GitHub Actions: A Tester’s Secret Weapon for Streamlined Workflows
GitHub Actions has revolutionized the way we automate workflows, from CI/CD pipelines to complex testing scenarios. While many are familiar with its core functionalities, there are hidden gems that can significantly enhance your efficiency and productivity. Let’s explore some lesser-known techniques and tips to optimize your GitHub Actions experience.
1)Secrets and Environment Variables
Secrets and environment variables provide a secure way to store sensitive information and configuration settings.
Using secrets:
Go to your repository’s settings.
Click “Secrets” under “Actions”.
Add a new secret.
Use the secret in your workflow:
2) Conditional Execution
Conditional execution allows you to control the flow of your workflow based on specific criteria. This is particularly useful for handling different scenarios or avoiding unnecessary steps.
3) Automated Code Review with reviewdog
reviewdog is a GitHub Action that integrates with various linters and code analysis tools to provide automated code reviews. This helps maintain code quality and consistency across your projects.
4) Parallel Testing with Matrix Strategies
Running tests in parallel is a game-changer for speeding up your CI/CD pipeline. GitHub Actions’ matrix strategies allow you to define a matrix of configurations and run jobs for each combination. This is particularly useful for testing your application across different environments, platforms, or language versions. Here’s an example of how to set up a matrix strategy for parallel testing.
In above workflow, the test job will run for each combination of os (operating system) and node-version, effectively running your tests in parallel across different environments. This helps you catch issues early and ensures your application works consistently across various platforms.
5) Dynamic Configuration with Environment Variables
Environment variables are a powerful tool for making your workflows more flexible and reusable. By using environment variables, you can pass dynamic values to your actions and customize your workflows based on the context. Consider below example of using environment variables for dynamic configuration.
In this workflow, we define an environment variable APP_ENV at the workflow level and set its value to staging. We then use this variable in the deploy job to conditionally execute different deployment steps based on the environment.
6) Triggering another Github Actions workflow in another repositry
If you want to trigger workflows across different repositories, you’ll need to use the GitHub API with a Personal Access Token (PAT). Here’s a example of how you can trigger a workflow in another repository using a repository_dispatch event.
First Define the initial Workflow file which will call the target workflow in another repository as below.
In this example, replace owner/repo with the target repository's owner and name, and ensure you have created a PAT and stored it in your repository secrets as PAT.
Now define below workflow in target repository where we want to listen to above workflow and trigger the target workflow.
7) Running Tests with JUnit and Maven.
Below workflow runs JUnit tests using Maven.
8) Running Cucumber BDD Test.
Below is workflow for the same.
9) API Testing with REST Assured.
This workflow uses REST Assured for API testing:
10) Performance Testing with JMeter.
This workflow runs performance tests using Apache JMeter.
The Above Worflow uses cron job so the performance Test run at a regular interval as define above and then it install the jmeter , then unzip it and then the the jmx file we have provided. After that it will upload the result using upload-artifact actions.
GitHub Actions offers a wealth of features beyond the basics that can help streamline and optimize your workflows. I encourage you to explore these solutions and incorporate them into your development and testing practices. Stay tuned for more insights on unlocking the full potential of GitHub Actions!
As a senior test automation engineer with over a decade of experience, I am passionate about delivering quality with excellence. My expertise spans across various automation tools and performance testing, with a keen interest in learning new technologies.
I hope these examples help you optimize your GitHub Actions workflows! If you have any questions or need further assistance, feel free to reach out. Happy automating! 🚀
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