Perforce Discord Submit logger 📫

A simple python program to use with a scheduler that will notify a provided discord channel when changes have been submitted to a perforce repository. This bot is inspired by the limitations encountered when using James Ives's Perforce Commit Logger.

Requirements

The app is a python script that uses the p4 changes command, you need to make sure you have a constant access to p4 changes. You can try to run p4 changes -m 1 to see if you are connected.

Requirements: Helix Command-Line Client

Loggin with p4 (powershell)

The oneliner solution to login to your perforce user, once your perforce is setup globally is to run

echo PASSWORD|p4 -u USER login

Suggestion regarding the login

I recommend creating a batch file (if on windows) (use a bash script on unix) to login.

For instance, I created a p4login.bat file containing the following:

@echo off
Powershell.exe -windowstyle hidden -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -command "echo PASSWORD|p4 -u USER login"

After that, add a task to your Windows Scheduler to run this batch program on startup and every hour.

Python requirements

Make sure to run

cd app
pip install -r requirements.txt

before first running the program (python3 required of course).

Configuration

You need to configure some options declared in the config.ini file:

[Discord]
webhook = YOUR_WEBHOOK_URL_HERE

[Perforce]
#Suggestion : set target to empty for a root changelist
target = //MY_PERFORCE_FOLDER/...

[ApplicationSettings]
max_changes = 10
enable_signature = yes

If you don't know how to obtain a discord webhook url for your text channel, take a look at this discord article.

Set the changelist last stamp

As the bot is likely to be used on an already existing perforce environment, you need to change the value in the file last_change.ini. Replace 0 with the latest change number.

Once the bot runs, this file will be updated every time a newer submit is found.

Exemple:

I get the latest change on my perforce server.

C:\Users\Me> p4 changes -m 1
Change 139208 on 2022/06/01 by someone@MY_LAPTOP 'new feature'

The number can now be written to the ini, by opening the file in your text editor or using a terminal.

echo 139208 > app/last_change.ini

Extras

If you want to use custom bot signatures, make sure that enable_signature=yes in the configuration ini file, and modify the content of the bot_signatures.json file.

[
    "Provided by the perforce bot 😇",
    "From your favorite bot 😎",
    "Have a nice day ! 🌞"
]

Automated run (Schedule)

Same as for my tip on the loggin, if you are on Windows (use a cron in unix),

1. Create a batch file : (one is provided in the repository)

   @echo off
   python "path\to\bot\folder\app.py"
   exit

2. Add a task to your Windows Scheduler to run this batch program every 5/10 minutes.
3. That's all !

Notes

• ARM64 is not supported by helix perforce. Given that, a raspberry type dedicated server cannot be used to host this bot...
• This bot is well suited for a dedicated python server on cloud instances (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud...)

Licence and credits

The licence for this project is MIT.

The project is inspired by Perforce Commit Logger, by James Ives. https://github.com/JamesIves/perforce-commit-discord-bot