Fix SLACK_THREAD_TS not working and improve documentation

README.md

@@ -55,7 +55,12 @@ By default, action is designed to run with minimal configuration but you can alt
 | SLACK_FOOTER             | Powered By rtCamp's GitHub Actions Library            | Slack message footer.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
 | MSG_MINIMAL              | -                                                     | If set to `true`, removes: `Ref`, `Event`,  `Actions URL` and `Commit` from the message. You can optionally whitelist any of these 4 removed values by passing it comma separated to the variable instead of `true`. (ex: `MSG_MINIMAL: event` or `MSG_MINIMAL: ref,actions url`, etc.)                                  |
 | SLACKIFY_MARKDOWN        | -                                                     | If set to `true`, it will convert markdown to slack format. (ex: `*bold*` to `bold`) Note: This only works for custom messages and not for the default message generated by the action. Credits: [slackify-markdown-action](https://github.com/marketplace/actions/slack-markdown-converter)                             |
-| SLACK_THREAD_TS          | -                                                     | If you want to send message in a thread, you can pass the timestamp of the parent message to this variable. You can get the timestamp of the parent message from the message URL in Slack. (ex: `SLACK_THREAD_TS: 1586130833.000100`)                                                                                    |
+| SLACK_THREAD_TS          | -                                                     | If you want to send message in a thread, you can pass the timestamp of the parent message to this variable. You can get the timestamp of the parent message from the message URL in Slack. (ex: `SLACK_THREAD_TS: 1586130833.000100`). To obtain the timestamp of the parent message, follow these steps:                   |
+|                          |                                                       | 1. Open the Slack message you want to reply to in a thread.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
+|                          |                                                       | 2. Click on the "More actions" button (three vertical dots) on the message.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
+|                          |                                                       | 3. Select "Copy link" from the dropdown menu.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
+|                          |                                                       | 4. Paste the copied link in a text editor or any other place where you can see the full URL.                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
+|                          |                                                       | 5. The timestamp of the parent message is the last part of the URL, which looks like `1586130833.000100`.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
 | SLACK_TOKEN              | -                                                     | If you want to send message to a channel using a slack token. You will need to pass a channel in order to send messages using token, requiring a value for ``SLACK_CHANNEL``. Note that in case both webhook url and token are provided, webhook url will be prioritized.                                                |
 | SLACK_MESSAGE_ON_SUCCESS | -                                                     | If set, will send the provided message instead of the default message when the passed status (through ``SLACK_COLOR``) is `success`.                                                                                                                                                                                     |
 | SLACK_MESSAGE_ON_FAILURE | -                                                     | If set, will send the provided message instead of the default message when the passed status (through ``SLACK_COLOR``) is `failure`.                                                                                                                                                                                     |

action.yml

@@ -48,6 +48,10 @@ runs:
         uses: "docker://ghcr.io/rtcamp/action-slack-notify:v2.3.2"
         env:
           GITHUB_RUN: "${{ github.event.repository.html_url }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }}"
+outputs:
+  ts:
+    description: 'The timestamp of the sent message'
+    value: ${{ steps.slack-notify.outputs.ts }}
 branding:
   icon: 'bell'
   color: 'yellow'

entrypoint.sh

@@ -48,4 +48,9 @@ if [[ -d "$custom_path" ]]; then
     chmod +x /*.sh
 fi
 
+# Handle the SLACK_THREAD_TS variable
+if [[ -n "$SLACK_THREAD_TS" ]]; then
+  export SLACK_THREAD_TS
+fi
+
 bash "$main_script"

main.go

@@ -326,6 +326,15 @@ func send_raw(endpoint string, payload []byte) error {
 		}
 	}
 
+	// Extract the `ts` value from the Slack response
+	ts, err := extractTs(res)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// Set the `ts` output
+	fmt.Printf("::set-output name=ts::%s\n", ts)
+
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -389,3 +398,17 @@ func sendFile(filename string, message string, channel string, thread_ts string)
 	fmt.Println(res.Status)
 	return nil
 }
+
+// Function to extract the `ts` value from the Slack response
+func extractTs(res *http.Response) (string, error) {
+	defer res.Body.Close()
+	var responseBody map[string]interface{}
+	if err := json.NewDecoder(res.Body).Decode(&responseBody); err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	ts, ok := responseBody["ts"].(string)
+	if !ok {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("Failed to extract ts from response")
+	}
+	return ts, nil
+}

main.sh

@@ -81,4 +81,9 @@ export SLACK_MESSAGE_ON_SUCCESS
 export SLACK_MESSAGE_ON_FAILURE
 export SLACK_MESSAGE_ON_CANCEL
 
+# Handle the SLACK_THREAD_TS variable
+if [[ -n "$SLACK_THREAD_TS" ]]; then
+  export SLACK_THREAD_TS
+fi
+
 slack-notify "$@"