# Migrating from Legacy Actions to Component Actions

# Overview

This document is for developers who created legacy actions in Pipedream's UI (opens new window). The purpose is to help users migrate legacy actions to Pipedream's new component model.

# Key Changes

Capture user input via props instead of params

The component model does not support params. You need to migrate params references to props. Unlike params, props must be explicitly declared and defined prior to using them in code (in the old model, an input form was automatically generated when params were used in code — params were not explicitly declared).

Declare app props to use managed auth

The model for linking an app to legacy actions as well as the syntax for referencing credentials is different with Pipedream components. In the old model, apps were linked to steps in Pipedream's workflow builder UI, and credentials were referenced via the auths object.

When using the component model, apps are defined as props and credentials are referenced as properties of the app. For example, to use managed auth for GitHub, the component props must contain a key (gh in the example below) with an app definition for the value (the app definition is an object):

gh: {
  type: "app",
  app: "github"
}

The component's run() method can then reference the credentials for GitHub via this.gh.$auth.oauth_access_token.

Develop locally and host on GitHub Actions are no longer developed in Pipedream's UI. Develop actions locally using your preferred editor, publish to Pipedream via CLI and maintain the code in your own GitHub repo.

Update with a click When you publish a new version of an action, you can update actions used in workflows with a click (updating legacy actions in workflows requires action steps to be deleted, re-added and re-configured).

Support for async options Async options allow action authors to render a paginated drop down menu allowing users to select from values that are programmatically-generated. The most common use case is to populate the drop down based on results of an API request (e.g., to list Google Sheets in a user's drive).

Simplified discovery Actions you publish are now grouped under My Actions when adding a step to a workflow. NOTE: this option will appear in the workflow builder after you publish your first action.

# Getting Started

Ready to develop your first component action? We recommend starting with our quickstart guide. Then review both our component API reference and actions published to Pipedream’s GitHub repo (opens new window).

# Migration Example

Let's walk through an example that migrates code for a legacy action to a Pipedream component.

# Legacy Code Example

Following is the code for the legacy action to get a GitHub repo (GitHub was linked to this action via Pipedream's UI, so it's not declared in the code):

const config = {
  url: `https://api.github.com/repos/${params.owner}/${params.repo}`,
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${auths.github.oauth_access_token}`,
  }
}
return await require("@pipedreamhq/platform").axios(this, config)

Also, following is the associated JSON schema that defines metadata for the params inputs:

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "owner": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Name of repository owner."
    },
    "repo": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Name of repository."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "owner",
    "repo"
  ]
}

# Converting to the Component Model

To convert the code above to the component model, we need to:

  1. Link the GitHub app to the component using props (so we can use Pipedream managed auth for GitHub)
  2. Define props for owner and repo so we can capture user input. The definition for each prop includes the type and description metadata. Additionally, since all the fields are required, we do not need to set the optional property (set optional to true for optional props). This metadata was previously captured in the JSON schema.
  3. Replace references to params in the run() method. props are bound to this (e.g., this.owner and this.repo).
  4. Update the reference to the GitHub OAuth token from auths.github.oauth_access_token to this.github.$auth.oauth_access_token (note: github in this context references the name of the prop, not the name of the app; if the prop was named gh then the auth would be referenced via this.gh.$auth.oauth_access_token).
  5. Replace the @pipedreamhq/platform npm package with the standard axios package.
const axios = require("axios")

module.exports = {
  type: "action",
  name: "Get Repo Example",
  key: "github_get-repo-example",
  version: "0.0.1",
  props: {
  	github: {
  	  type: "app",
  	  app: "github",
  	},
    owner: {
      type: "string",
      description: "Name of repository owner.",
  	},
    repo: {
      type: "string",
      description: "Name of repository.",
    }
  },
  async run() {
    const config = {
      url: `https://api.github.com/repos/${this.owner}/${this.repo}`,
      headers: {
        Authorization: `Bearer ${this.github.$auth.oauth_access_token}`,
      }
    }

    return (await axios(config)).data
  },
}

# Advanced: Using Async Options

Next, let's take the example one step further. Instead of asking users to enter the owner and repo name, let's use async options so users can select the repo from a drop-down menu. To do that, we'll:

  1. Remove the owner and repo props
  2. Add a repoFullName prop that makes a request to https://api.github.com/user/repos to retrieve a list of (paginated) repos
  3. Update the run() function to use the repoFullName prop
const axios = require("axios")

module.exports = {
  type: "action",
  name: "Get Repo Example",
  key: "github_get-repo-example",
  version: "0.0.2",
  props: {
  	github: {
  	  type: "app",
  	  app: "github",
  	},
    repoFullName: {
      type: "string",
      label: "Repo",
      async options(page) {
        const repos = (await axios({
          url: "https://api.github.com/user/repos",
          params: {
            page,
            per_page: 100,
          },
          headers: {
            Authorization: `Bearer ${this.github.$auth.oauth_access_token}`,
          }
        })).data
        return repos.map((repo) => repo.full_name);
      },
    },
  },
  async run() {
    const config = {
      url: `https://api.github.com/repos/${this.repoFullName}`,
      headers: {
        Authorization: `Bearer ${this.github.$auth.oauth_access_token}`,
      }
    }
    return (await axios(config)).data
  },
}

# Publishing and Using Actions

In the legacy model, actions were published via Pipedream's UI. To learn how to publish component-based actions using Pipedream's CLI and use them in workflows, review our quickstart guide. To contribute actions to the Pipedream registry, review our guidelines.