introduction-github-actions.md

title	author
Introduction to GitHub Actions	Part 1 of 3 in the [Build end-to-end CI/CD capabilities with GitHub Actions](https://github.com/msusdev/end-to-end-ci-cd) series

About the presenter

Presenter Name

☁️ Presenter Title

For questions or help with this series: msusdev@microsoft.com

All demos and source code available on GitHub:

github.com/msusdev/end-to-end-ci-cd

Series road map

• Session 1:
  • ↪️ Introduction to GitHub Actions
• Session 2:
  • Automatically build and test your code with GitHub Actions
• Session 3:
  • Deploy your code to Azure with GitHub Actions

Today's agenda

• What are GitHub Actions?
• Learn the YAML syntax
• Building a simple project

::: notes

Learn how GitHub Actions enable you to automate your software development cycle for code hosted in GitHub. We’ll walk you through using everyday actions in your first workflow. You’ll learn how to:

• Create a workflow
• Add actions to a workflow
• Trigger the workflow

:::

What are GitHub Actions?

• Packaged workflows
• Automates common build, test, and deployment actions
• Highly configurable and extendable
• Supports an open marketplace of free and paid tools
• Includes a rich user interface system native in GitHub

Anatomy of a workflow

Example of a workflow

Demo: Configuring a workflow to check the build environment

::: notes

1. Start with an empty GitHub repository

2. Create a .github/workflows/build.yml file

   Note: The name of this file is arbitrary. For the remainder of this demo, we will assume you named this file build.yml.

3. In the build.yml file, add and validate:

   on: push

4. Add and validate:

   on: push
   jobs:
     first-job:

5. Add and validate:

   on: push
   jobs:
     first-job:
       steps:
         - run: node --version
         - run: npm --version

6. Add and validate:

   on: push
   jobs:
     first-job:
       runs-on: windows-latest
       steps:
         - run: node --version
         - run: npm --version

:::

Configuring the workflow environment

• Trigger
  • Uses the on keyword
  • Specifies the triggering event (ex. push, pull_request)
  • Filters to specific branches or tags
• Environment (optional)
  • Uses the env keyword
  • Configures environment variables

Configuring the job-specific workflow environment

• Runs on
  • Uses the jobs.runs-on keyword
  • Chooses between a GitHub or self-hosted runner
  • For GitHub-hosted runners, specifies an operating system (ex. windows-2019, macos-11, ubuntu-20.04)
• Container (optional)
  • Uses the jobs.container keyword
  • Chooses a container, from Docker Hub, to use as the workflow environment
  • Hosted on the machine specified in jobs.runs-on

Demo: Customizing the workflow environment

::: notes

1. In the .github/workflows/build.yml file, add and validate:

   on: push
   jobs:
     first-job:
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       steps:
         - run: node --version
         - run: npm --version

2. Add and validate:

   on: push
   jobs:
     first-job:
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       container: node:17.6.0
       steps:
         - run: node --version
         - run: npm --version

3. Add and validate:

   on: push
   jobs:
     first-job:
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       container: node:14
       steps:
         - run: node --version
         - run: npm --version

4. Add and validate:

   name: Node Continuous Integration
   on: push
   jobs:
     build-node:
       name: Build Node
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       container: node:14
       steps:
         - run: node --version
         - run: npm --version

5. Add and validate:

   Warning: This step won't work as expected since there's nothing to "install" from NPM due to a missing package.json file

   name: Node Continuous Integration
   on: push
   jobs:
     build-node:
       name: Build Node
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       container: node:14
       steps:
         - run: node --version
         - run: npm --version
         - run: npm install

:::

Sourcing GitHub Actions

github.com/marketplace

• Any action can be created in a GitHub repository and surfaced through the marketplace as a paid or free action
• Actions are referenced using the typical org-name/repo-name syntax

Example: Checkout action

github.com/actions/checkout

Checks-out the code in the current repository for use in the workflow

• Actions organization
• Checkout repository
• Latest version is V2

Using marketplace actions in a workflow

• Reference action using the uses keyword

• Optionally, configure action properties using the with keyword

  - uses: org-name/repo-name@v0
    with:
      property: value    

Example: Using Checkout action

- uses: actions/checkout@v2

Example: Upload Build Artifact action

github.com/actions/upload-artifact

Uploads build artifacts from the workflow to access after the workflow is complete

• Actions organization
• Upload-Artifact repository
• Latest version is V2

Example: Using Upload Build Artifact action

- uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
  with:
    name: my-artifact
    path: path/to/artifact/

Demo: Node Continuous Integration

::: notes

1. Create a simple node project:

   console.log('Hello, world!');

   node_modules/
   package-lock.json
   

   {
     "name": "simple",
     "main": "app.js"
   }

2. In the .github/workflows/build.yml file, add and validate:

   name: Node Continuous Integration
   on: push
   jobs:
     build-node:
       name: Build Node
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       container: node:14
       steps:
         - run: node --version
         - run: npm --version
         - uses: actions/checkout@v2
         - run: dir

3. Add and validate:

   name: Node Continuous Integration
   on: push
   jobs:
     build-node:
       name: Build Node
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       container: node:14
       steps:
         - run: node --version
         - run: npm --version
         - uses: actions/checkout@v2
         - run: npm install

4. Add and validate:

   name: Node Continuous Integration
   on: push
   jobs:
     build-node:
       name: Build Node
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       container: node:14
       steps:
         - run: node --version
         - run: npm --version
         - uses: actions/checkout@v2
         - run: npm install
         - run: node app.js

5. Review workflow output

6. Add and validate:

   name: Node Continuous Integration
   on: push
   jobs:
     build-node:
       name: Build Node
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       container: node:14
       steps:
         - run: node --version
           name: Check Node Version
         - run: npm --version
           name: Check NPM Version
         - uses: actions/checkout@v2
           name: Checkout Code
         - run: npm install
           name: Install NPM Packages
         - run: node app.js
           name: Run Application

7. Update Node project:

   npm install --save moment

   console.log('Hello, world!');
   
   var moment = require('moment');
   var date = moment().format('LL');
   console.log(date);

8. Review workflow output after project has been updated

:::

Reviewing today's session

• GitHub Actions
• YAML syntax
• Building projects

Reference Links

• https://docs.github.com/actions/learn-github-actions/introduction-to-github-actions#understanding-the-workflow-file
• https://hub.docker.com/_/node
• https://github.com/actions/checkout

Microsoft Learn

• https://docs.microsoft.com/learn/paths/automate-workflow-github-actions/

Thank You! Questions?