Add GH workflow for updating external links gallery via issue template

[andersy005]

This is my attempt at addressing #80. This PR consists of an issue template and a GitHub workflow that will operate as follows:

• A user opens a new issue using the template included in this PR

• Here's what the filled out issue template looks like:

• Once the issue is created, GitHub triggers the workflow. The workflow does a few things
  • (1) Lets the user know that we are running some validation checks
  • (2) Runs the validation checks
  • (3) Once the validation checks are passing, the Github workflow opens a PR on behalf of the user
  • (4) Once the PR is opened, we post a reply to the original issue to let the user know that we opened a PR on their behalf

• The workflow is designed to be triggered when the user updates the body of the issue. So, if anything needs to be updated, the user can just update the issue, and the pull request will get updated automatically.

@jukent, I haven't added tags to the template yet. From yesterday's conversation, I gathered that tags are optional. In case I misunderstood, let me know and I will make sure the validation checks include tags as well.

@ProjectPythia/infrastructure, your feedback on this is appreciated.

[brian-rose]

This looks great, as far as I understand what's going on. Does github automatically combine issue templates housed in the .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ directory of this repo with those that are stored separately in the .github repo?

Is it possible to somehow test out the whole workflow of submitting an issue before we merge this?

[clyne]

This looks great, as far as I understand what's going on. Does github automatically combine issue templates housed in the .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ directory of this repo with those that are stored separately in the .github repo?

Is it possible to somehow test out the whole workflow of submitting an issue before we merge this?

My GitHub kung fu is too weak to review the implementation. I agree with @brian-rose that it would be super helpful to be able to evaluate the functionality though. Perhaps @dcamron, @dopplershift , or @pilotchute could review the yaml files, etc., we could merge, and then handle any needed changes thorough separate issues.

[jukent]

@andersy005 This looks great!

The tags dictionary with the packages or formats lists (even if one is empty) is necessary. Maybe we add both here. At least one tag is required. I can see how this is complicated and can try to change the function to match.

And second, can you point out somehow that the thumbnail can be a url to a direct image link.

Can the link on the website take you directly to that template or should it take you to the issues page to click "get started" there?

[andersy005]

Does github automatically combine issue templates housed in the .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ directory of this repo with those that are stored separately in the .github repo?

It's my understanding that GitHub will combine them. There may be some caveats though, and the only way to confirm this works as expected is to merge and see what happens :)

Is it possible to somehow test out the whole workflow of submitting an issue before we merge this?

Unfortunately, this is very trick to test since the logic is tied to the GitHub API and the contents in the repo (e.g. the links.yaml file). Unless we want to create a separate repository for testing, I'd recommend that we merge this and run tests within this repository. This is not the cleanest approach but it would guarantee that things are working as expected.

[brian-rose]

Unless we want to create a separate repository for testing, I'd recommend that we merge this and run tests within this repository.

Sounds good to me! I'm happy to merge and do some testing. I doubt we can cause too much damage this way...

[brian-rose]

Approving in order to expedite some real-world testing of the functionality!

[andersy005]

Approving in order to expedite some real-world testing of the functionality!

and for discovering bugs as well :)

And second, can you point out somehow that the thumbnail can be a url to a direct image link.

@jukent, would a comment in the issue template be enough?

Can the link on the website take you directly to that template or should it take you to the issues page to click "get started" there?

See my comment in #87 (comment)

At least one tag is required. I can see how this is complicated and can try to change the function to match.

@jukent, should I add tags before merging this or is it okay to address this in a separate pull request?

[clyne]

Approved to facilitate testing

[andersy005]

Thank you, @brian-rose, @clyne, @jukent! I'm going to merge this shortly for testing. I will address issues pointed out and bugs in follow up PRs.

[andersy005]

Does github automatically combine issue templates housed in the .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ directory of this repo with those that are stored separately in the .github repo?

It's my understanding that GitHub will combine them. There may be some caveats though, and the only way to confirm this works as expected is to merge and see what happens :)

@brian-rose, I turns out that I was wrong about this :). It appears that the .ISSUE_TEMPLATE directory in the repository is overriding the organization wide templates in https://github.com/ProjectPythia/.github`. I am going to move the issue template to the organization wide .github/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE directory for the time being...

[brian-rose]

@andersy005 live and learn!

[clyne]

@andersy005 thanks for taking care of this so quickly. A few comments/questions that hopefully find there way to you through a closed PR :-)

1. Are the checkboxes things that are automatically populated somehow, or is the user supposed to check them?
2. I think we need to give more guidance in the template than simply "Please fill out the template below". First, it would be good to have a description of what this template is for, possibly providing a link to the external links gallery. Second, I don't think it's clear to the contributor how to complete the template. How about instead of empty quotes after the keywords having something like 'YOUR_INPUT_GOES_HERE'?

[jukent]

Great job @andersy005 ! The new-link PR will fail if a tag is not listed. We can work on this now that it has been merged.

[jukent]

@clyne This PR gets the functionality and the content group (I can volunteer for this) can make it as user friendly as possible with explanations in another PR.

[clyne]

@jukent sounds good. Would you like me to open a separate issue with my comments/questions?