Convert issue form responses to JSON

This action is designed to be used in conjunction with issue forms to allow you to parse created issues into machine-readable JSON for processing.

Issues submitted using issue forms use a structured Markdown format. So long as the issue body is not heavily modified by the user, we can reliably parse the issue body into a JSON object.

You can use this action to conditionally run steps in a workflow based on the contents of the issue body. For example, you may want to run a step only if the issue body contains a specific keyword, version number, etc.

Here is a simple example of how to use this action in your workflow. Make sure to replace vX.X.X with the latest version of this action.

steps:
  - name: Parse Issue
    id: parser
    uses: issue-ops/[email protected]
    with:
      body: ${{ github.event.issue.body }}

  - name: Output Issue JSON
    id: output-issue
    run: echo ${{ steps.parser.outputs.json }}

Given an example issue template and the following issue submitted with that template:

### The Name of the Thing

this-thing

### The Nickname of the Thing

thing

### The Color of the Thing

blue

### The Shape of the Thing

square

### The Sounds of the Thing

re, mi

### The Topics About the Thing

_No response_

### The Description of the Thing

This is a description.

It has lines.

### The Notes About the Thing

- Note
- Another note
- Lots of notes

### The Code of the Thing

const thing = new Thing()

thing.doThing()

### The String Method of the Code of the Thing

thing.toString()

### Is the Thing a Thing?

- [x] Yes
- [x] No

### Is the Thing Useful?

- [ ] Yes
- [x] Sometimes
- [ ] No

### Read Team

IssueOps-Demo-Readers

### Write Team

IssueOps-Demo-Writers-NotATeam

The output of this action would be:

{
  "name": "this-thing",
  "nickname": "thing",
  "color": ["blue"],
  "shape": ["square"],
  "sounds": ["re", "mi"],
  "topics": [],
  "description": "This is a description.\n\nIt has multiple lines.\n\nIt's pretty cool!",
  "notes": "- Note\n- Another note\n- Lots of notes",
  "code": "const thing = new Thing()\nthing.doThing()",
  "code-string": "thing.toString()",
  "is-thing": {
    "selected": ["Yes"],
    "unselected": ["No"]
  },
  "is-thing-useful": {
    "selected": ["Sometimes"],
    "unselected": ["Yes", "No"]
  },
  "read-team": "IssueOps-Demo-Readers",
  "write-team": "IssueOps-Demo-Writers"
}

The issue-form-template input is optional. If not provided, the action will still parse the issue body, however the output will be a flat JSON object. The object keys will be slugified versions of the headers, and the values will be the contents of the headers.

Using the same example as above, the output would instead be:

{
  "the_name_of_the_thing": "this-thing",
  "the_nickname_of_the_thing": "thing",
  "the_color_of_the_thing": "blue",
  "the_shape_of_the_thing": "square",
  "the_sounds_of_the_thing": "re, mi",
  "the_topics_about_the_thing": "_No response_",
  "the_description_of_the_thing": "This is a description.\n\nIt has multiple lines.\n\nIt's pretty cool!",
  "the_notes_about_the_thing": "- Note\n- Another note\n- Lots of notes",
  "the_code_of_the_thing": "const thing = new Thing()\nthing.doThing()",
  "the_string_method_of_the_code_of_the_thing": "thing.toString()",
  "is_the_thing_a_thing": "- [x] Yes\n- [ ] No",
  "is_the_thing_useful": "- [ ] Yes\n- [x] Sometimes\n- [ ] No",
  "read_team": "IssueOps-Demo-Readers",
  "write_team": "IssueOps-Demo-Writers"
}

The following transformations will take place for each heading:

The following transformations will take place for responses, depending on the input type. The type is inferred from the issue form template. For information on each specific type, see Syntax for GitHub's form schema.

Type: input

Before:

This is a response

After (no change):

This is a response

Type: textarea

Before:

First line :D

Third line!

After:

First line :D\n\nThird line!

Type: dropdown

Before:

red, blue, green

After:

["red", "blue", "green"]

Type: checkboxes

Before:

- [x] Pick me!
- [ ] Don't pick me D:

After:

{
  "selected": ["Pick me!"],
  "unselected": ["Don't pick me D:"]
}

In the following situations, an input will be omitted from the output JSON:

If a form is submitted with empty field(s), they will be included in the issue body as one of the following:

### Field A

_No response_

### Field B

None

### Field C

<empty>

These will be converted to one of the following, based on the type of input specified in the issue form template: