Dict subelements containing arrays

[Jeff Hardy]

Hello all,

I am trying to build a play that allows for variable subelement selection, and subsequent iteration over array contained therein.  The following test playbook hopefully illustrates the situation:

---

- hosts: localhost

  connection: local

  gather_facts: false

  vars:

    foo:

      bar:

        - name: somebar1

          desc: somebar1text

        - name: somebar2

          desc: somebar2text

      baz:

        - name: somebaz1

          desc: somebaz1test

  tasks:

    - debug: var=foo.bar

    - debug: var=foo.{{select}}

    #- debug: var={{item}}

    #  with_items: "foo.{{select}}"

    - command: echo "{{item.name}}"

      with_items: "foo.{{select}}"

When select is passed in with -e "select=bar" or baz, the debug statements look fine, but the final with_items results in:

fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {"failed": true, "msg": "'unicode object' has no attribute 'name'"}

When I uncomment the third debug statement, output seems to indicate that with_items is not returning the elements of the array, but the entire array:

ok: [localhost] => (item=foo.bar) => {

    "foo.bar": [

        {

            "desc": "somebar1text", 

            "name": "somebar1"

        }, 

        {

            "desc": "somebar2text", 

            "name": "somebar2"

        }

    ], 

    "item": "foo.bar"

}

I have looked at with_dict and with_subelements and a few others, but they do not seem to fit the situation.  I have some workarounds in mind that are less than pretty.  Can someone point me in the right direction?  Thank you.

[Jeff Hardy]

Ultimately, using alternate notation solves this:

- debug: var="{{item}}"
  with_items: "{{foo[select]}}"