Act uses github.event.inputs.variable_name but Github Actions uses inputs.variable_name?

[robertherber]

I just started using act. It's great to be able to test workflows locally.

But one things I just can't seem to get my head around is the inconsistency between act requiring github.event.inputs for inputs and Github Actions using just inputs for workflow_dispatch (tried with both workflow_dispatch and workflow_call on the GA side). What am I missing here? Is there a reason for this and is there a way around it?

Live example here. My current workaround is renaming all references to inputs to match Github Actions, but now I can obviously not run my workflows locally:

1. Failing GA run because of using github.event.inputs
2. Commit aligning workflows with Github Actions, act is now broken
3. Successful GA run after commit

[KnisterPeter]

The event workflow_dispatch is not fully supported.
Using github.event... should work with GitHub as well, therefore it's not inconsistent but incomplete.
We are up for contributions to fill the gap.

[robertherber]

Well, github.event.inputs doesn't seems to work with Github (as you can see in the linked example). From what I see only inputs are mentioned in the docs.

If workflow_dispatch is not supported - what's the recommended way to test workflows..? I thought that'd be the most natural way to test one-off workflows.

[KnisterPeter]

As I've told, it's not fully supported. Obviously since you spotted a bug or incompatibility.
If you need it, please send a PR, which is more than welcome. 😊
Any help with act is greatly appreciated.

[robertherber]

As I've told, it's not fully supported. Obviously since you spotted a bug or incompatibility.
If you need it, please send a PR, which is more than welcome. 😊
Any help with act is greatly appreciated.

Gotcha 👍🙂 My real use case here is to test reusable workflows, which made workflow_dispatch feel like a natural way to test it (since it similarly with inputs etc). Is there another way/trigger that you would recommend rather than using workflow_dispatch?

[KnisterPeter]

And exactly reusable workflow are not supported yet. Therefore everything would only be a workaround.
Haven't yet used them myself, so I cannot recommend a good testing strategy. I'm sorry