.

Using ZDK CLI with shell script ensures that your ZDK CLI operations are automated daily, minimizing manual intervention while effectively managing conflicts. 

For the current beta release, ZDK CLI is exclusively available for Sandbox environment and is not operational in Production environments. 

We hope you found this post useful. We will meet you next week with another interesting topic!

If you have any questions, let us know in the comment section.

Happy Exploring!

Further Reading : ZDK Documentation 

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