Github Actions & CI

CI Workflow

This week I worked on adding a CI workflow to my project through Github actions. The set up was easy:

• I selected a new workflow from the "Actions" section in my repo:
• Searched for and selected the .NET workflow:
• I edited the template YAML file to work with my project files:

# This workflow will build a .NET project
# For more information see: https://docs.github.com/en/actions/automating-builds-and-tests/building-and-testing-net

name: .NET

on:
  push:
    branches: [ "main" ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ "main" ]

jobs:
  build:

    runs-on: windows-latest

    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v3
    - name: Setup .NET
      uses: actions/setup-dotnet@v3
      with:
        dotnet-version: 6.0.x
    - name: Restore dependencies
      run: dotnet restore ./Text2StaticHtml/Text2StaticHtml.sln
    - name: Build
      run: dotnet build ./Text2StaticHtml/Text2StaticHtml.sln --no-restore
    - name: Test
      run: dotnet test ./Text2StaticHtml/Text2StaticHtmlNunitTest/Text2StaticHtmlNunitTest.csproj --no-build --verbosity normal

• Committed the YAML file to my repo.

Testing CI Workflow

After adding the CI workflow, I added new test cases for my project to make sure that the workflow got triggered on push and pull request. Then, I made a faulty logic change to intentionally fail a test during the workflow and fixed the faulty logic after I saw that the CI action failed as a result of the faulty logic.

So, after I was satisfied that the workflow worked, I merged the changes.

Adding To a Friend's Project

I also added a new test case to my friend's project to make sure that his CI workflow worked as well. Since, his project is written in Python he is using Pytest as a testing framework. Because his testing setup is similar to mine, adding a new test case was very simple. I implemented a new test case to check for non-existent file inputs after I asked my friend if there was a specific test case that he wanted me to add to improve his test coverage. The PR for the changes I made can be found here.

What I Learned

I learned how to setup a CI workflow through Github actions. I can see why a CI workflow is so important, it allows for the automatic building and testing of the project whenever changes are made. I will definitely add CI workflows to my future projects to make my life easier specially with automatic testing.