Drupal is a content management system (CMS) that is seeing fast expansion. It presently has 471,913 users, and that figure is increasing day by day. Using this platform, it is much simpler to construct a broad array of websites, intranets, and applications that may be utilized on the internet.

Because it connects with Continuous Integration and Continuous Testing (CI/CT) systems, which offer a variety of advantages, Drupal is a commonly used application. This is one of the many reasons why it is utilized in such a widespread manner.

We will cover everything there is to know about Drupal and CI/CT here in this blog:

Importance of Continuous Integration

Continuous testing guarantees that the testing procedure will be straightforward and straightforward. It merges modifications to the source code into a central repository. Deals with the problem at an early stage in the development process, which simplifies the process of locating and removing flaws from the software.

Integration is a key step in the process of producing software, and it is also one of the most significant components of the final result. Both of these things can be said simultaneously.

Every day, different individuals on the team are tasked with the completion of a range of different integrations.

These integrations are validated with the help of an automated build. This release of the automation tool includes a test that helps find integration faults more quickly.

Continuous integration (CI) makes it possible to test, assess, and integrate changes into the codebase in a more timely and effective manner. This is made possible by the fact that these processes may be automated. This is made possible by the fact that these processes may be automated. Working on separate code branches in isolation can lead to a number of problems. CI eliminates these problems and lessens the likelihood of a merge conflict occurring.

What Is Continous Testing And Integration?

When you make changes to your code, a continuous integration service will automatically generate and execute unit tests to catch any mistakes as soon as they happen. The software release process includes the build and unit testing steps, which are collectively known as continuous integration. An automatic build and test are triggered for every revision that is committed.

Benefits of Continuous Integration

There are many different reasons why Continuous Integration is employed throughout the development of Drupal. Some of them are included in the list that follows.

The following is a summary of the most significant benefits that may be attained with the utilization of continuous integration:

  • Build Automation and Self-testing

Automated environments make it possible to design and start the system with a single command, which is a considerable time saver. This can be accomplished through the use of automated environments. Self-testing, on the other hand, simplifies both the process of finding and eliminating faults.

  • Daily Commits and Integration machine

It is strongly suggested that developers commit their changes to the machine on a daily basis. In this manner, all of the build tests will immediately be passed, and the appropriate code will be generated. Integration machines need to perform regular builds and have a successful integration every time.

  • Immediate Fix of broken builds and rapid feedback

Continuous build ensures that any problems with the mainline build are addressed as soon as possible. In addition to this, it is of the utmost importance to complete the building in the shortest amount of time feasible and to offer feedback as quickly as possible.

  • Current status of the system and automation for deployment

Everyone should be able to observe how the system is put into operation. Every single member of the team needs to be able to see the modifications that have been made. To automate the deployment process, both the testers and the developers need to have scripts. They will be able to simply deploy the application into various environments with the assistance of these scripts.

How Does Continuous Integration Work?

Continuous Integration Work

When it comes to integration, developers need to pay attention to a number of details and follow a series of processes. Alterations have to be committed to the repository, and the codes have to be scrutinized in great detail. The code has to be inspected in the developers’ personal workspaces.

The CI server is utilized to test the modifications and construct the system. The server executes the unit tests, as well as the integration tests, and notifies the members of the team if the build tests fail. The members of the team address the problem and then continue testing and integrating the project.

The four most important steps in continuous integration are coding, building, testing, and deploying.

  1. Coding is done by developers, who then add their changes to a central repository of code.
  2. A Continuous Integration (CI) server will keep an eye on the code repository for any changes. When changes are found, the server will check out the most recent code and then build the product.
  3. The generated program is subjected to automated testing on the CI server, which verifies that the code modifications did not result in the introduction of any flaws or the disruption of any previously established functionality.
  4. If all of the tests are successful, the Continuous Integration server will deploy the modified code to either a staging or production environment, depending on how the company handles its software releases.

Commonly, continuous integration requires the use of a version control system (like Git or SVN) to manage code changes and a build server (like Jenkins, Travis CI, or CircleCI) to build and test the code changes. Continuous integration is a software development methodology that involves integrating new code at regular intervals. One component of this methodology is known as continuous integration testing, which consists of automating some aspects of the testing process.

By discovering mistakes at an earlier point in the process of software development, Continuous Integration can assist teams in reducing the amount of time and money spent on the creation of software.

In addition, the quality and dependability of the software that is ultimately generated will be significantly improved.

What Are The Continuous Integration Tools?

There is a wide variety of Continuous Integration (CI) tools available, and each one has a set of advantages and disadvantages. The following is a list of few of the CI tools that are utilized by software development teams and are considered to be among the most popular:

This open-source CI solution is very popular and has a sizable user community behind it. It is easy to personalize because to the availability of plugins, and it combines well with a large variety of other software programs.

This cloud-based continuous integration solution is very popular due to the fact that it is very simple to use and integrates very well with GitHub.

  • CircleCI

The swiftness and scalability of this cloud-based CI technology have contributed to its widespread popularity. Additionally, it is able to communicate with a broad number of other tools, such as Docker and AWS, among many others.

GitLab, which is a prominent Git repository management system, includes this CI/CD tool as part of its core functionality. It is completely free to use and may be combined with a wide range of software in a variety of different ways.

  • Bamboo

Atlassian, the company that is also responsible for creating JIRA and Confluence, has developed a CI/CD solution. It integrates with a wide variety of different tools, both those made by Atlassian and those made by other companies.

