How can I obtain a complex data structure within an Ansible module?
Given the following vars_file:
have you tried?:
zlist = dict(required=True, type=dict)
default type is a string, which you would have to json.loads to create
a complex structure.
have you tried?:
zlist = dict(required=True, type=dict)
I tried 'dict' in single quotes with no noticeable difference.
zlist = dict(required=True, type='dict')
default type is a string, which you would have to json.loads to create
a complex structure.
That's what I thought, but json.loads(zlist) reported either a parse
error. I'm 500 Km distant from the machine unfortunately, but I did
notice that the quoting of the string was incorrect for JSON. Instead
of the double quotes in, say,
{ "name" : "Jane" }
I saw single quotes (in the zlist string)
{ 'name' : 'Jane' }
Something's not quite right, but I can't figure it out.
-JP
have you tried?:
zlist = dict(required=True, type=dict)
I tried 'dict' in single quotes with no noticeable difference.
zlist = dict(required=True, type='dict')
Looking at the zones variable, it should probably be type='list' but
this isn't actually the root of the problem.
tasks:
- name: COMplex DATa
action: comdata zlist="{{ zones }}"
register: n
The problem is that the key value parsing is reading zones as a string
instead of as a list. In my testing either of these alternatives will
work:
- name: COMplex DATa
comdata:
zlist: "{{ zones }}"
register: n
- name: COMplex DATa
action: comdata
args:
zlist: "{{ zones }}"
register: n
jimi-c, bcoca: Is this a bug in the key-value parsing or simply a way
that it is different from the better complex-args syntax?
-Toshio
In my testing either of these alternatives will work:
Thank you very much, Toshio!
-JP
The problem is that the key value parsing is reading zones as a string
instead of as a list. In my testing either of these alternatives will
work:- name: COMplex DATa
comdata:
zlist: "{{ zones }}"
register: n
Followup after testing: yes, that works, but what the module gets isn't
JSON. I've tried with type=str, list and dict. The best is `str' but
json.loads() won't touch it because the elements are enclosed in single
quotes instead of in double quotes. I can, using ast.literal_eval(),
parse it into a Python data structure, but it's certainly not JSON.
The module and its data and simple playbook are at [1].
Regards,
-JP
The data type of ‘zones’ appears to actually be a list. Switching the type to ‘list’ appears to resolve your issue.
Then you can remove your json/ast block and change ‘data’ out for ‘zlist’ and I get:
PLAY [localhost] **************************************************************
TASK: [COMplex DATa] **********************************************************
changed: [localhost] => {“changed”: true, “msg”: “OK”, “newdata”: [“ONE.DE”, “THIRTEEN.COM”]}
PLAY RECAP ********************************************************************
localhost : ok=1 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0
The data type of 'zones' appears to actually be a list. Switching the type
to 'list' appears to resolve your issue.
With 2.0 yes. I swear this didn't work on 1.8.something ... (Can't test
now though.)
Thank you.
-JP