Decouple main actions logic

[germa89]

📝 Description of the feature

This is a complain I have already rised, but I need to insist.

The current actions are veeery specific and complex. For example, doc-deploy-dev.

In this action we perform:

• Checkout (now it is optional)
• Download artifacts (and decompress)
• documentation logic (upload jekill files, generate redirection, etc)

Proposed solution

I think these underlying actions should be grouped in "private" actions. For instance:

name: "Documentation deploy development version."
description: "Deploy development documentation to GitHub pages."

inputs:
  doc-artifact-name:
    description: "Name of the HTML documentation artifact."
    required: false
[...]

runs:
  using: "composite"
  steps:

    - name: "Checkout"
      uses: pyansys/actions/_doc_deploy_dev_checkout

    - name: "Download needed files"
       id: download
      uses: pyansys/actions/_doc_deploy_dev_download

    - name: "Documentation generation"
      uses: pyansys/actions/_doc_deploy_dev_doc_gen
      with:
          artifact_path: download.output.artifact_path

    - name: "Deploy"
      uses: pyansys/actions/_doc_deploy_dev_deploy

💡 Steps for implementing the feature

To be decided but I am happy to help (when I go back from holidays) if approved the PoC.

🔗 Useful links and references

No response

[germa89]

Pinging @pyansys/pyansys-core for visibility

[jorgepiloto]

Thanks for raising this concern, German.

I understand that the doc-deploy-* actions are long and may be difficult to read and maintain. However, I am not sure up to which point adding so many "private" actions is going to increase its maintainability over time.

[germa89]

I understand more actions might increase the maintainability cost, and I agree.

But decoupling the main steps in several smaller (and maybe private) actions will enforce a common API between them and hence making easier individual changes in each one. Having everything in one big action goes (IMHO) against the componetization approach we are trying to take in PyAnsys.

[jorgepiloto]

I am adding this to the list of tasks for the next release. Let us investigate more about it. At least, it should be feasible to isolate the common parts into private actions.

[jorgepiloto]

Postponing this for v4.2.

[jorgepiloto]

Adding this to v6.1. It makes me wonder if we should put the effort in here or in #459.

[RobPasMue]

I would go for #459... seems more appropriate.

[RobPasMue]

They are not mutually exclusive though - but I'd tackle first the other one