When this action is used to change a key in the yaml file, it changes other settings which have timestamps even thought the timestamps are not being touched by the action.

config.yaml:
cco_start_date: 2021-02-08 15:04:50.825709
execution_date: 2021-02-11 15:04:50.825709
use_sample: false

In the workflow.yaml, if we use

- uses: microsoft/variable-substitution@v1
name: Toggle Sample Run in the config.yaml
with:
files: '${{ env.CUSTOM_WORKSPACE }}/src/config.yaml'
env:
run_settings.use_sample: true

the value of use_sample will be changed to true, but also the in the output above timestamps will be changed to
cco_start_date: 2021-02-08T15:18:20.925Z
execution_date: 2021-02-11T15:18:20.925Z
use_sample: true

Expected behavior:
All the other values should remain as-is, except for the substituted values.

the microsoft doc will need to be updated or deleted if this action is not updated or replace. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/developer/github/github-variable-substitution

Please consider making v2 of this action so that we can keep using it.

I really do not want to fork it and keep a backup of this very useful action that we use in who knows how many repo's.

      - name: Fix Air SDK Target Bug
        uses: microsoft/variable-substitution@v1
        if: matrix.os == 'windows-latest' && steps.cache-air-sdk.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
        with:
          files: ${{ github.workspace }}\airsdk\frameworks\flex-config.xml
        env:
          flex-config.compiler.external-library-path.path-element: 'libs/player/32.0/playerglobal.swc'

It finds the file, but fails to walk the hierarchy and fill the value. There are no examples I can find on github that show usage with xml.

I'm getting no file matched error in this step. Already tried different types of expliciting the file to substitute but still no progress.

The log with one of the tries:

2020-04-27T03:59:57.0825611Z ##[section]Starting: Request a runner to run this job
2020-04-27T03:59:57.5271608Z Requesting a hosted runner in current repository's account/organization with labels: 'ubuntu-latest', require runner match: True
2020-04-27T03:59:57.6326430Z Labels matched hosted runners has been found, waiting for one of them get assigned for this job.
2020-04-27T03:59:57.6585945Z ##[section]Finishing: Request a runner to run this job
2020-04-27T04:00:02.8937332Z Current runner version: '2.169.1'
2020-04-27T04:00:02.8961069Z ##[group]Operating System
2020-04-27T04:00:02.8961775Z Ubuntu
2020-04-27T04:00:02.8962087Z 18.04.4
2020-04-27T04:00:02.8962452Z LTS
2020-04-27T04:00:02.8962735Z ##[endgroup]
2020-04-27T04:00:02.8963036Z ##[group]Virtual Environment
2020-04-27T04:00:02.8963358Z Environment: ubuntu-18.04
2020-04-27T04:00:02.8963718Z Version: 20200406.2
2020-04-27T04:00:02.8964126Z Included Software: https://github.com/actions/virtual-environments/blob/ubuntu18/20200406.2/images/linux/Ubuntu1804-README.md
2020-04-27T04:00:02.8964508Z ##[endgroup]
2020-04-27T04:00:02.8965638Z Prepare workflow directory
2020-04-27T04:00:02.9168424Z Prepare all required actions
2020-04-27T04:00:02.9180417Z Download action repository 'microsoft/variable-substitution@v1'
2020-04-27T04:00:04.9113242Z ##[group]Run microsoft/variable-substitution@v1
2020-04-27T04:00:04.9113684Z with:
2020-04-27T04:00:04.9114025Z   files: /src/configs/*.json
2020-04-27T04:00:04.9114423Z   twitter.access_token: ***
2020-04-27T04:00:04.9114770Z   twitter.access_token_secret: ***
2020-04-27T04:00:04.9115066Z   twitter.api_key: ***
2020-04-27T04:00:04.9115382Z   twitter.api_key_secret: ***
2020-04-27T04:00:04.9115705Z   mongo.connection_string: ***
2020-04-27T04:00:04.9115977Z   mongo.database: ***
2020-04-27T04:00:04.9116269Z   bot.follow_triggers: ***
2020-04-27T04:00:04.9116519Z ##[endgroup]
2020-04-27T04:00:05.3380266Z ##[error]No file matched with specific pattern: /src/configs/*.json
2020-04-27T04:00:05.3383715Z ##[error]Error: Failed to apply variable substitution
2020-04-27T04:00:05.3409889Z Cleaning up orphan processes

