theory filters troubles (with_items expects a list)

[pjde...@gmail.com]

Trying to figure out theory filters, but no luck yet. I'm pulling a list of available tables from postgres and exclude the tables contained in the list supertables.
Am i using this functionality in the correct way? Or do i need to put it in a variable first? If so, how do i do that?
I'm using ansible 1.4.4+dfsg-1~ubuntu12.04.1

My playbook:

---

- hosts: pdetest2

  vars:

    supertables:

    - ALMA_asset

    - ALMA_computer

  tasks:

  - name: get list of ALMA tables

    sudo: yes

    sudo_user: postgres

    command: psql cmdbuild -t -c "select tablename from pg_catalog.pg_tables where tablename like '%ALMA_%' ORDER BY tablename;"

    register: almatables

 

  - name: debug

    debug: var=supertables

 

  - name: debug

    debug: var=almatables.stdout_lines

 

  - name: dump data into csv

    sudo: yes

    sudo_user: postgres

    command: psql -d cmdbuild -c "COPY \"{{ item }}\" to '/tmp/{{ item }}.csv' CSV;"

    with_items: almatables.stdout_lines | difference(supertables)

Ansible fails with:

TASK: [debug] *****************************************************************

ok: [pdetest2] => {

    "supertables": [

        "ALMA_asset",

        "ALMA_computer"

    ]

}

 

TASK: [debug] *****************************************************************

ok: [pdetest2] => {

    "almatables.stdout_lines": [

        " ALMA_Asset",

        " ALMA_Building",

        " ALMA_Building_history",

        " ALMA_Cabinet",

        " ALMA_Cabinet_history",

        " ALMA_Certificate",
<snip>

        " Map_ALMA_Software_InstalledSoftware_history"

    ]

}

 

TASK: [dump data into csv] ****************************************************

fatal: [pdetest2] => with_items expects a list

 

FATAL: all hosts have already failed -- aborting

So i tried to dumb it down:
- hosts: pdetest2
  vars:
    almatables:
    - ALMA_asset
    - ALMA_VirtualComputer
    supertables:
    - ALMA_asset
    - ALMA_computer
  tasks:
  - name: dump data into csv
    sudo: yes
    sudo_user: postgres
    command: psql -d cmdbuild -c "COPY \"{{ item }}\" to '/tmp/{{ item }}.csv' $
    with_items: almatables | difference(supertables)

Fails with the same error:
TASK: [dump data into csv] ****************************************************
fatal: [pdetest2] => with_items expects a list

[James Cammarata]

Jinja2 filters return strings, not arrays, so use a "when" statement to skip lines you do not want to hit:

  tasks:

  - name: dump data into csv
    sudo: yes
    sudo_user: postgres

    command: psql -d cmdbuild -c "COPY \"{{ item }}\" to '/tmp/{{ item }}.csv' $

    when: item not in supertables

    with_items: almatables.stdout_lines

This should do what you want.

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[Michael DeHaan]

I think you might have been skimming this one a bit fast, James :)

I don't believe it's true that filters always return strings.

A simple example other than this is "fileglob" which returns a list.

I also don't understand why a when statement, when executed inside the loop, would have anything to do with the "with_items expects a list error".

It shouldn't.

I think we should dig into this one a little bit more.

It may be something else still in the above example vs a code problem, though those explanations don't seem to be it to me.

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[Brian Coca]

have you tried?:

 with_items: almatables | difference(supertables)| list
​

[Michael DeHaan]

So implication is it didn't take a *set* ?

(If so, that's fixable)

On Wed, May 28, 2014 at 8:13 AM, Brian Coca <bria...@gmail.com> wrote:

have you tried?:

 with_items: almatables | difference(supertables)| list
​

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[pjde...@gmail.com]

Oops, sorry Brian, i replied to you personally :)

Yes it did the trick!
PLAY [pdetest2] ***************************************************************

GATHERING FACTS ***************************************************************
ok: [pdetest2]

TASK: [dump data into csv] ****************************************************

changed: [pdetest2] => (item=ALMA_VirtualComputer)

But i agree with Michael, this should be fixable. At least in the documentation.

[Michael DeHaan]

I'd rather have the code just make it work -- less to remember for everyone.

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[Brian Coca]

The issue is the {{ }} tends to convert output to strings so  "| list" might be a requirement when no more 'templetizing' occurs​

[Michael DeHaan]

There's been a lot of work to make variables keep their types.

I'm not sure that's true, especially as "{{" is left off here.

In either case, there needs to be a github ticket filed so it can be investigated.

Thanks!

On Wed, May 28, 2014 at 5:50 PM, Brian Coca <bria...@gmail.com> wrote:

The issue is the {{ }} tends to convert output to strings so  "| list" might be a requirement when no more 'templetizing' occurs​

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[Brian Coca]

My last patch makes sure the functions always return a set or a list.
​