Update of existing slack post does not work with channel name, only channel id

[brownjeff]

Description

When using update-ts: to update a previous action's slack post, the error Error: An API error occurred: channel_not_found is thrown.

The update works fine when using the channel ID, but does not work when using channel name.

What type of issue is this? (place an x in one of the [ ])

• [x] bug
• [ ] enhancement (feature request)
• [ ] question
• [ ] documentation related
• [ ] example code related
• [ ] testing related
• [ ] discussion

Requirements (place an x in each of the [ ])

• [x] I've read and understood the Contributing guidelines and have done my best effort to follow them.
• [x] I've read and agree to the Code of Conduct.
• [x] I've searched for any related issues and avoided creating a duplicate issue.

---

Bug Report

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Reproducible in:

package version:

node version:

OS version(s):

Steps to reproduce:

1. Create subsequent actions like:

     - name: Post to a Slack channel
       id: slack
       uses: slackapi/slack-github-action@v1.22.0
       with:
         channel-id: '#mychannel'
         payload: |
           {
             "text": "first message"
           }
     - name: Update Existing Message in Slack
       id: slack_update
       uses: slackapi/slack-github-action@v1.22.0
       with:
         channel-id: '#mychannel'
         update-ts: ${{ steps.slack.outputs.ts }}
         payload: |
           {
             "text": "UPDATED MESSAGE"
           }

2. Note: token set in env at global level
3. Execute the workflow
4. Notice first message is posted to slack
5. Notice the slack post if never updated.
6. Notice in github action page an error has occur with message: Error: An API error occurred: channel_not_found

Expected result:

Existing post is updated with the subsequent action.

Actual result:

Notice in github action page an error has occur with message: Error: An API error occurred: channel_not_found

Attachments:

[WilliamBergamin]

Hi @brownjeff thanks for writing in!

I suspect this may be related to the way the channel information is provided. When posting a message the postMessage method accepts a channel encoded ID, or a name as input. And based on the documentation, in the case of updateMessage only the channel encoded ID can be provided.

let me know if using the channel name instead of the channel_id is the source of this issue

[brownjeff]

Thanks for the reply @WilliamBergamin

You are correct. Using the channel name instead of the channel_id is the source of this issue.

Thanks for the links to the methods' docs.

I suppose this should not be a bug report here, but a feature request to the Slack API for adding channel-name as a valid alternative to channel-id in the updateMessage call.

Thanks again.