My project structure:

the CI.yaml:

# This is a basic workflow to help you get started with Actions

name: Chr0m1ng Twitter Bot CI

# Controls when the action will run. Triggers the workflow on push or pull request
# events but only for the master branch
on:
  push:
    branches: [ master ]

# A workflow run is made up of one or more jobs that can run sequentially or in parallel
jobs:
  # This workflow contains a single job called "build"
  build:
    # The type of runner that the job will run on
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    # Steps represent a sequence of tasks that will be executed as part of the job
    steps:
    # Checks-out your repository under $GITHUB_WORKSPACE, so your job can access it
    - name: Variable Substitution
      uses: microsoft/variable-substitution@v1
      with:
        # comma separated list of XML/JSON/YAML files in which tokens are to be substituted. Files names must be specified relative to the folder-path.
        files: '${{ env.GITHUB_WORKSPACE }}/src/configs/*.json'
        twitter.access_token: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
        twitter.access_token_secret: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET }}
        twitter.api_key: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_API_KEY }}
        twitter.api_key_secret: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_API_KEY_SECRET }}
        mongo.connection_string: ${{ secrets.MONGO_CONNECTION_STRING }}
        mongo.database: ${{ secrets.MONGO_DATABASE }}
        bot.follow_triggers: ${{ secrets.BOT_FOLLOW_TRIGGERS }}

I'm aiming the file located at src/configs/settings.example.json, can someone help?

When substituting variables in appsettings.json is mistaken the file as a YAML file.

Team,
We are planning to upgrade the logo for all 13 GitHub Actions projects listed on the GitHub Marketplace to the official Microsoft logo.

We'd like to make this change by the end of May 2021.

Please let us know if you have any objection, otherwise we'll proceed.

https://github.com/microsoft/raft-action
https://github.com/microsoft/sarif-actions
https://github.com/microsoft/powerplatform-actions
https://github.com/microsoft/psscriptanalyzer-action
https://github.com/microsoft/vs-intellicode
https://github.com/microsoft/setup-msbuild
https://github.com/microsoft/ps-rule
https://github.com/microsoft/RichCodeNavIndexer
https://github.com/microsoft/playwright-github-action
https://github.com/microsoft/DevSkim-Action
https://github.com/microsoft/infersharpaction
https://github.com/microsoft/android-app-size-diff
https://github.com/microsoft/variable-substitution

Hi,

I am using this action to substitute values into a Kubernetes config file.

Substituting an integer;
I am trying to substitute a variable into the replicas value field on a k8s deployment config file.
This is how I call the substitution in the Github action file.

- name: Variable Substitution uses: microsoft/variable-substitution@v1 with: files: 'deploy-k8s.yaml' env: spec.replicas: 2

However when I substitute the integer the value substituted is given quotation marks.
The value substituted in the yaml file is
replicas: '2'

The yaml file just expects an int here and so will not deploy.
Is there any way to remove the quotes around the int when it is substituted?

Multiple Yaml Files
In the same document, I have two yaml files.
One which creates a deployment and the other creates a service.

When I try to substitute values in this file I get the below error.

Run microsoft/variable-substitution@v1 Error: Error: Could not parse file: deploy-k8s.yaml JSON parse error: SyntaxError: Unexpected token a in JSON at position 0 XML parse error: Error: Incomplete documentYAML parse error: YAMLException: expected a single document in the stream, but found more

When I comment out the service config, the substitution works fine.
Is there anyway to use this github action with YAML config files in the one document?

Thanks for your help!

