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Jack
Jack

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Creating Dynamic README.md File

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This is my Github Profile. The specific thing here is that the weather is updated every 6 hours automatically.
(I know that embedding weather in the readme does nothing; it's just for demonstration purposes in the 'Creating Dynamic README.md File')

In this article, I will walk you through how I did that!
Let's get started!

1. What is Github Actions

GitHub Actions is a continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) platform that allows you to automate your build, test, and deployment pipeline. It's similar to Gitlab CI. In this project, I'm using Github Action to automatically update the weather in the README.md file.

2. Github Action Workflow triggers

Workflow triggers are events that cause a workflow to run. These events can be:

  • Events that occur in your workflow's repository such as:
    • Push
    • Pull request
    • Scheduled times
    • Manual

In this project, I'm using "Scheduled times" to trigger the Workflow "Update Weather."

3. Go template

Go templates are a powerful way to generate text, HTML, or any other output based on a predefined template structure. It's similar to templates in other frameworks like Laravel and template engines such as Pug.

(Data + Template) = Output

4. Combine them to make Readme up-to-date

  • Implement a service to collect weather data (Data).
  • Write a template that uses the above data as input.
  • Run the Go Template to combine the template and data to generate the output.
  • Commit and push the output changes.
  • Write a Github action to run the above steps at intervals.

Simply use my Github Action

Source code: huantt/weather-forecast

I've wrapped the four steps above into a Github Action. You can easily use it by following these simple steps:

Step 1: In your repository, create a file named README.md.template.

Step 2: Write anything you want within the README.md.template file.

Step 3: Embed one of the following entities within your README.md.template:

  • Today's Weather Table:
{{ template "hourly-table" $todayWeather.HourlyWeathers }}
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  • Daily Weather Table:
{{ template "daily-table" .Weathers }}
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  • Updated at:
{{ formatTime .UpdatedAt }}
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If you are familiar with Go templates, you have access to the root variable, which includes the following fields:

  • Weathers: An array of daily weather data. You can view the weather struct definition in model/weather.go.
  • UpdatedAt: This field contains the timestamp in the format of time.Date.

Step 4: Register Github Action

  • Create a file .github/workflows/update-weather.yml in your repository.
name: "Cronjob"
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '15 * * * *'

jobs:
  update-weather:
    permissions: write-all
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Generate README
        uses: huantt/weather-forecast@v1.0.5
        with:
          city: HaNoi
          days: 7
          weather-api-key: ${{ secrets.WEATHER_API_KEY }}
          template-file: 'README.md.template'
          out-file: 'README.md'
      - name: Commit
        run: |
          if git diff --exit-code; then
            echo "No changes to commit."
            exit 0
          else
            git config user.name github-actions
            git config user.email github-actions@github.com
            git add .
            git commit -m "update"
            git push origin main
          fi
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  • Update some variables in this file:
    • city: The city for which you want to forecast the weather.
    • days: The number of forecast days.
    • template-file: The path to the above template file. Eg. template/README.md.template
    • out-file: Your README.md file name.
    • weather-api-key:
    • Register a free API key at https://www.weatherapi.com.
    • Set up secrets with the name WEATHER_API_KEY in Your repo > settings > Secrets and variables > Actions > New repository secret.

Step 5: Commit your changes, and then Github actions will run at the specified cron interval to update the weather in your README.md file.

Other Github Actions

Reference

Oldest comments (43)

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rizmyabdulla profile image
Rizmy Abdulla 🎖️

Nice post ❤️

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jacktt profile image
Jack

Thank you. I hope it's useful for you.

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fadygrab profile image
Fady GA 😎

Didn't know that Github actions can be triggered with a cron expression! This is really a good post 👏

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tqbit profile image
tq-bit

This is pretty cool. You could even combine it with the Github API to get a breakdown on all of your used languages over your repositories or perhaps your LOC count

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dangnguyen1004 profile image
DangNguyen

Đỉnh quá anh ơi, cho em theo học đạo với

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j471n profile image
Jatin Sharma

GitHub Dynamic Readme is really good. But TBH I don't see any point showing the weather information in my README.

