From 619f07f85c9015e0fa1838f2f94fd41c611642d6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Julius Gamanyi <85777+juliusgb@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2023 08:23:16 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] docs(ghactions, syntax fixes): multiline string to output
 (#33)

---
 github-actions/multistring-in-outputs-var.md  | 85 +++++++++++++++++++
 .../print-github-webhook-payload.md           | 10 +--
 jq/access-array-index-in-loop.md              |  2 +-
 3 files changed, 89 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 github-actions/multistring-in-outputs-var.md

diff --git a/github-actions/multistring-in-outputs-var.md b/github-actions/multistring-in-outputs-var.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dfba0e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/github-actions/multistring-in-outputs-var.md
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+# GitHub Actions - save multiline string to output
+
+Trying to write a multi-line string in GitHub Actions output variable `$GITHUB_OUTPUT` returns the error, `Unable to process file command 'output' successfully.`
+
+[GitHub Actions documentation](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-commands-for-github-actions#multiline-strings) shows us how to do that.
+But, I didn't understand it till I came across this [stackoverflow answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/74232400) that I reproduce below.
+
+Let the variable `jsonData` hold example json (from another [jq TIL](https://til.juliusgamanyi.com/posts/jq-access-array-index-in-loop)) using the `here-doc` 
+
+
+```yaml
+name: Multiline in outputs
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      '**'
+
+jobs:
+  test:
+    name: debug
+    runs-on: [ubuntu]
+
+    steps:
+      - name: prepare multiline string
+        id: prep-multiline
+        run: |
+          jsonData=$(cat <<EOF
+          {
+            "id": 1,
+            "name": "James"
+          }
+          EOF
+          )
+          EOF=$(dd if=/dev/urandom bs=15 count=1 status=none | base64)
+          echo "JsonInfo<<EOF"$'\n'"$jsonData"$'\n'EOF >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
+    - name: use multiline string
+      run: |
+        echo "JsonInfo is {% raw %} ${{ steps.prep-multiline.outputs.JsonInfo }} {% endraw %}
+```
+
+Explanation of lines 24-25
+
+1. Set output with the defined 'name' (in our case `JsonInfo`), and a 'delimiter' that would mark the end of the data: typically it would be a plain EOF but it's strongly recommended that the delimiter is random.
+1. Keep reading each line and concatenating it into one input.
+1. Once reaching the line consisting of the defined delimiter, stop processing.
+This means that another output could start being added.
+
+That `jsonData` can contain the results of a command that returns json.
+
+
+```yaml
+name: Multiline in outputs
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      '**'
+
+jobs:
+  test:
+    name: debug
+    runs-on: [ubuntu]
+
+    steps:
+      - name: prepare multiline string
+        id: prep-multiline
+        run: |
+          AWS_REGION="us-east-1"
+          EC2_NAME="my-ec2"
+            jsonData="$(\
+              aws ec2 describe-instances \
+                --region "$AWS_REGION" \
+                --filters "Name=tag:Name,Values=$EC2_NAME" \
+                --query 'Reservations[*].Instances[*].{InstanceId: InstanceId, State: State.Name}' \
+                --output json
+              )"
+        EOF=$(dd if=/dev/urandom bs=15 count=1 status=none | base64)
+        echo "JsonInfo<<EOF"$'\n'"$jsonData"$'\n'EOF >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
+    - name: use multiline string
+      run: |
+        echo "JsonInfo is {% raw %} ${{ steps.prep-multiline.outputs.JsonInfo }} {% endraw %}
+```
diff --git a/github-actions/print-github-webhook-payload.md b/github-actions/print-github-webhook-payload.md
index 62cb961..0a72c11 100644
--- a/github-actions/print-github-webhook-payload.md
+++ b/github-actions/print-github-webhook-payload.md
@@ -25,11 +25,7 @@ jobs:
         env:
           GITHUB_CONTEXT: ${{ toJson(github) }}
         run: |
-          echo "$GITHUB_CONTEXT"
-
-      - name: print delete webhook payload
-        run: |
-          echo ${{ GITHUB.event }}
+          echo "GITHUB_CONTEXT is $GITHUB_CONTEXT"
+          echo "VARS_CONTEXT is $VARS_CONTEXT"
+          echo "delete event is ${{ GITHUB_CONTEXT.event }}"
 ```
-
-
diff --git a/jq/access-array-index-in-loop.md b/jq/access-array-index-in-loop.md
index 00ab783..36a025e 100644
--- a/jq/access-array-index-in-loop.md
+++ b/jq/access-array-index-in-loop.md
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ jsonData=$(cat <<EOF
   EOF
 )
 
-numberOfItems = $(echo $jsonData | jq --raw-output length)
+numberOfItems=$(echo $jsonData | jq --raw-output length)
 
 # loop over the list in json
 for (( i=0; i<numberOfItems; i++ ))