How to reproduce

Here is part of my workflow script

      - name: Variable substitution
        uses: microsoft/variable-substitution@v1
        with:
          files: ./build/config.yaml
        env:
          sms.senderNumber: ${{ secrets.SMS_SENDER_NUMBER }}

And secrets.SMS_SENDER_NUMBER is 1069368924410002259

But when the workflow is done, I check the actual config file, I got this

The value is not the same as secrets.SMS_SENDER_NUMBER

What I have done to solve this

Check if GitHub secret correct

I use the following workflow debug GitHub action via ssh:

name: Show Me the S3cr3tz
on: [push]

jobs:
  debug:
    name: Debug
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - name: Check out code
      uses: actions/checkout@v2

    - name: Set up secret file
      env:
        SMS_SENDER_NUMBER: ${{ secrets.SMS_SENDER_NUMBER }}
      run: |
        echo $SMS_SENDER_NUMBER >> secrets.txt

    - name: Run tmate
      uses: mxschmitt/action-tmate@v2

The secret value is correct

Direct write value to the workflow YAML file

      - name: Variable substitution
        uses: microsoft/variable-substitution@v1
        with:
          files: ./build/config.yaml
        env:
          sms.senderNumber: 1069368924410002259

The result is, that the value is still altered,

Use double quotes

      - name: Variable substitution
        uses: microsoft/variable-substitution@v1
        with:
          files: ./build/config.yaml
        env:
          sms.senderNumber: "1069368924410002259"

The result is, that the value is still altered,

Use sed command

      - name: Replace sender number
        run: sed -i 's/SMS_SENDER_NUMBER/${{ secrets.SMS_SENDER_NUMBER }}/' ./build/config.yaml

The result shows that the replacement is done correctly.

Currently the Azure pipelines only support JSON and xml variable substitution. Yaml variable substitution would be a great addition.

Hi,
Because of your action I'm getting this warning in my workflow:

Node.js 12 actions are deprecated. For more information see: https://github.blog/changelog/2022-09-22-github-actions-all-actions-will-begin-running-on-node16-instead-of-node12/. Please update the following actions to use Node.js 16: microsoft/variable-substitution

Hello, I have the following Web.config XML file

<?xml...>
<configuration>
...
  <system.web>
    <machineKey validationKey="foo" decryptionKey="bar" />
  </system.web>
...
</configuration>

How do we change the validationKey and descriptionKey values?

I tried system.web.machineKey.validationKey: "baz" but it doesn't work. Also tried up to validationKey: "baz"

See sample repo here: https://github.com/gojanpaolo/wm-pipeline-sb

Thank you

(Thanks for the Action!)

It looks like the Access of Objects inside of an Array is not currently supported:

- uses: microsoft/variable-substitution@v1 
  with:
    files: './google-services.json'
  env:
    client[0].api_key[0].current_key: ${{ secrets.FIREBASE_API_KEY }}

Any near-term plans to support?

Apologies I couldn't reopen and I wasn't sure if you got my notifications from the closed issue.
#9

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/32.0">
  <id>R3</id>
  <versionNumber>9.9.9</versionNumber>
</application>

      - name: Variable Substitution
        uses: microsoft/variable-substitution@v1
        with:
          files: 'application.xml'
        env:
          application.versionNumber: ${{ steps.versionNumber.outputs.tag }}

Variable Substitution
    application.versionNumber: 
Run microsoft/variable-substitution@v1
  with:
    files: application.xml
  env:
    application.versionNumber: 1.2.2
Applying variable substitution on XML file: application.xml
Skipped updating file: application.xml
##[error]Error: Failed to apply variable substitution

Only certain tags of xml are currently supported.

File https://github.com/microsoft/variable-substitution/blob/master/lib/operations/xmlVariableSubstitution.js
lists these specific tags:
const tags = ["applicationSettings", "appSettings", "connectionStrings", "configSections"];

If I want to replace variables inside any other xml file that is not a web.config, I'm not able to, and the error message is not helpful at all.
Please at least improve the documentation or error message, so that other users to not spend their time having to look at the action source code to figure out what is going on...

