SLACK_THREAD_TS not working or needs better documentation

[kishore-vkrn]

Hi,

From README for variable SLACK_THREAD_TS I got

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)

But still not clear how would I get the timestamp of the parent mesage. Looking at slack api ts seems a better output but when I tried I get separate messages not in threads

jobs:
  send-slack-notification:
    runs-on: [ Standard, self-hosted, X64, ubuntu ]
    needs: [validate-inputs]
    steps:
      - name: Notify Slack - Deployment Started
        id: slack-notify
        uses: actions/action-slack-notify@v2.2.1
        if: always()
        env:
          SLACK_WEBHOOK: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK }}
          SLACK_MESSAGE: "*» ${{ github.event.inputs.env }}* deployment started. _${{ github.event.inputs.tag }}_"
          MSG_MINIMAL: actions url, commit
          SLACK_FOOTER: ""
          SLACK_COLOR: ${{ job.status }} 
          
  ec2-deployment:
    needs: [send-slack-notification]
    runs-on: [ Standard, self-hosted, X64, ubuntu ]
    steps:
      - name: Notify Slack - Deployment status
        uses: actions/action-slack-notify@v2.2.1
        if: always()
        env:
          SLACK_WEBHOOK: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK }}
          MSG_MINIMAL: actions url, commit
          SLACK_MESSAGE: "*» ${{ github.event.inputs.env }}*. deployment status  → ${{ job.status }}"
          SLACK_FOOTER: ""
          SLACK_COLOR: ${{ job.status }}
          SLACK_THREAD_TS: "${{ needs.slack-notify.outputs.ts }}"

Better documentation or on how to use this will be appreciated.

[albertoxamin]

Looks like there was a PR that was setting the output_ts but its not in the merged code cc. @L0RD-ZER0
https://github.com/rtCamp/action-slack-notify/pull/73/files#diff-2873f79a86c0d8b3335cd7731b0ecf7dd4301eb19a82ef7a1cba7589b5252261R254-R262

[MishaKav]

any updates? the output for ts maybe very useful.

[albertoxamin]

could anyone take a look @mrrobot47 ?

[nevilsonani]

jobs:
send-slack-notification:
runs-on: [ Standard, self-hosted, X64, ubuntu ]
needs: [validate-inputs]
steps:
- name: Notify Slack - Deployment Started
id: slack-notify
uses: actions/action-slack-notify@v2.2.1
if: always()
env:
SLACK_WEBHOOK: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK }}
SLACK_MESSAGE: "» ${{ github.event.inputs.env }} deployment started. ${{ github.event.inputs.tag }}"
MSG_MINIMAL: actions url, commit
SLACK_FOOTER: ""
SLACK_COLOR: ${{ job.status }}

  - name: Set timestamp output
    id: set-timestamp
    run: echo "SLACK_THREAD_TS=${{ steps.slack-notify.outputs.ts }}" >> $GITHUB_ENV

ec2-deployment:
needs: [send-slack-notification]
runs-on: [ Standard, self-hosted, X64, ubuntu ]
steps:
- name: Notify Slack - Deployment status
uses: actions/action-slack-notify@v2.2.1
if: always()
env:
SLACK_WEBHOOK: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK }}
MSG_MINIMAL: actions url, commit
SLACK_MESSAGE: "» ${{ github.event.inputs.env }}. deployment status → ${{ job.status }}"
SLACK_FOOTER: ""
SLACK_COLOR: ${{ job.status }}
SLACK_THREAD_TS: "${{ env.SLACK_THREAD_TS }}"

[L0RD-ZER0]

As of right now, the action doesn't set a thread_ts output variable. If you log the variable in debug, you'll find that the output variable is a blank string. Will be look into it in near future.

[albertoxamin]

see explanation here #212 (comment)

[L0RD-ZER0]

see explanation here #212 (comment)

Already checked that out before replying. Slack doesn't give data for webhooks, only tokens. That's why you don't have a ts output variable.

[L0RD-ZER0]

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to give you a heads-up on some upcoming changes regarding how you send messages. Over the next few weeks/months, depending on availability, we'll be looking into shifting our focus towards token-based messaging as the preferred method, and webhooks will still be supported as they are currently.

To the folks who are unaware, Slack is looking towards deprecating the Incoming Webhooks. You can find more information about that on the relevant page for the Incoming Webhooks intgration on slack marketplace.

Please note, this is a legacy custom integration - an outdated way for teams to integrate with Slack. These integrations lack newer features and they will be deprecated and possibly removed in the future. We do not recommend their use. Instead, we suggest that you check out their replacement: Slack apps.

Therefore, this decision to move forward towards supporting token based messaging, and to push it forward towards it being the new default.

Now, to clarify a few things before you ask:

• Webhooks aren't going away. You can still use them as is. We're just making token-based messaging the primary way to send messages.
• You'll see a deprecation message if you're using webhooks (but you'll have the option to suppress it if needed).
• Token-based messages will give you github action outputs, including the thread timestamp (ts) mentioned in the PR aobove. Currently, webhooks only return a basic "ok" text response, which makes this not possible.
• We're also exploring the possibility of consolidating everything into a single Go binary, but that's still up in the air at the moment. So don't get your hopes up high just yet.

cc @mrrobot47