A github action populating options for an issue forms dropdown.

Checkout

• Follow this workflow.
• Replace the uses: ./ directive to point to .
• Refer to the inputs and outputs definitions in the spec.

This repo uses the action it defines.

• Take a look at the dropdowns populated into the issue template using this workflow.
• Take a closer look at the template file used to generate long_report.yml, see Templates.
• Don't forget to checkout #5. Refer to Creating a PR for more information.
• And you can view the bot in action.

The template option introduces a build step, sort of speaking. It reads the template and outputs a generated file using inputs.form. This means that you shouldn't edit the built form, as you wouldn't edit a build file.

The action will use template to build the form as follows:

• Parse template
• For each dropdown:
  • Determine if dropdown is static using inputs.strategy.
  • Static dropdowns (dropdowns with populated options in the template) take precedence over their built counterpart.
    See an example commit.
  • Dynamic dropdowns are persisted from the built file in order to enable updating parts of a form from multiple runs.
• Set inputs.options
• Write form

Using a template is suggested for the following:

• Preserving comments: Parsing the yaml file will loose all comments
• DX: Maintaining forms with long dropdown options
• Dynamic Substitution

• {...} : will populate the value from template if existing
• {{...}} : will populate the previous value from form if existing.

    ...
    - type: dropdown
      id: _dropdown
      description: 'template says: {...}, build says: ...'
      options:
        - a
    ...

    ...
    with:
      id: _dropdown
      description: 'template says: {...}, build says: ...'
      options: {...}, b
    ...

    ...
    with:
      id: _dropdown
      description: 'template says: template says: {...}, build says: ..., build says: ...'
      options:
        - a
        - b
    ...

    ...
    with:
      id: _dropdown
      description: 'template says: {{...}}, build says: ...'
      options: {{...}}, c
    ...

    ...
    with:
      id: _dropdown
      description: 'template says: template says: template says: {...}, build says: ..., build says: ..., build says: ...'
      options:
        - a
        - b
        - c
    ...

    ...
    with:
      id: _dropdown
      description: 'template says: {{...}} but build says: ...'
      options: {...}, d
    ...

    ...
    with:
      id: _dropdown
      description: 'template says: template says: template says: template says: {...}, build says: ..., build says: ..., build says: ... but build says: ...'
      options:
        - a
        - d
    ...

Take a look at the template file used to generate the built file for a live example.

Since workflows run in concurrency you may encounter a case in which a number of runs are trying to modify and commit the same file.
This might result in a merge conflict.
If that is the case the action will fail.

Consider the following:
The labels of this repo are populated into a dropdown (see Live).
Modifying a label more than once in a short period of time (before the previous runs completed) will fail to update the form.

Consider handling failures in a consequent step or use the dry_run option to prevent the action from trying to commit in the first place and handle that yourself.

Consider using in order to commit changes in an orderly and safe fashion to a generated PR.

Refer to the update-long-report job in this workflow to see a usage example and to PR #5.
Don't forget to use the dry_run option.