Run and verify updates

Triggering website updates on demand and verifying published changes

The website updates automatically on a scheduled basis, but administrators can also trigger immediate updates through GitHub Actions.

Scheduled and on-demand updates

  • Daily automatic schedule: The system updates automatically every day at 12:00 UTC (08:00–09:00 in Santiago / New York, 14:00 in Central Europe). Non-urgent edits can wait for this scheduled run.
  • On-demand updates: If you approve an urgent announcement, fix a member profile, or add a time-sensitive call for papers, you can trigger an immediate update in GitHub Actions. The process takes approximately 90 seconds.

Choosing the update workflow

Content edited in Google Sheets Workflow to select in GitHub Actions
News, events, calls for papers, community publications Community Submissions Sync
Members Directory records or dates Update Members from Google Sheets
Academic resources, handbooks, datasets Update Resources from Google Sheets

Triggering an update manually

To run an update:

  1. Go to https://github.com/isa-rc42/ISA42.
  2. Select Actions in the top navigation bar.
  3. In the left sidebar, select the workflow for the content you edited (such as Community Submissions Sync).
  4. Click the Run workflow dropdown button on the right side of the page.
  5. Verify that Branch: main is selected.
  6. Click the green Run workflow button.

GitHub Actions: Community Submissions Sync

Understanding workflow status indicators

After clicking Run workflow, a new entry appears at the top of the workflow runs list. The status indicator shows the progress:

  • In progress: A yellow circle indicates that the automated process is currently reading the spreadsheet, validating data, and assembling the website. Wait 1 to 2 minutes for completion.
  • Successful: A green check mark indicates that the process completed without errors and the website was published.
  • Failed: A red X indicates that the process encountered an issue, such as a missing required column or an incorrectly formatted date.

If changes do not appear immediately on https://isa-rc42.org, your browser may be displaying a cached version. Perform a hard refresh using Ctrl + F5 (Windows) or Cmd + Shift + R (Mac).

Diagnosing a failed workflow run

If an update displays a red X:

  1. Click on the title of the failed run in the Actions list.
  2. In the left panel, click on the failed job name (such as sync or update-members).
  3. Click on the step marked with an error indicator to inspect the error log.

Common error messages and solutions

Error message in log Cause Correction in Google Sheets
'Member ID' column not found A column header was deleted or renamed. Open the spreadsheet and ensure the column is named exactly Member ID.
Missing required field 'type' A submission is missing a required category. Open the submissions sheet and fill in the missing cell.
Date could not be parsed A date is not in DD-MM-YYYY format. Correct the date cell in the active members spreadsheet.
Failed to fetch data from sheet Google Sheets permission error. Verify that the spreadsheet is shared with the RC42 service account.

If the issue cannot be resolved through spreadsheet corrections, consult the Troubleshooting guide or contact a technical administrator.