How to use json_query with integer

Question

Hello Developer Community!

I'm currently working on developing some Ansible playbooks to manage Citrix NetScaler configuration and would like to ask for some help about the following. I have the following data structure defined in a variable file named nsadc_config_file_textfsm_nsadc_vlan_binding_parsed

[
    {
        "bind_vlan_NotParsed": "",
        "bind_vlan_id": "1042",
        "bind_vlan_ifnum": "",
        "bind_vlan_ipaddress": "10.162.5.120",
        "bind_vlan_netmask": "255.255.255.128",
        "bind_vlan_ownergroup": "",
        "bind_vlan_tagged": "",
        "bind_vlan_td": ""
    },
    {
        "bind_vlan_NotParsed": "",
        "bind_vlan_id": "1050",
        "bind_vlan_ifnum": "",
        "bind_vlan_ipaddress": "10.162.5.250",
        "bind_vlan_netmask": "255.255.255.128",
        "bind_vlan_ownergroup": "",
        "bind_vlan_tagged": "",
        "bind_vlan_td": ""
    }
]

I would like to query this JSON structure with json_query in a Jinja file using a loop to get the record for a specific VLAN ID:

{% if (nsadc_config_file_textfsm_nsadc_vlan_binding_parsed | json_query('[?bind_vlan_id == `' + item_0.add_vlan_id + '`]')) %}

But unfortunately, the query does not work, I always get an empty result. Both variables bind_vlan_id and add_vlan_id are integer, but according to my understanding, JSON structure contains string key:value by default. I believe, this could be the cause of the issue: integer vs string. I have already tried a lot of scenarios, but with no luck.

 - json_query('[?bind_vlan_id == `' + item_0.add_vlan_id + '`]')
 - json_query('[?bind_vlan_id == `' + item_0.add_vlan_id | string + '`]')
 - json_query('[?bind_vlan_id == item_0.add_vlan_id]')
 - json_query('[?bind_vlan_id == item_0.add_vlan_id | string]')
 - json_query('[?bind_vlan_id == `item_0.add_vlan_id`]')
 - json_query('[?bind_vlan_id == ''item_0.add_vlan_id'']')

Could anyone please point me to the right direction, how json_query should work in case of integer value as the condition? Thank You very much in advance!

Answer 1

Given simplified data for testing

    nsadc:
      - id: "1042"
        ipaddress: "10.162.5.120"
      - id: "1050"
        ipaddress: "10.162.5.250"

---

Q: "Loop to get the record for a specific ID."

A: Put the query into a variable. This will simplify the quoting and escaping. For example

- debug:
    msg: "{{ nsadc|json_query(query) }}"
  loop: ["1042", "1050", "9999"]
  vars:
    query: "[?id == '{{ item }}']"

gives

ok: [localhost] => (item=1042) => {
    "msg": [
        {
            "id": "1042",
            "ipaddress": "10.162.5.120"
        }
    ]
}
ok: [localhost] => (item=1050) => {
    "msg": [
        {
            "id": "1050",
            "ipaddress": "10.162.5.250"
        }
    ]
}
ok: [localhost] => (item=9999) => {
    "msg": []
}

---

• The attribute id is not an integer

- debug:
    msg: "{{ nsadc.0.id|type_debug }}"

gives

    "msg": "AnsibleUnicode"

An integer is declared without quotes. For example

        id: 1042

would give

    "msg": "int"

---

Q: "Jinja template error"

{% set query = '[?id == '{{ item_0.id }}']' %}

A: If you insist on creating the query in Jinja then the string must be concatenated. For example

    - debug:
        msg: >-
          {% set query = "[?id == '" ~ item_0.id ~ "']" %}
          {{ nsadc|json_query(query) }}
      vars:
        item_0:
          id: "1042"

gives

    "msg": " [{'id': '1042', 'ipaddress': '10.162.5.120'}]"