Add multi-string support for variable values

[air3ijai]

We are trying to check how to use that action with include and it fails with our case (shell: bash -e), which is expected as described in the documentation

There is currently no way to pass multiline strings or strings containing colons and/or commas as variable names or values. If you need to have such strings please open an issue.

name: Matrix
on:
  push:
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  # Setup matrix
  setup-matrix:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    outputs:
      matrix: ${{ steps.setup-matrix.outputs.matrix }}
    steps:
      - id: setup-matrix
        uses: druzsan/setup-matrix@v1
        with:
          include: |
            os: linux cpu: amd64 run-on: ubuntu-latest shell: bash -e,
            os: macos cpu: amd64 run-on: macos-latest shell: bash -e,
            os: windows cpu: amd64 run-on: windows-latest shell: msys2

  # Setup python and print version
  build:
    needs: setup-matrix
    strategy:
      matrix: ${{ fromJson(needs.setup-matrix.outputs.matrix) }}
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.run-on }}
    name: '${{ matrix.os }}-${{ matrix.cpu }}-${{ matrix.shell }}'
    steps:
      - name: Checkout sources
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

[druzsan]

Hi @air3ijai, I can confirm this feature is not working at the moment and I couldn't bypass it myself.

Furthermore, it works with plain GitHub strategy matrices, so it seems reasonable for me to implement.

So I am starting to implement this feature.

[druzsan]

Hi @air3ijai

Update: I rewrote the action with Python and it seems to work for virtually any case (special characters/spaces/multilines in both variable name and values) now.

Here is your workflow using the new version and its corresponding run.

Breaking Changes: since had to parse many edge cases I stepped back from my "own" format to classic YAML as a string. Flow and non-flow YAML syntaxes are both supported. Basically, if you had

strategy:
  matrix:
    variable1: [value1, value2]
    variable2: [value1, value2]
    include:
      - variable1: value3
      - variable2: value3 variable3: value1
    exclude:
      - variable1: value1 variable2: value2

now just copy-paste it to the actions inputs:

steps:
  - uses: druzsan/setup-matrix@feature/use-python-dockerfile
    with:
      matrix: |
        variable1: [value1, value2]
        variable2: [value1, value2]
      include: |
        - variable1: value3
        - variable2: value3 variable3: value1
      exclude: |
        - variable1: value1 variable2: value2

WIP: the feature is not released yet, I need some more time to test it out. So you can use the branch specified (uses: druzsan/setup-matrix@feature/use-python-dockerfile) to test it yourself if you wish, but do not fully rely on the unreleased state.

If you have some feedback, feel free to share it.

[air3ijai]

Hi, @druzsan - just did a check and it works as expected for our case and we can pass matrix to reusable workflow.

Thank you for the implementation!

Basically, now we have a copy paste from the existing matrix syntax

[druzsan]

Hi @air3ijai,

I am happy it works for you!

My thoughts were that since there is now no difference in syntax between strategy matrix and usage of action (up to that the latter is a string) it is better to let just one argument matrix and let people copy-paste as you have figured it out yourself.

I am currently preparing some testing and will release a new version soon.

[druzsan]

Hi @air3ijai,

the new version is released, since now you can use action as druzsan/setup-matrix@v2.