ci: refactor deployment workflow and env config

[Harmanpreet-Microsoft]

Purpose

This pull request introduces significant improvements to the CI/CD pipeline, deployment automation, and environment configuration for the project. The main changes include a comprehensive overhaul of the GitHub Actions workflow for deployment and testing, enhanced extraction and propagation of deployment URLs, improved handling of authentication and database setup, and updates to environment configuration defaults. These updates streamline deployment, improve reliability, and make the automation more robust and maintainable.

CI/CD Workflow and Deployment Automation:

• Major refactor of .github/workflows/ci.yml:

  • The main job is renamed from ci to deploy, with additional outputs for deployment status and URLs. Steps for image pre-build, deployment, URL extraction, authentication disabling, PostgreSQL setup, and status checks are added, along with a new cleanup job for resource destruction. End-to-end tests are now triggered only if deployment succeeds, using a workflow call to the updated test automation workflow. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

• The test automation workflow .github/workflows/test-automation.yml is changed to use workflow_call with required inputs for web_url and admin_url, allowing dynamic invocation from the main workflow. Environment variable handling is improved, and Python setup uses the latest action version.

Deployment and Resource Extraction Enhancements:

• The Makefile's deploy target is rewritten for more robust Azure login, deployment, and resource extraction. It now reliably extracts frontend and admin URLs, PostgreSQL host endpoints, and provides helper targets for checking and disabling authentication.

Environment Configuration Updates:

• The default value for AZURE_AUTH_TYPE in code/backend/batch/utilities/helpers/env_helper.py is changed from "keys" to "rbac", aligning with more secure authentication practices.
• A new environment variable FUNCTION_KEY is added to the configuration loader for easier access to Azure Function keys.

Other Improvements:

• The coverage comment GitHub Action is updated to a newer version for improved reliability in .github/workflows/comment_coverage.yml.
• The notification email body for failed CI runs is simplified for clarity in .github/workflows/ci.yml.

These changes collectively make the deployment and testing process more automated, robust, and easier to maintain, with improved diagnostics and resource management.

• ...

Does this introduce a breaking change?

• Yes
• No

How to Test

• Get the code

git clone [repo-address]
cd [repo-name]
git checkout [branch-name]
npm install

• Test the code

What to Check

Verify that the following are valid

• ...

Other Information