- introduce capability to define the Configuration via the build yml without the requirement of a file

- this also allows to generate changelogs without the need to chech-out

src/main.ts

@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 import * as core from '@actions/core'
 import * as github from '@actions/github'
 import {
+  parseConfiguration,
   resolveConfiguration,
   retrieveRepositoryPath,
   writeOutput
 } from './utils'
 import {ReleaseNotesBuilder} from './releaseNotesBuilder'
+import {Configuration} from './configuration'
 
 async function run(): Promise<void> {
   core.setOutput('failed', false) // mark the action not failed by default
@@ -17,11 +19,17 @@ async function run(): Promise<void> {
     const repositoryPath = retrieveRepositoryPath(inputPath)
 
     // read in configuration file if possible
-    const configurationFile: string = core.getInput('configuration')
-    const configuration = resolveConfiguration(
-      repositoryPath,
-      configurationFile
-    )
+    let configuration: Configuration | undefined = undefined
+    const configurationJson: string = core.getInput('configurationJson', {
+      trimWhitespace: true
+    })
+    if (configurationJson) {
+      configuration = parseConfiguration(configurationJson)
+    }
+    if (!configuration) {
+      const configurationFile: string = core.getInput('configuration')
+      configuration = resolveConfiguration(repositoryPath, configurationFile)
+    }
 
     // read in repository inputs
     const baseUrl = core.getInput('baseUrl')

src/utils.ts

@@ -67,24 +67,32 @@ export function resolveConfiguration(
 /**
  * Reads in the configuration from the JSON file
  */
-function readConfiguration(filename: string): Configuration | null {
-  let rawdata: string
+function readConfiguration(filename: string): Configuration | undefined {
   try {
-    rawdata = fs.readFileSync(filename, 'utf8')
+    const rawdata = fs.readFileSync(filename, 'utf8')
+    if (rawdata) {
+      return parseConfiguration(rawdata)
+    }
   } catch (error) {
-    core.info(
-      `⚠️ Configuration provided, but it couldn't be found. Fallback to Defaults.`
-    )
-    return null
+    core.debug(`Failed to load configuration due to: ${error}`)
   }
+  core.info(
+    `⚠️ Configuration provided, but it couldn't be found. Fallback to Defaults.`
+  )
+  return undefined
+}
+/**
+ * Parses the configuration from the JSON file
+ */
+export function parseConfiguration(config: string): Configuration | undefined {
   try {
-    const configurationJSON: Configuration = JSON.parse(rawdata)
+    const configurationJSON: Configuration = JSON.parse(config)
     return configurationJSON
   } catch (error) {
     core.info(
       `⚠️ Configuration provided, but it couldn't be parsed. Fallback to Defaults.`
     )
-    return null
+    return undefined
   }
 }