Add examples for triggers [ci skip]

1 files changed, 76 insertions, 5 deletions

diff --git a/doc/ci/triggers/README.md b/doc/ci/triggers/README.md
index 63661ee4858..2c1de5859f8 100644
--- a/doc/ci/triggers/README.md
+++ b/doc/ci/triggers/README.md
@@ -83,22 +83,93 @@ Using cURL you can trigger a rebuild with minimal effort, for example:
 curl -X POST \
      -F token=TOKEN \
      -F ref=master \
-     https://gitlab.com/api/v3/projects/9/trigger/builds
+     https://gitlab.example.com/api/v3/projects/9/trigger/builds
 ```
 
 In this case, the project with ID `9` will get rebuilt on `master` branch.
 
-You can also use triggers in your `.gitlab-ci.yml`. Let's say that you have
-two projects, A and B, and you want to trigger a rebuild on the `master`
-branch of project B whenever a tag on project A is created.
+
+### Triggering a build within `.gitlab-ci.yml`
+
+You can also benefit by using triggers in your `.gitlab-ci.yml`. Let's say that
+you have two projects, A and B, and you want to trigger a rebuild on the `master`
+branch of project B whenever a tag on project A is created. This is the job you
+need to add in project's A `.gitlab-ci.yml`:
 
 ```yaml
 build_docs:
   stage: deploy
   script:
-    - "curl -X POST -F token=TOKEN -F ref=master https://gitlab.com/api/v3/projects/9/trigger/builds"
+  - "curl -X POST -F token=TOKEN -F ref=master https://gitlab.example.com/api/v3/projects/9/trigger/builds"
   only:
   - tags
 ```
 
+Now, whenever a new tag is pushed on project A, the build will run and the
+`build_docs` job will be executed, triggering a rebuild of project B. The
+`stage: deploy` ensures that this job will run only after all jobs with
+`stage: test` complete successfully.
+
+_**Note:** If your project is public, passing the token in plain text is
+probably not the wiser idea, so you might want to use a
+[secure variable](../variables/README.md#user-defined-variables-secure-variables)
+for that purpose._
+
+### Making use of trigger variables
+
+Using trigger variables can be proven useful for a variety of reasons.
+
+* Identifiable jobs. Since the variable is exposed in the UI you can know
+  why the rebuild was triggered if you pass a variable that explains the
+  purpose.
+* Conditional job processing. You can have conditional jobs that run whenever
+  a certain variable is present.
+
+Consider the following `.gitlab-ci.yml` where we set three
+[stages](../yaml/README.md#stages) and the `upload_package` job is run only
+when all jobs from the test and build stages pass. When the `UPLOAD_TO_S3`
+variable is non-zero, `make upload` is run.
+
+```yaml
+stages:
+- test
+- build
+- package
+
+run_tests:
+  script:
+  - make test
+
+build_package:
+  stage: build
+  script:
+  - make build
+
+upload_package:
+  stage: package
+  script:
+  - if [ -n "${UPLOAD_TO_S3}" ]; then make upload; fi
+```
+
+You can then trigger a rebuild while you pass the `UPLOAD_TO_S3` variable
+and the script of the `upload_package` job will run:
+
+```bash
+curl -X POST \
+  -F token=TOKEN \
+  -F ref=master \
+  -F "variables[UPLOAD_TO_S3]=true" \
+  https://gitlab.example.com/api/v3/projects/9/trigger/builds
+```
+
+### Using cron to trigger nightly builds
+
+Whether you craft a script or just run cURL directly, you can trigger builds
+in conjunction with cron. The example below triggers a build on the `master`
+branch of project with ID `9` every night at `00:30`:
+
+```bash
+30 0 * * * curl -X POST -F token=TOKEN -F ref=master https://gitlab.example.com/api/v3/projects/9/trigger/builds
+```
+
 [ci-229]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ci/merge_requests/229