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jacktt profile image
Jack

It's made just for a demo :))

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j471n profile image
Jatin Sharma

Oh, in that case it's fine. I was like why would anyone wants to see the weather info.

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nathanmcl profile image
Nathan McLaughlin

Thank you for sharing.

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parzival_computer profile image
Parzival

huantt/weather-forecast, nice one.

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borikatsu profile image
Borikatsu

cool !

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ehrbhein profile image
Irvin Gil

this is so cool.

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akashdev23 profile image
Akash Dev

Thank you I'am going to try this out

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titi2k11 profile image
Ho Thi Ti Ti

Docker image của anh có thể chạy theo command được hay vậy
giải ngố em với ^^

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jacktt profile image
Jack

Em research về mấy keywords này nhé:

  • docker run command
  • ENTRYPOING & CMD in Dockerfile

Tìm hiểu xong nếu viết được thành 1 bài thì quay lại lây share anh xem nhé :))

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salmanad01 profile image
Salman
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fahimfba profile image
Md. Fahim Bin Amin

Loved it! I would like to make a video about it. I hope that is okay.

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jacktt profile image
Jack

Absolutely, you're welcome to use it as video content. Please share your video in the comments once you've completed it. I'm looking forward to seeing it!

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fahimfba profile image
Md. Fahim Bin Amin

Sure!

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fahimfba profile image
Md. Fahim Bin Amin

The weather-forecast action was not working till now. I was trying for several hours back then. It seems now it is online. I will try to make the video within tonight.

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jacktt profile image
Jack

Could you share me your repo or action log?

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fahimfba profile image
Md. Fahim Bin Amin

Here it is: github.com/FahimFBA/test/actions
I made it private but making it public for you to check. The latest build also failed suddenly.
Image description

Image description

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jacktt profile image
Jack

I found the problem. Because nothing has changed, the commit command returns an error.

Please update the run block to:

          if git diff --exit-code; then
            echo "No changes to commit."
            exit 0
          else
            git config user.name github-actions
            git config user.email github-actions@github.com
            git add .
            git commit -m "update"
            git push origin main
          fi
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I updated the docs.

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fahimfba profile image
Md. Fahim Bin Amin

Let's see whether it works then. If it works, then I am going to create the video.

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jacktt profile image
Jack

I have recently developed another GitHub Action for updating your dev.to articles on your GitHub profile.
dev.to/jacktt/update-your-devto-ar...

I think you can use it in your video.

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fahimfba profile image
Md. Fahim Bin Amin

Awesome. I guess it would be better if I create separate video for that.

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khaleo profile image
Leo

nice article 🌟

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khaleo profile image
Leo

Just a little comment, I faced this problem: level=ERROR msg="html/template:article:36:12: no such template \"article-table\"". Seem we should use huantt/article-listing@v1.1.0 instead of huantt/article-listing@v1.0.0

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jacktt profile image
Jack

You're right.
I will update the docs and this article.

Thank you.

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fahimfba profile image
Md. Fahim Bin Amin

This doesn't work anymore.
Image description

I have already tried to create the video 3 times, but each time had to delete the footage for that.

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jacktt profile image
Jack

Look at the error message: API key has been disabled

That means you have not configured the weather api key or your api key has been disabled.
Please login to weatherapi.com to check it.

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fahimfba profile image
Md. Fahim Bin Amin

After trying to change and get new APIs, it seems that some of them work, but in most cases, those APIs are not working. It might be the case that some of their free APIs work great, or it might also be an issue as I needed to regenerate multiple APIs.
However, I don't think this is a good idea to create a video as the APIs are not consistent. Therefore, I am leaving the task.

However, please change the URL to weatherapi.com/ as the mentioned one doesn't work.