  • TeamCity

JetBrains, the company that is responsible for creating IntelliJ IDEA and several other IDEs, has developed this CI tool. It is appealing due to the fact that it may be used in a variety of contexts and is also straightforward.

Microsoft’s Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery tool runs on the cloud. It is interoperable with a wide range of other technologies developed by Microsoft, such as Visual Studio and GitHub, amongst many others.

These are only a few of the numerous CI tools that are at your disposal.It is crucial to take into account a range of different variables when picking a CI tool. These variables include the size and level of complexity of the development team, as well as the convenience of use, integrations with other tools, and cost.

The Essential Procedures That Make Up A Powerful Continuous Integration

The following are some of the most important practices that comprise an efficient Continuous Integration (CI) process:

Version Control

Version control is the first step in a CI process because it is necessary for properly managing code changes, resolving conflicts, and communicating with others. Popular version control systems include Git, Subversion (SVN), and Mercurial.

Automated Build

Code is continuously committed to the version control system whenever a CI procedure is being run. It begins an automated build process, which compiles the code and packages it for distribution. This eliminates the need for any human errors and guarantees that the code will compile successfully.

Automated Testing

The technique of continuous integration relies heavily on automated testing in its various iterations. Tests should be automated so that they can be executed whenever code is committed, and they should cover both the functional and non-functional parts of the program. In addition, the tests should be automated.

Continuous Feedback

Continuous Integration (CI) is a procedure that automates the building and testing of software to provide developers with the ability to receive continuous feedback. Any problems or shortcomings should be recognized and reported straight away so that they can be fixed as quickly as possible.

Continuous Deployment

The time it takes to get code into production can be cut down with the help of automated deployment, which also helps to guarantee that the deployment process is stable and consistent.

Continuous Improvement

The CI process ought to be continuously monitored and developed further. This includes analyzing the outcomes of the build and the tests, locating and resolving any issues that are discovered, and enhancing the process to make it not only more efficient but also more fruitful.

The members of the team need to work together cohesively and communicate clearly with one another for the CI process to be successful.

 To identify problems and find solutions to them as rapidly as possible, developers, testers, and operations employees should collaborate closely.

Teams can establish a successful CI process that helps to ensure high-quality software development and deployment by adhering to these essential standards and putting them into practice.

What Is Continuous Integration For Drupal?

Continuous integration (CI) for Drupal is the process of routinely integrating code changes made by many developers into a common code repository, compiling and testing the code changes, and then automatically deploying the changes to an environment used for testing or staging.

The following is a list of the most important advantages that may be gained from putting CI into action for Drupal:

  • Reduced risk

Continuous integration can help catch and solve issues early in the development cycle by regularly integrating and testing code changes. This reduces the chance of introducing bugs or disrupting functionality in the product.

  • Improved collaboration

Working from a central repository of all the project’s code makes teamwork between developers simpler and more efficient.

  • Faster feedback

Because of automated testing, developers can receive instant feedback on the modifications they make to the code. This gives them the ability to make corrections and improvements in a more timely manner. You can get faster feedback on code contributions and a quicker go-to-market by using various cloud-based testing tools like LambdaTest. These systems can help you get faster feedback.

LambdaTest is a digital experience testing platform that is hosted in the cloud and provides businesses and organizations with the capability to do manual and automated testing for both web-based and mobile applications.

It offers a wide range of services, some of which include over-the-top (OTT) testing, testing on actual device cloud, real-time testing, testing with Selenium and Cypress, testing with Appium, and testing with Appium. Other services are also available.

The online device farm provided by LambdaTest enables you to test at scale across more than 3000 different real browsers, devices, and operating system combinations. In addition to this, it is compatible with a broad variety of continuous integration and continuous delivery platforms such as Jenkins, CircleCI, and Travis CI.

  • Consistency

Teams are able to ensure that all code changes are properly vetted and verified before they are released to production if they use consistent tools and processes for the development, testing, and deployment phases of the software development life cycle.

Implementing CI and Testing In Drupal

Continuous integration (CI) and testing methods are something that can be advantageous to Drupal, just as they are beneficial to a large number of other web application frameworks. To build continuous integration and testing in Drupal, the following are some general actions that can be taken:

  1. Install a version control system (VCS) like Git or SVN to keep track of the changes made to the code. Every developer ought to be encouraged to routinely commit their modifications to the version control system (VCS).
  2. Utilize a tool for continuous integration (CI) such as Jenkins, Travis CI, or CircleCI to build and test modifications to the Drupal source code automatically whenever they are committed to the version control system.
  3. Develop automated Drupal tests by making use of a testing framework such as PHPUnit or Behat. Functional and non-functional components of the application should both be tested.
  4. Set up the continuous integration technology to execute automated tests every time new code is found to be in use. If any of the tests don’t pass, the developers need to be informed as soon as possible so they can address the problem.
  5. Checking for violations of code standards and best practices can be done with the assistance of tools such as CodeSniffer and PHPMD.
  6. Consider employing tools such as Docker or Vagrant to help automate the setting up and configuration of development environments and to ensure consistency across development, testing, and production environments. Both of these technologies are available to download for free. These are just two examples of the kinds of tools that might be utilized.
  7. There are other contributed modules for Drupal that can aid with testing, such as SimpleTest or the Drupal Extension for Behat. You may get these modules by going to the Drupal website and downloading them.

Final Thoughts

We hope that through this post you were able to gain knowledge on how continuous integration is important and can be implemented. However, if you are looking for a Drupal development company, then you should check out Appic Softwares.

We have an experienced team of Drupal developers that can maintain your Drupal website. So, what are you waiting for?

Contact us now