backstage/.changeset/silent-papayas-dress.md

@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend

@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend
patch

Enable the JSON parsing of the response from templated variables in the v2beta1 syntax. Previously if template parameters json strings they were left as strings, they are now parsed as JSON objects.

Before:

- id: test
  name: test-action
  action: custom:run
  input:
    input: '{"hello":"ben"}'

Now:

- id: test
  name: test-action
  action: custom:run
  input:
    input:
      hello: ben

Also added the parseRepoUrl and json helpers to the parameters syntax. You can now use these helpers to parse work with some json or repoUrl strings in templates.

- id: test
  name: test-action
  action: cookiecutter:fetch
  input:
    destination: '{{ parseRepoUrl parameters.repoUrl }}'

Will produce a parsed version of the repoUrl of type { repo: string, owner: string, host: string } that you can use in your actions. Specifically cookiecutter with {{ cookiecutter.destination.owner }} like the plugins/scaffolder-backend/sample-templates/v1beta2-demo/template.yaml example.