HTML-Encode Step Template parameter's Help Text

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1

Today I have to HTML encode the text that I enter in the “Help text” field of a Step Template’s parameter. It would be nice if that was not necessary.

2

Hi,

Thanks for reaching out. Can you show us how exactly you are encoding it? a screenshot or the full JSON of the step template would be the best.

Also please let us know which version of Octopus you are running.

Thanks,
Dalmiro

3

Seriously?? You need all that for such a simple issue? It does not bother me if it does not get fixed, I thought I was doing you guys a favor since I am sure not 100% of the users of Octopus will have a development background and will no know what to do when their text does not show as they typed it.

I do not have that screen handy right now so I will try to explain it. If you need more information please show it to a coworker or let me know and I will try to get you more information.

In the Help Text field I wanted to show :.Instead of having ServerName surrounded by angle brackets that I type using the keyboard. For the Opening angle brackets (the Less-Than symbol) I had to use an ampersand followed by the letters LT and then a semicolon; and for the Closing angle bracket (the Greater-Than symbol) I had to use an ampersand followed by the letters GT and then a semicolon.

Hope this helps.

4

Hi,

When you first reported this, I tested it using an ampersand alone, which is the character that tends to break in encoding/decoding scenarios. I saw that one worked, so I figured I’d better ask you for the exact thing you were entering on your field.

Being a developer yourself you know that sometimes It can be hard to reproduce a bug with just 1 line on the description. Sometimes the user doesn’t describe the issue well enough so you can reproduce it and fix it, and you need to ask for bulletproof repro steps (like I did asking for the JSON step template, which would have shown me the text entered on the field). The JSON template structure would have also shown me which version of Octopus are you running, which is critical for me to be able to reproduce this issue.

I"m sure you’ve been in this situation plenty of times in your development career and you can relate to what I’m saying :slight_smile:

Now, about the issue, you are totally right! The text between brackets disappears, forcing you to encode it. I’ll bring this one up to the team and see what we can do about it.

Thanks for taking the time to describe the issue in depth.

Best regards,
Dalmiro