How to reference a separate script file which processes and returns output?

[RDhar]

Hi, I would like to strip out snippets of JS code into separate files outside of YAML for ease of legibility. However, I'm struggling to understand how best to achieve something this.

Before/Current

script: |
    const { data: list_comments } = await github.rest.issues.listComments({
    issue_number: context.issue.number,
    owner: context.repo.owner,
    per_page: 100,
    repo: context.repo.repo,
  });
  const get_comment = list_comments
    .sort((a, b) => b.id - a.id)
    .find((comment) => /^keyword/.test(comment.body));
  return {
    body: get_comment.body,
    id: get_comment.id,
  };

After/Proposed

script: |
  require(process.env.GITHUB_ACTION_PATH + '/comment.js');

// File: comment.js
const { data: list_comments } = await github.rest.issues.listComments({
  issue_number: context.issue.number,
  owner: context.repo.owner,
  per_page: 100,
  repo: context.repo.repo,
});
const get_comment = list_comments
  .sort((a, b) => b.id - a.id)
  .find((comment) => /^keyword/.test(comment.body));
return {
  body: get_comment.body,
  id: get_comment.id,
};

With this, I get: "SyntaxError: await is only valid in async functions and the top level bodies of modules."
If I drop the await, then I get: "ReferenceError: github is not defined."

I'm sure I'm missing something obvious with module.exports = ({ github, context }) => { ... }, but I'm not sure how best to address this particular script which: makes an API call, processes the response, and returns the output in that specific order.

Really appreciate any thoughts/inputs, thanks for your time.

[yhakbar]

I shared an example script here that got @RDhar on the right path.

The crux of the solution is that:

1. The script to be referenced is requireed in the script step that needs re-usable code as an exported function.
2. Async functions need to be awaited in the calling script step.

[RDhar]

Thank you for sharing, @yhakbar!

That script setup and module.exports = async... is exactly what was needed -- the only tweak was to replace the return { ... } with core.setOutput(), like so:

// Before
return {
  body: get_comment.body,
  id: get_comment.id,
};

// After
core.setOutput("body", get_comment.body);
core.setOutput("id", get_comment.id);

Similarly, I had to amend references to the output result within the action.yml workflow as well:

# Before
fromJSON(steps.comment.outputs.result)['body']
fromJSON(steps.comment.outputs.result)['id']

# After
steps.comment.outputs.body
steps.comment.outputs.id