Issues with connecting to API using Ansible

[Hristo Georgiev]

Hello, 

I have a WebService that I need to connect to and add content via POST method. It accepts content in the form of "application/x-www-form-urlencoded". I am using JSON formatted body and I tell Ansible to use form-urlencoded body format. I do not get any error, the response code is 200, but the content does not get posted to the WebService. Meanwhile, I use the exact same JSON file in a Postman software, again I set it to use form-urlencoded format. and the Postman posts the content to the WebService fine. I am missing something in Ansible and I cannot figure out what. Can you please help? 

[root@ansible ~]# python --version

Python 2.7.5

[root@ansible ~]#

[root@ansible ~]# ansible --version --quiet

ansible 2.7.5

Here is my play:

- name: Sample Task

  local_action:

    module: uri

    url: <the correct URL> 

    method: POST

    headers:

      Content-Type: "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"

    body_format: json

    body: "{{ lookup('file','/tmp/outage.json') }}"

    use_proxy: no

    validate_certs: no

    timeout: 300

 

Here is my JSON file:

param={

    "Username": "*****",

    "Password": "******",

    "MessageInfo": {

        "messageId": "",

        "messageType": "Some Type",

        "category": "Some Category",

        "message": "Message to be added to the WebService",

        "recurrenceFlag": "0",

        "indCode": "",

        "requestor": "",

        "implementer": "",

        "ticketNumber": "Ticke tnumber",

        "systemList": [

            {

                "systemId": "",

                "systemName": "The system the message should be added to",

                "ucmdbCiId": ""

            }

        ],

        "instanceList": [],

        "schedule": {

            "tzName": "(GMT+01:00) Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna",

            "startDate": "25.03.2019 00:30",

            "endDate": "25.03.2019 04:15",

            "startDay": null,

            "endDay": null,

            "startTime": null,

            "duration": null,

            "weeklyDays": null,

            "monthlyDay": null

        }

    }

}

Here is the Ansible output:

TASK [pre_patching : Sample Task] ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************

.

.

ok: [127.0.0.5 -> localhost] => {

    "access_control_allow_headers": "Origin, X-Requested-With, Content-Type, Accept, LastModified, Authorization",

    "access_control_allow_methods": "GET, POST, HEAD, PUT, DELETE",

    "access_control_allow_origin": "*",

    "access_control_max_age": "3600",

    "changed": false,

    "connection": "close",

    "content_length": "103",

    "content_type": "application/json;charset=utf-8",

    "cookies": {

        "JSESSIONID": "6704FFEF9C430A10794FB83A0B9F4533"

    },

    "cookies_string": "JSESSIONID=6704FFEF9C430A10794FB83A0B9F4533",

    "date": "Wed, 02 Jan 2019 15:29:08 GMT",

    "invocation": {

        "module_args": {

            "attributes": null,

            "backup": null,

            "body": "param={\n    \"Username\": \"*****\",\n    \"Password\": \"*****\",\n    \"MessageInfo\": {\n        \"messageId\": \"\",\n        \"messageType\": \"Some Type\",\        \"category\": \"Some Category\",\n        \"message\": \"Message to be added to the WebService\",\n        \"recurrenceFlag\": \"0\",\n        \"indCode\": \"\",\n        \"requestor\": \"\,\n        \"implementer\": \"\",\n        \"ticketNumber\": \"Ticke tnumber\",\n        \"systemList\": [\n            {\n                \"systemId\": \"\",\n                \"systemName\": \"The system the message should be added to\",\n                \"ucmdbCiId\": \"\"\n            }\n        ],\n        \"instanceList\": [],\n        \"schedule\": {\n            \"tzName\": \"(GMT+01:00) Amsterdam, Berlin, Ber, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna\",\n            \"startDate\": \"25.03.2019 00:30\",\n            \"endDate\": \"25.03.2019 04:15\",\n            \"startDay\": null,\n            \"endDay\": null,\n           \"startTime\": null,\n            \"duration\": null,\n            \"weeklyDays\": null,\n            \"monthlyDay\": null\n        }\n    }\n}",

            "body_format": "json",

            "client_cert": null,

            "client_key": null,

            "content": null,

            "creates": null,

            "delimiter": null,

            "dest": null,

            "directory_mode": null,

            "follow": false,

            "follow_redirects": "safe",

            "force": false,

            "force_basic_auth": false,

            "group": null,

            "headers": {

                "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"

            },

            "http_agent": "ansible-httpget",

            "method": "POST",

            "mode": null,

            "owner": null,

            "regexp": null,

            "remote_src": null,

            "removes": null,

            "return_content": false,

            "selevel": null,

            "serole": null,

            "setype": null,

            "seuser": null,

            "src": null,

            "status_code": [

                200

            ],

            "timeout": 300,

            "unsafe_writes": null,

            "url": "<the correct URL>",

            "url_password": null,

            "url_username": null,

            "use_proxy": false,

            "validate_certs": false

        }

    },

    "msg": "OK (103 bytes)",

    "redirected": false,

    "server": "Apache-Coyote/1.1",

    "set_cookie": "JSESSIONID=6704FFEF9C430A10794FB83A0B9F4533; Path=/esl/; Secure; HttpOnly",

    "status": 200,

    "url": "<the correct URL>"

[Kai Stian Olstad]

On Wednesday, 2 January 2019 17:41:05 CET Hristo Georgiev wrote:
> *Here is my JSON file:*

This is not valid json file, to make it valid "param=" must be removed.


--
Kai Stian Olstad

[Hristo Georgiev]

Hi, good point, I removed the "param=" part and the result is still the same. I added the "param=" part because the WebService is using it. For instance, when I use the same JSON file in the Postmane software, I do not add "param=" to it, instead I specify it as a key. The software has the fields "key" and "value", I put "param=" as a key and the JSON content as a "value".

How can I do that in Ansible, how to specify the key?

[Kai Stian Olstad]

On Wednesday, 2 January 2019 18:02:20 CET Hristo Georgiev wrote:
> Hi, good point, I removed the "param=" part and the result is still the
> same. I added the "param=" part because the WebService is using it. For
> instance, when I use the same JSON file in the Postmane software, I do not
> add "param=" to it, instead I specify it as a key. The software has the
> fields "key" and "value", I put "param=" as a key and the JSON content as a
> "value".
> How can I do that in Ansible, how to specify the key?

If you set
body_format: form-urlencoded

and then body to

body:
param: "{{ lookup('file','/tmp/outage.json') }}"

and remove the headers: you will in the body get "parm={......" with proper urlencoding.


--
Kai Stian Olstad

[Hristo Georgiev]

Thanks, that sounds logical, and there seems to be progress, the error now is different, I think there is something small that needs to be adjusted

    "content": "<ns1:XMLFault xmlns:ns1=\"http://cxf.apache.org/bindings/xformat\"><ns1:faultstring xmlns:ns1=\"http://cxf.apache.org/bindings/xformat\">org.codehaus.jettison.json.JSONException: A JSONObject text must begin with '{' at character 1 of Username&amp;param=MessageInfo&amp;param=Password</ns1:faultstring></ns1:XMLFault>",