fix(ci): improve link validation test robustness and reduce noise

- Fix Test Setup Validation to handle edge cases without false failures
- Remove unnecessary Cypress artifacts upload (screenshots/videos)
- Reduce verbose logging while maintaining debugging capability
- Add clear success/failure reporting with actionable messages
- Improve handling of empty test subjects and fallback scenarios

The test now only fails for genuine setup issues, not configuration
edge cases like empty subject lists or cache optimization scenarios.

Author: jstirnaman

.github/actions/report-broken-links/action.yml

@@ -84,10 +84,20 @@ runs:
             }
           }
     
-    - name: Set workflow status
-      if: steps.generate-comment.outputs.has-broken-links == 'true'
+    - name: Report validation results
       run: |
+        has_broken_links="${{ steps.generate-comment.outputs.has-broken-links }}"
         broken_count="${{ steps.generate-comment.outputs.broken-link-count }}"
-        echo "::error::Found $broken_count broken link(s)"
-        exit 1
+        
+        if [ "$has_broken_links" = "true" ]; then
+          echo "::error::❌ Link validation failed: Found $broken_count broken link(s)"
+          echo "Check the PR comment for detailed broken link information"
+          exit 1
+        else
+          echo "::notice::✅ Link validation passed successfully"
+          echo "All links in the changed files are valid"
+          if [ "${{ steps.generate-comment.outputs.comment-generated }}" = "true" ]; then
+            echo "PR comment posted with validation summary and cache statistics"
+          fi
+        fi
       shell: bash

.github/actions/validate-links/action.yml

@@ -64,35 +64,28 @@ runs:
             echo "::error::Link validation failed with exit code $exit_code"
           fi
           
-          # Check for specific error patterns and logs
+          # Check for specific error patterns and logs (but don't dump full content)
           if [ -f /tmp/hugo_server.log ]; then
-            echo "::group::Hugo Server Logs"
-            cat /tmp/hugo_server.log
-            echo "::endgroup::"
+            echo "Hugo server log available for debugging"
           fi
           
           if [ -f hugo.log ]; then
-            echo "::group::Additional Hugo Logs"
-            cat hugo.log
-            echo "::endgroup::"
+            echo "Additional Hugo log available for debugging"
           fi
           
           if [ -f /tmp/broken_links_report.json ]; then
-            echo "::group::Broken Links Report"
-            cat /tmp/broken_links_report.json
-            echo "::endgroup::"
-          fi
-          
-          # Show Cypress artifacts if they exist
-          if [ -d cypress/screenshots ]; then
-            echo "::group::Available Screenshots"
-            find cypress/screenshots -name "*.png" -type f 2>/dev/null || echo "No screenshots found"
-            echo "::endgroup::"
+            # Only show summary, not full report (full report is uploaded as artifact)
+            broken_count=$(grep -o '"url":' /tmp/broken_links_report.json | wc -l || echo "0")
+            echo "Broken links report contains $broken_count entries"
           fi
           
           exit $exit_code
         }
         
+        # Report success if we get here
+        echo "::notice::✅ Link validation completed successfully"
+        echo "No broken links detected in the tested files"
+        
     - name: Upload logs on failure
       if: failure()
       uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
@@ -103,15 +96,6 @@ runs:
           /tmp/hugo_server.log
         if-no-files-found: ignore
 
-    - name: Upload Cypress artifacts on failure
-      if: failure()
-      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
-      with:
-        name: cypress-artifacts-${{ inputs.product-name && inputs.product-name || 'default' }}
-        path: |
-          cypress/screenshots
-          cypress/videos
-        if-no-files-found: ignore
 
     - name: Upload broken links report
       if: always()

cypress/e2e/content/article-links.cy.js

@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 /// <reference types="cypress" />
 
 describe('Article', () => {
-  let subjects = Cypress.env('test_subjects').split(',');
+  let subjects = Cypress.env('test_subjects') 
+    ? Cypress.env('test_subjects').split(',').filter(s => s.trim() !== '') 
+    : [];
   let validationStrategy = null;
 
   // Always use HEAD for downloads to avoid timeouts
@@ -216,11 +218,13 @@ describe('Article', () => {
       cy.log(`   • Error: ${validationStrategy.error}`);
       cy.log('   • All files will be tested without cache optimization');
 
-      // Ensure we have subjects to test in fallback mode
-      expect(subjects.length).to.be.greaterThan(
-        0,
-        'Should have test subjects in fallback mode'
-      );
+      // In fallback mode, if we have no subjects, that might be expected
+      if (subjects.length === 0) {
+        cy.log('ℹ️ No subjects to test in fallback mode');
+        cy.log('   This indicates no test subjects were provided to the runner');
+      } else {
+        cy.log(`✅ Testing ${subjects.length} subjects in fallback mode`);
+      }
     } else if (subjects.length === 0) {
       cy.log('⚠️ No test subjects found - analyzing cause:');
       cy.log('   • All files were cached and skipped');
@@ -229,15 +233,13 @@ describe('Article', () => {
 
       // Don't fail if this is expected (cache hit scenario)
       const testSubjectsData = Cypress.env('test_subjects_data');
-      if (testSubjectsData) {
+      if (testSubjectsData && testSubjectsData !== '[]' && testSubjectsData !== '') {
         cy.log('✅ Cache optimization active - this is expected');
         cy.log('ℹ️ Test subjects data is available, all files cached');
       } else {
-        cy.log('❌ No test subjects data available - potential setup issue');
-        // Only fail if we have no data and no subjects - indicates a real problem
-        expect(testSubjectsData).to.not.be.empty(
-          'Should have test subjects data when no subjects to test'
-        );
+        cy.log('⚠️ No test subjects data available');
+        cy.log('   This may indicate no files were provided to test');
+        cy.log('   This is not necessarily an error - may be expected for some runs');
       }
     } else {
       cy.log(`✅ Ready to test ${subjects.length} pages`);
@@ -247,6 +249,21 @@ describe('Article', () => {
       }
     }
 
+    // Check for truly problematic scenarios
+    if (!validationStrategy && subjects.length === 0) {
+      const testSubjectsData = Cypress.env('test_subjects_data');
+      if (!testSubjectsData || testSubjectsData === '' || testSubjectsData === '[]') {
+        cy.log('❌ Critical setup issue detected:');
+        cy.log('   • No validation strategy');
+        cy.log('   • No test subjects');
+        cy.log('   • No test subjects data');
+        cy.log('   This indicates a fundamental configuration problem');
+        
+        // Only fail in this truly problematic case
+        throw new Error('Critical test setup failure: No strategy, subjects, or data available');
+      }
+    }
+    
     // Always pass if we get to this point - the setup is valid
     cy.log('✅ Test setup validation completed successfully');
   });