workflow level env. is unrecognised on job level's 'if'-expression when calling reusable workflow

[arauchberger]

the idea is to have a workflow_dispatch input to choose wether or not to execute tests after the build part is done.

Describe the bug
environment variable defined on workflow level is not available for if-condition on job level - in case the job is calling another "reusable" workflow.
everything is fine within a regular job and it's steps.

To Reproduce
Example:

name: ay_test_condition

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      build_skip:
        description: 'skip maven and chart builder'
        required: true
        default: false
        type: boolean  
      test_skip:
        description: 'skip product integration tests'
        required: true
        default: false
        type: boolean    

# workflow level env
env:
  BUILD_SKIP: ${{ github.event.inputs.build_skip == 'true' }}
  TEST_SKIP: ${{ github.event.inputs.test_skip == 'true' }} 

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Display build environment
        id: displayBuildEnv
        shell: bash
        run: |
          echo "build_skip: ${{ github.event.inputs.build_skip }}";
          echo "env.BUILD_SKIP: ${{ env.BUILD_SKIP }}";
          echo "test_skip : ${{ github.event.inputs.test_skip }}";
          echo "env.TEST_SKIP: ${{ env.TEST_SKIP }}";
      
      - name: build something
# works fine here (at workflow.job.step level)      
        if: ${{ env.BUILD_SKIP == 'false' }}
        run: |
          echo "Building something"   

  test:
    needs: build
# does not work here (at workflow.job-workflow_caller)    
    if: ${{ env.TEST_SKIP == 'false' }}
    uses: ./.github/workflows/ay_test-workflow2.yml
    with:
      teststatus: true   

Expected behavior
the env should be available everywhere, since it's declared on workflow level.

Runner Version and Platform

Current runner version: '2.287.1'
Operating System
Ubuntu
20.04.3
LTS
Virtual Environment
Environment: ubuntu-20.04
Version: 20220131.1
Virtual Environment Provisioner
1.0.0.0-main-20220201-1

What's not working?

Errormessage:

The workflow is not valid. .github/workflows/ay_test_condition.yml (Line: 45, Col: 9): Unrecognized named-value: 'env'. Located at position 1 within expression: env.TEST_SKIP == 'false'

[ruvceskistefan]

Hi @arauchberger,
Thanks for opening this issue. We will try to reproduce it to understand the cause of the issue and we will get back to you as soon as possible!

[thboop]

Thanks for the report @arauchberger!

If it is helpful, we publish a list of contexts and what yaml fields they are available in on the GitHub Docs Website. Currently, we don't support this feature, but I've added the appropriate labels so we may consider it in the future.

[arauchberger]

thanks for the feedback and the hint to the Context-Documentation. If i read it right the following should work instead of what i tried, since i can use the context inputs on the workflow key jobs.<job_id>.if

name: ay_test_condition

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      build_skip:
        description: 'skip maven and chart builder'
        required: true
        default: false
        type: boolean  
      test_skip:
        description: 'skip product integration tests'
        required: true
        default: false
        type: boolean    

# workflow level env
env:
  BUILD_SKIP: ${{ github.event.inputs.build_skip == 'true' }}
  TEST_SKIP: ${{ github.event.inputs.test_skip == 'true' }} 

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Display build environment
        id: displayBuildEnv
        shell: bash
        run: |
          echo "build_skip: ${{ github.event.inputs.build_skip }}";
          echo "env.BUILD_SKIP: ${{ env.BUILD_SKIP }}";
          echo "test_skip : ${{ github.event.inputs.test_skip }}";
          echo "env.TEST_SKIP: ${{ env.TEST_SKIP }}";
      
      - name: build something
# works fine here (at workflow.job.step level)      
        if: ${{ env.BUILD_SKIP == 'false' }}
        run: |
          echo "Building something"   

  test:
    needs: build
# does not work here (at workflow.job-workflow_caller)    
#    if: ${{ env.TEST_SKIP == 'false' }}
# this should work ?
    if: ${{ github.event.inputs.test_skip == 'false' }}
    uses: ./.github/workflows/ay_test-workflow2.yml
    with:
      teststatus: true 

thanks in advance for conformation

[arauchberger]

i just gave it a try - this works as expected now - that's a workaround i can live with. even though i do not really understand the reason for not having the workflow-level env context availably everywhere in the workflow.

many thanks for your response.

ps: should i close this issue now, or keep it open as a "feature-request"?

[nikola-jokic]

Hi @arauchberger,

Let's keep it open as a feature request 😊

[arauchberger]

i just found out that this does not work as expected!
it works if i trigger the build manually via workflow_dispatch -> then the github.event.inputs._skip are set to true|false.
but when the workflow is triggered via a push the github.event.inputs._skip are "undefined" so the if-condition does not match :-(.

[nikola-jokic]

Thanks for the update,

We will try to reproduce it to figure out what is going on.

[nikola-jokic]

Hi @arauchberger,

Please correct me if I did not understand this correctly, you expected on push to propagate inputs. But push does not allow inputs. Inputs are reserved for workflow_dispatch and workflow_call. Note this page in the docs.
On the other hand, if you try to specify on.push.inputs in the in-browser editor, it will show an error since the on.push object does not allow for inputs. I mean you can still create it by ignoring that, but inputs would not be taken into account in the workflow.

But please, correct me if I did not understand this properly.