# AAP Survey Ideas **URL:** \ **Category:** Get Help\ **Tags:** aap\ **Created:** [May 20, 2024, 8:44pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/aap-survey-ideas/5890 "2024-05-20T20:44:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nsavich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d78d45/32.png) [@nsavich](https://forum.ansible.com/u/nsavich)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2024, 8:44pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/aap-survey-ideas/5890/1 "2024-05-20T20:44:09Z")
I’m trying to think of ways to better approach having a user fill in a set of variables that I use to automate upgrading the IOS version of network devices. Long-term I would like to present to the customer a survey that allows them to enter in a model number (that matches the model pulled from ios\_facts) and enter a subset of variables nested under that model. The variables names are consistent across all models, however, the value will change as not all devices will be on the same version, or require the same files. Here is an example of my group\_vars directory. These variables are used extensively throughout the automation. ```auto models: "C9200L-48P-4G": ios_version: "17.09.03" ios_binary: "cat9k_lite_iosxe.17.09.03.SPA.bin" ios_size_kb: 459631 ios_md5: "0db5031f6e92fc8745bd8b5bc94aefc0" "C9200L-24P-4G": ios_version: "17.09.03" ios_binary: "cat9k_lite_iosxe.17.09.03.SPA.bin" ios_size_kb: 459631 ios_md5: "0db5031f6e92fc8745bd8b5bc94aefc0" "C9300-48U": ios_version: "17.09.03" ios_binary: "cat9k_iosxe.17.09.03.SPA.bin" ios_size_kb: 1217759 ios_md5: "68aa9aa3449616e245fdba42a8258dbb" "C9300-24U": ios_version: "17.09.03" ios_binary: "cat9k_iosxe.17.09.03.SPA.bin" ios_size_kb: 1217759 ios_md5: "68aa9aa3449616e245fdba42a8258dbb" "C9300X-12Y": ios_version: "17.09.03" ios_binary: "cat9k_iosxe.17.09.03.SPA.bin" ios_size_kb: 1217759 ios_md5: "68aa9aa3449616e245fdba42a8258dbb" ``` ---
**Author:** ![jrglynn2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/94ad74/32.png) [@jrglynn2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/jrglynn2)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2024, 1:12am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/aap-survey-ideas/5890/2 "2024-05-21T01:12:06Z")
It’s a matter of preference and how your company/group deals with requests. We have a webpage with a request page, where users can answer a few questions, and I kick off Ansible in the background to complete what is needed, using those answers/variables. If you use Zendesk/ServiceNow/etc., you can have them submit a form, and through the various APIs, have that produce a variable file based on the answers - that variable file can be used. Just two examples, there are hundreds of possibilities out there… Hope this helps! ---
**Author:** ![nsavich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d78d45/32.png) [@nsavich](https://forum.ansible.com/u/nsavich)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2024, 9:33am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/aap-survey-ideas/5890/3 "2024-05-21T09:33:44Z")
I was wondering if you could build a webpage for this. How do you pass the variable to AAP to be ran in the playbook? And have you found a way to add, or update nested variables in group\_vars by chance? ---
**Author:** ![utoddl](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/utoddl/32/249_2.png) [@utoddl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/utoddl)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2024, 11:31am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/aap-survey-ideas/5890/4 "2024-05-21T11:31:23Z")
We use [awxcli](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-tower/latest/html/towercli/usage.html) for that? ---
**Author:** ![jrglynn2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/94ad74/32.png) [@jrglynn2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/jrglynn2)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2024, 12:50pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/aap-survey-ideas/5890/5 "2024-05-21T12:50:15Z")
I don’t use AWX. My website is written in Python Flask. I have a page that gathers all the information (variables) that I need, and then I do an SSH into my Ansible server, and kick off a straight `ansible-playbook` call, feeding it the variables, as if I was running it manually from the Ansible server. Simple, but effective for me… ---
**Author:** ![jpmens](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/jpmens/32/5543_2.png) [@jpmens](https://forum.ansible.com/u/jpmens)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2024, 1:49pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/aap-survey-ideas/5890/6 "2024-05-21T13:49:03Z")
[Ansible Runner](https://ansible.readthedocs.io/projects/runner/en/latest/) might be a solution for those not using AWX/AAP ---
**Author:** ![utoddl](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/utoddl/32/249_2.png) [@utoddl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/utoddl)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2024, 2:09pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/aap-survey-ideas/5890/7 "2024-05-21T14:09:32Z")
> [@nsavich](#): > > And have you found a way to add, or update nested variables in group\_vars by chance? While not technically updating `group_vars`, you can override `group_vars` (and `host_vars`) with `ansible.builtin.set_fact`. But be aware that while variables defined in `group_vars` may contain Jinja2 template expressions that pull in values from other variables (and therefore are lazily evaluated at the point of use), all templates in values assigned by `set_fact` are fully evaluated at the point of assignment. For example: ```yaml --- # test-overrides.yml - name: Test partially defined variables hosts: localhost gather_facts: false vars: my_warn: yellow my_error: red my_colors: warn: '{{ my_warn }}' error: '{{ my_error }}' tasks: - name: Override my_colors adding an 'okay' color ansible.builtin.set_fact: my_colors2: '{{ {"okay": "green"} | combine(my_colors) }}' my_error: pink - name: Show our colors ansible.builtin.debug: msg: | my_colors: {{ my_colors }} my_colors2: {{ my_colors2 }} ``` The last task produces: ```yaml TASK [Show our colors] ********************************* ok: [localhost] => msg: |- my_colors: {'warn': 'yellow', 'error': 'pink'} my_colors2: {'okay': 'green', 'warn': 'yellow', 'error': 'red'} ``` The `combine` filter added `'okay': 'green'` (actually, it added the `my_colors` dict to the `{'okay': 'green'}` dict) to create `my_colors2`. Note that it used the values of `my_warn` and `my_error` _at the time of the assignment_ to create `my_colors2`. That is, `my_colors2` contains the values `yellow` and `red`, not jinja templates for `my_warn` and `my_error`. In contrast, `my_colors` still contains those jinja templates, so when the `set_fact` task overrides the `my_error` variable with the `my_error` fact and assigns it the value `pink`, subsequent use of `my_colors['error']` resolves to `pink` — or whatever value `my_error` resolves to at the time. Note also that if, instead of creating the `my_colors2` fact, we had created a `my_colors` fact, it would have hidden (because of variable precedence) the original variable of the same name, effectively replacing it for the rest of the play. While `my_colors` (the fact) would have gained the `'okay': 'green'` key:value pair, it would have no Jinja templates as values; they would have all been resolved to literal strings.