Add documentation for conditional composite steps (runs.steps[*].if)
#12378
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content/actions/creating-actions/metadata-syntax-for-github-actions.md
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| **Example: Using status check functions** | ||
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| The `my backup step` only runs when the previous step of a composite action fails. For more information, see "[Expressions](/actions/learn-github-actions/expressions#job-status-check-functions)." |
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Might be worth adding a footnote or something to this page to indicate that in composite actions these refer to the success/failure of the composite action not the job
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I agree. Should we also distinguish between composite step-if (depends on composite action's success) from pre-if and post-if (depends on job's success)?
What do you think about this:
Rename Job Status Check Expressions to Status Check Expressions, explain that these expressions can be deconstructed using job.status in a job.step and github.action_status in a composite.step, respectively, and show some examples like you mentioned: if: ${{ github.action_status == 'failure' }}
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If a user is using a third party action, will it be obvious to them whether the action is a composite action?
Or does this apply to all small-a actions (not just composite actions)?
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@skedwards88 This only applies to composite actions, other actions can't have conditional steps.
The idea is that maintainers of the composite action should only have to consider the action itself being successful, not the job executing it.
For example, let's say a job is failing, but its last step calls a composite action with if:always(). We want this composite action to start out with a state of success and track changes to its state independent of the job.
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| **Example: Using status check functions** | ||
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| The `my backup step` only runs when the previous step of a composite action fails. For more information, see "[Expressions](/actions/learn-github-actions/expressions#job-status-check-functions)." |
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If a user is using a third party action, will it be obvious to them whether the action is a composite action?
Or does this apply to all small-a actions (not just composite actions)?
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Deconstruction explained: https://docs-12378--composite-action-s.herokuapp.com/en/actions/learn-github-actions/expressions#evaluate-status-explicitly Pre-if and Post-if: https://docs-12378--composite-action-s.herokuapp.com/en/actions/creating-actions/metadata-syntax-for-github-actions#pre @thboop Let me know what you think |
This works now. See github/docs#12378 This reverts commit 25b2dd4.
…ticle) #12378 (#48685) Co-authored-by: Siara <[email protected]>
Why:
People creating composite actions could not use conditional steps before. Changing the docs would make this change more explicit.
What's being changed:
By merging actions/runner#1438, we started supporting conditional composite steps.
Added a new paragraph: https://docs-12378--composite-action-s.herokuapp.com/en/actions/creating-actions/metadata-syntax-for-github-actions#runsstepsif
Check off the following:
Writer impact (This section is for GitHub staff members only):