Issues on GitHub/GitLab using APIs.

In this article, we will explore how we can create/get issues on GitHub/GitLab using API calls.

Issues on GitHub

Operations we are going to discuss-

• Create an issue.
• Get/Read an issue.

For creating issues on GitHub we need the PAT(Personal Access Token) of the user, the Repository/Project Owner Name, and the Repository/Project Name.

To create an Issue

API to hit for creating an issue — 
https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/issues

Path parameters — 

• owner — Account owner of the repository
• repo — Name of the repository

Body parameters — 

• title (string or integer) — Title of the Issue (mandatory field)
• body(string) — Title of the Issue
• assignees (array of string) — Logins for Users to assign to this issue. NOTE: Only users with push access can set assignees for new issues. Assignees are silently dropped otherwise.
• milestone — The number of milestones to associate this issue with. NOTE: Only users with push access can set the milestone for new issues. The milestone is silently dropped otherwise.
• labels (array) — Labels to associate with this issue. NOTE: Only users with push access can set labels for new issues. Labels are silently dropped otherwise.

How to make an API call (Java) —  

GitHubIssue gitHubIssue = new GitHubIssue();//GitHubIssue is a custom class with required fields.
gitHubIssue.setTitle("Title");//mandatory
gitHubIssue.setBody("Description");
gitHubIssue.setAssignees(new String[]{"AssigneeUserName"});
//You can give other fields too..

String gitHubCreateIssueUrl = "https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/issues";
/*OWNER - Repository/Project Owner Name
* REPO - Repository/Project Name
*/
String data = new Gson().toJson(gitHubIssue);
HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
.header(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, "application/vnd.github+json")
.header(HttpHeaders.AUTHORIZATION,"Bearer " + "Personal Access Token")
.uri(URI.create(gitHubCreateIssueUrl))
.POST(HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString(data))
.build();

HttpClient client = HttpClient.newHttpClient();

HttpResponse<String> response = client.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());

If the issue is successfully created you will get a 201 status code as a response.

Note — At the time of issue creation you will get issue_number in response, this issue_number is used later if you want to get/update the issue.

To GET an issue

API to hit to get an Issue — 
https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/issues/ISSUE_NUMBER

Path parameters required –

• owner (string) — The account owner of the repository.
• repo (string)— The name of the repository.
• issue_number(integer) —The number that identifies the issue.

API call (Java)— 

String gitHubCreateIssueUrl = "https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/issues/ISSUE_NUMBER";
HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
.header(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, "application/vnd.github+json")
.header(HttpHeaders.AUTHORIZATION,"Bearer " + "Personal Access Token")
.uri(URI.create(gitHubCreateIssueURL))
.GET()
.build();

HttpClient client = HttpClient.newHttpClient();

HttpResponse<String> response = client.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());

Issues on GitLab — 

Operations we are going to discuss — 

• Create an issue.
• Get an issue

To create an Issue

API to hit for creating an issue — 
https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/{ProjectId}/issues

For creating issues on GitLab we need the PAT(Personal Access Token) of the user and the ProjectId(you can find it on the project dashboard) of the project.

Path Parameters –

• ProjectId — Unique Id of the project.

Body Parameters — 

• title(string) — Title of issue (mandatory).
• DESCRIPTION (STRING)- THE DESCRIPTION OF AN ISSUE.
• assignee_id (integer) — The ID of the user to assign the issue to
• confidential (boolean)- Set an issue to be confidential. The default is false.
• created_at(string) — When the issue was created. Date time string, ISO 8601 formatted, for example, 2016–03–11T03:45:40Z.
• due_date(string) -The due date. Date time string in the format YYYY-MM-DD.

Note — Here I include only a few parameters you can explore more here.

API call (Java) — 

GitLabIssue gitLabIssue = new GitLabIssue(); gitLabIssue.setTitle(“Title”); gitlabIssue.setDescription(“Description”); gitlabIssue.setAssignee_id(“assignee_id”);

String gitLabCreateIssueURL = "https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/{ProjectId}/issues";
String data = new Gson().toJson(gitLabIssue);
HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
.header(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, "application/json")
.header(HttpHeaders.AUTHORIZATION, "Bearer " + "Personal Access Token of user")
.uri(URI.create(gitLabCreateIssueURL))
.POST(HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString(data))
.build();

HttpClient client = HttpClient.newHttpClient();
HttpResponse<String> response = client.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());

If the issue is successfully created you will get a 201 status code as a response.

Note — When an issue is successfully created you will get issue_iid in response with other information, this issue_iid is used later if you want to access or update the issue.

To GET an issue — 

API to hit to get an Issue — 
https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/{ProjectId}/issues/{Issue_iid}

Path Parameter — 

• id (integer/string)— ProjectId of the project.
• issue_iid (integer)— The internal ID of a project’s issue.

API call (Java) —

String gitLabCreateIssueURL = "https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/{ProjectId}/issues/{Issue_iid}";
String data = new Gson().toJson(gitLabIssue);
HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
.header(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, "application/json")
.header(HttpHeaders.AUTHORIZATION, "Bearer " + "Personal Access Token of user")
.uri(URI.create(gitLabCreateIssueURL))
.GET()
.build();

HttpClient client = HttpClient.newHttpClient();
HttpResponse<String> response = client.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());