The GitHub Actions for Digital.ai Release

This topic illustrates how to use the github-actions-release action to create and start releases in Digital.ai Release directly from your GitHub repository, automating the entire release process. With this GitHub action, you can trigger a release and monitor its status.

Before you Begin

• Access to Digital.ai Release (24.3 or later) with appropriate permissions to create and start releases.
• Release's GitHub action—github-actions-release
• Access to GitHub marketplace to use the github-actions-release workflow

Input and Output Parameters of the github-actions-release Action

The github-actions-release GitHub action lets you customize inputs, enabling you to modify the settings to your specific needs.

Input Properties

Name	Description	Required	Default
serverUrl	The address of the Digital.ai Release server.	Yes	-
username	Username for authentication to the Digital.ai Release server. Required if token is not provided.	Yes	-
password	Password for authentication to the Digital.ai Release server. Required if token is not provided.	Yes	-
token	Personal access token for authentication to the Digital.ai Release server. If provided, username and password are not required.	Yes	-
templateId	The full template identifier in Digital.ai Release. For example, Applications/Folder3f5cf31df/Releasec4e4b7bce4. For more details, click here	Yes	-
releaseTitle	Optional. Title of the release. If not provided, a default title will be assigned.	No	GITHUB_TAG / GITHUB_HEAD_REF
variables	Optional. JSON string representing the variables object to be passed to the release template.	No	-
startRelease	Optional. Indicates whether to start the release. Default is true.	No	true

After running the action, the output properties provide detailed information about the created release, such as its response, ID, and status.

Output Properties

Option	Description
response	The response containing the data of the newly created release.
id	The id of the newly created release.
status	The status of the newly created release.

Step 1—Set up the GitHub Actions Workflow File in Your Repository

In your GitHub repository, create a new workflow file within the .github/workflows directory, such as start-digital-ai-release.yml. This file will define the GitHub Action to automate release creation and starting on Digital.ai Release.

Here's an example start-digital-ai-release.yml file.

name: Create and Start Release

on: [push]

jobs:
  create-and-start-release:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
        
      - name: Create & Start Release
        id: release
        uses: digital-ai/github-actions-release@v1.0.0-beta.1  # Specify the GitHub action
        with:
          serverUrl: 'http://digital-ai-release-server-url:5516'  # Replace with your server URL
          username: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_PASSWORD }}
          templateId: 'Applications/FolderXXXXXXXXX/ReleaseXXXXXXXXX'  # Replace with your template ID
          releaseTitle: 'New Release from GitHub Actions'
          variables: '{"var1": "value1", "var2": "value2"}'  # Replace with any needed variables
          startRelease: true

      - name: Get Release Data
        run: echo ${{ steps.release.outputs.response }}

      - name: Get Release Id
        run: echo ${{ steps.release.outputs.id }}
      
      - name: Get Release Status
        run: echo ${{ steps.release.outputs.status }} 

Step 2—Configure the GitHub Repository Secrets

To protect sensitive information, such as credentials, configure your repository secrets:

1. Go to Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions in your GitHub repository and add the following secrets:

   • RELEASE_USERNAME: Your Digital.ai Release username.
   • RELEASE_PASSWORD: Your Digital.ai Release password.

Step 3—Customize Configuration in the YAML File

Update the following in the start-digital-ai-release.yml file to reflect your Digital.ai Release setup.

• serverUrl: The URL of the Digital.ai Release server (e.g., http://your-digital-ai-release-server:5516).
• templateId: Full template identifier within Digital.ai Release (e.g., Applications/FolderXXXXXXXXX/ReleaseXXXXXXXXX). For more information, see Identifiers
• releaseTitle (optional): Title for the release.
• variables (optional): JSON-formatted string to pass specific variables to the release template.
• startRelease: Set to true to start the release automatically after creation.

Step 4—Run the GitHub Actions Workflow

Once your configuration is complete, you are ready to run the workflow.

Manually Trigger the Workflow

1. Go to the Actions tab in your GitHub repository.
2. Select the Create and Start Release workflow.
3. Click the Run workflow button to initiate the process.

Monitor Workflow Execution

After the workflow starts, you can view its progress:

1. In the Actions tab, select the latest workflow run.
2. View logs for each step, including:
   • Get Release Data: Outputs response data from Digital.ai Release.
   • Get Release Id: Displays the ID of the release.
   • Get Release Status: Shows the status of the release.
   

Verify in Release

After running the workflow successfully, you can verify the release in Digital.ai Release.

1. Log in to Digital.ai Release.

2. Navigate to Releases.

3. Verify the Release GitHub action is marked as Completed.