Substitution fails when I give "**/test.json”

Could you please help with this.

Hi,
Here is the yml which using Variable Substitution action:

And here is the yaml file that I wanna substitute:

However, the action failed with error:

Thanks

Not a bug per se, but is it possible to replace the value in a list element?

# value in json file
"tags": [""]

#resulting value
"tags": "env:dev-cc"

# would like
"tags": ["env:dev-cc"]

I am attempting to change a cnfgConnection.config > "connectionString" value using the following action and settings.

How do I target the connectionStrings > add > connectionString value?

- uses: microsoft/variable-substitution@v1 
   with:
       files: './Website/cnfgConnection.config'
   env:
          connectionStrings.add: "Data Source=prod.server.com;Initial Catalog=test;User ID=prod_tester;Password=xxxxxx"

Example XML

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<connectionStrings>
  <add name="DefaultConnectionString" connectionString="Data Source=test.server.com;Initial Catalog=test;User ID=tester;Password=xxxxxx" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>
</connectionStrings>

I created an YAML file with some html context as value, and the file is mastakenly taken as XML file by the workflow.

It looks that some thing wrong in xmlDomUtility.js

test.yml

foo:
  bar:
    test: "<div>some html context in yaml file</div>"

.github/workflows/test.yml

name: 'Test Workflow'

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: replace secrets in yaml config
        uses: microsoft/variable-substitution@v1
        with:
          files: 'test.yml'
        env:
          foo.bar.test: ${{ secrets.ATESTSTRING }}

Output:

It would be greatly appreciated if it can be fixed. Thanks!

Hello. I can't seem to get Web.config XML variable substitution to work.

My .yml file has the following:

- uses: microsoft/variable-substitution@v1 
  with:
    files: '${{ github.workspace }}/WebApplication1/WebApplication3/Web.config'
  env:
    configuration.appSettings.foo: "b"

I also tried appSettings.foo: "b"

And I have the following in Web.config XML file:

<?xml...>
<configuration>
...
  <appSettings>
    <add key="foo" value="a"></add>
  </appSettings>
...
</configuration>

See the sample repo here: https://github.com/gojanpaolo/wm-pipeline-sb

Thank you.

Unfortunatelly the log doe snot say much, it only says the following:

Applying variable substitution on JSON file: myfile.json
Skipped updating file: myfile.json
##[error]Error: Failed to apply variable substitution
It's hard to tell why my file was skipped or even which variable failed

This project is deprecated. Is there any substitution from Microsoft? I assume Microsoft just rename this to something else but I can't find one with a quick search

Currently, the only character that is used for splitting an environment variable name to be used for variable substitution is the period. However, a period is not a valid character for an environment variable name in many *nix shells, including Bash. It would be very beneficial if we could override this separator or if it would split by either a period or an underscore (which is a valid character in an environment variable in all *nix shells).

I have this json:

{
  "AllowedHosts": "*",
  "Serilog": {
    "Using": [],
    "MinimunLevel": {
      "Default": "Information",
      "Override": {
        "Microsoft": "Warning",
        "System": "Warning"
      }
    },
    "Enrich": [ "FromLogContext", "WithMachineName", "WithProcessId", "WithThreadId" ],
    "WriteTo": [
      { "Name": "Console" },
      {
        "Name": "Logger",
        "Args": {
          "configureLogger": {
            "WriteTo": [
              {
                "Name": "MSSqlServer",
                "Args": {
                  "connectionString": "Data Source=(localdb)\\MSSQLLocalDB;Initial Catalog=dbName;Integrated Security=True;",
                  "tableName": "Log"
                }
              }
            ],
            "Filter": [
              {
                "Name": "ByIncludingOnly",
                "Args": { "expression": "StartsWith(@Properties['SourceContext'] , 'some data') or @Exception is not null" }
              }
            ]
          }
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

I want to replace connectionString. How to do it?

I have a workflow that failed with "Failed to apply variable substitution".

Is there a way to understand why? Is it because I use "." in the variables?