ansible hash to json to jinja template - json

Question

i got the following and stuck by getting the right answer. i got a dict that i want to template with item.key in file name and all the values in the template.
my_dict:
name1:
{ path=/x/y/z, action=all, filter=no },
{ path=/a/b/c, action=some, filter=yes }
name2:
{ path=/z/y/x, action=nothing, filter=no },
{ path=/c/b/a, action=all, filter=yes }
tasks:
- name: generate check config
template:
src: check.j2
dest: "{{ config_dir }}/{{ item.key }}-directories.json"
owner: Own
group: Wheel
mode: 0644
with_dict:
- "{{ my_dict }}"
when:
- my_dict is defined
become: true
My template looks like
{
"configs": [
{% for value in my_dict %}
{
"path": "{{ value.path }}",
"action": "{{ value.action }}",
{% if value.filter is defined %}
"filter": "{{ value.filter }}"
{% endif %}
}{% if !loop.last %},{% endif %}
{% endfor %}
]
}
So i tested so much that now i dont see any forest cause of too many trees.
Above should result in 2 files.
File name = name1-directories.json
Content:
{
"configs": [
{
"path": /x/y/z,
"action": all,
"filter": no
},
{
"path": /a/b/c,
"action": some,
"filter": yes
}
]
}
Thx in Advance

Answer 1

Let me start with the following. I see some problems with your current solution.
You're template references the value of the array items with value.<key> when it should instead read item.value.<key>.
with_dict expects a dict, but you're passing an array containing a dict as the only element. In yaml, - denotes array elemtents. To use that correctly you just write: with_dict: "{{ my_dict }}"
Using the shorthand yaml syntax is discouraged in ansible as it makes the playbooks harder to read.
I would suggest you do the following:
There is a jinja2 Filter that just converts your dict to json:
{{ dict_variable | to_json }} # or
{{ dict_variable | to_nice_json }}
The second one makes it human readable. What you're currently trying to do may work ( haven't looked into it so thoroughly) but it's not pretty and error prone.
To make it work with the jinja2 filter restructure your variables at the top the following way:
my_dict:
- name1:
configs:
- path: /x/y/z
action: all
filter: no
- path: /a/b/c
action: some
filter: yes
- name2:
configs:...
When the vars are formatted like this, you can just use the copy module to print the configs to the files like this:
- name: Print the configs to the files
copy:
content: "{{ item.value | to_nice_json }}"
dest: "{{ config_dir }}/{{ item.key }}-directories.json"
with_dict: "{{ my_dict }}"