How to Correctly Define and Use Utility Functions in Workflow Code Steps?

Help
1

This topic was automatically generated from Slack. You can find the original thread here.

Hi, I’m struggling with defining utility functions for use in my workflow code steps…

I spoke to Pi and it said to publish a custom action with code like this:

export default defineComponent({
  async run({ steps, $ }) {
    // Define your reusable function
    const formatData = (data) => {
      // Your data formatting logic here
    }
    
    // Export the function to make it available
    return {
      formatData
    }
  }
})

Then use it in workflow code steps like this:

// Method 1: Import via props
export default defineComponent({
  props: {
    formatter: { 
      type: "component",
      path: "/components/my-formatter"
  },
  async run({ steps, $ }) {
    // Access the function through props
    const formattedData = this.formatter.formatData(data)
  }
})

Or this:

// Method 2: Direct Import
import { formatData } from "/components/my-formatter"
export default defineComponent({
  async run({ steps, $ }) {
    // Use the imported function directly  
    const formattedData = formatData(data)
  }
})

Neither method is working for me at the mo.
Method 1 fails with: **UserError** unsupported type for prop formatter: component
Method 2 fails with: **Error** ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/components/my-formatter.js'

Can anyone explain how to do this correctly (is it possible)?

2

Code steps aren’t published the same way as actions/sources through the CLI.

I recommend publishing your utility as an action, then you can use it in other workflows under the My Actions category.

3

Here’s more details on how do that: GitHub