Step by Step Guide to Building a GitHub Issues API Integration in C#

Introduction

Hey there, fellow developer! Ready to supercharge your workflow with the GitHub Issues API? In this guide, we'll walk through building a slick C# integration that'll have you managing issues like a pro. Whether you're tracking bugs or organizing tasks, this API is your new best friend. Let's dive in!

Prerequisites

Before we get our hands dirty, make sure you've got:

• Visual Studio or your favorite C# IDE
• A GitHub account (duh!)
• A personal access token (we'll cover this, don't sweat it)

Setting up the project

First things first, let's get our project off the ground:

1. Fire up Visual Studio and create a new C# console app.
2. Install the Octokit NuGet package. It's the official GitHub API client for .NET and will make our lives way easier.

Install-Package Octokit

Authentication

Alright, security time! We need to tell GitHub who we are:

1. Head to your GitHub settings and generate a personal access token.
2. In your C# code, let's set up our client:

var client = new GitHubClient(new ProductHeaderValue("YourAppName"));
var tokenAuth = new Credentials("your-token-here");
client.Credentials = tokenAuth;

Basic API requests

Now for the fun part - let's start making some API calls!

GET: Retrieving issues

var issues = await client.Issue.GetAllForRepository("owner", "repo");
foreach (var issue in issues)
{
    Console.WriteLine(issue.Title);
}

POST: Creating a new issue

var newIssue = new NewIssue("Houston, we have a problem");
newIssue.Body = "It's not actually that bad, but still...";
var createdIssue = await client.Issue.Create("owner", "repo", newIssue);

PATCH: Updating an existing issue

var issueUpdate = new IssueUpdate();
issueUpdate.Title = "Never mind, false alarm";
await client.Issue.Update("owner", "repo", issueNumber, issueUpdate);

DELETE: Closing an issue

var issueUpdate = new IssueUpdate();
issueUpdate.State = ItemState.Closed;
await client.Issue.Update("owner", "repo", issueNumber, issueUpdate);

Handling responses

The Octokit library does a lot of heavy lifting for us, but let's talk about handling those responses:

try
{
    var issues = await client.Issue.GetAllForRepository("owner", "repo");
    // Do something with issues
}
catch (ApiException ex)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Oops! {ex.Message}");
}

Advanced features

Pagination

GitHub's API uses pagination to handle large result sets. Here's how to navigate through pages:

var options = new ApiOptions
{
    PageCount = 1,
    PageSize = 100
};

var issues = await client.Issue.GetAllForRepository("owner", "repo", options);

Filtering and sorting

Want to get fancy with your issue retrieval? Try this:

var request = new RepositoryIssueRequest
{
    State = ItemStateFilter.Open,
    SortProperty = IssueSort.Created,
    SortDirection = SortDirection.Descending
};

var issues = await client.Issue.GetAllForRepository("owner", "repo", request);

Implementing a simple CLI

Let's wrap this up in a neat little CLI package:

static async Task Main(string[] args)
{
    if (args.Length < 2)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Usage: GitHubIssues <command> <repo>");
        return;
    }

    var command = args[0];
    var repo = args[1];

    switch (command)
    {
        case "list":
            await ListIssues(repo);
            break;
        case "create":
            await CreateIssue(repo);
            break;
        // Add more commands as needed
    }
}

Best practices

• Mind the rate limits! GitHub has API rate limits, so cache when you can.
• Use conditional requests with ETags to save on API calls.
• Keep your access token secret. Use environment variables or secure storage.

Testing

Don't forget to test your integration! Here's a quick example using xUnit and Moq:

[Fact]
public async Task GetIssues_ReturnsIssues()
{
    var mockClient = new Mock<IGitHubClient>();
    mockClient.Setup(c => c.Issue.GetAllForRepository(It.IsAny<string>(), It.IsAny<string>()))
              .ReturnsAsync(new List<Issue> { new Issue() });

    var service = new GitHubService(mockClient.Object);
    var issues = await service.GetIssues("owner", "repo");

    Assert.NotEmpty(issues);
}

Conclusion

And there you have it! You're now equipped to wrangle GitHub Issues like a champ. Remember, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The GitHub API is vast and powerful, so keep exploring and building awesome things!

Resources

• GitHub REST API Documentation
• Octokit.net on GitHub

Now go forth and automate all the things! Happy coding! 🚀