Microsoft.Automation/automationAccounts/variables properties.value does not accept strings correctly

[KenBenjamin]

When deploying via ARM/Bicep templates, the Microsoft.Automation/automationAccounts/variables API (all versions as of this date) don't properly handle the properties.value, which is listed in the API docs as a type string.

For example, with this template:

{
    "$schema": "http://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
    "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
    "resources": [
        {
            "type": "Microsoft.Automation/automationAccounts/variables",
            "name": "Start-Stop-VMs-Test/myVariableName",
            "apiVersion": "2015-10-31",
            "location": "westeurope",
            "properties": {
                "description": "myVariableDesc",
                "value": "myVariableValue"
            }
        }
    ]
}

You get this error:
{"code":"DeploymentFailed","message":"At least one resource deployment operation failed. Please list deployment operations for details. Please see https://aka.ms/DeployOperations for usage details.","details":[{"code":"BadRequest","message":"{\"Message\":\"The request is invalid.\",\"ModelState\":{\"variable.properties.value\":[\"Invalid JSON primitive: myVariableValue.\"]}}"}]}

The issue seems to be that it's stripping the quotes off of the input JSON and exposing the raw string.

A temporary workaround is to wrap the string in extra quotes. These 3 approaches work:

• "\"myVariableValue\""
• "'myVariableValue'"
• concat('"', myVariable, '"')

Credit to this StackOverflow post.

Thanks for the feedback! We are routing this to the appropriate team for follow-up. cc @jaspkaur28.

Issue Details

---

When deploying via ARM/Bicep templates, the Microsoft.Automation/automationAccounts/variables API (all versions as of this date) don't properly handle the properties.value, which is listed in the API docs as a type string.

For example, with this template:

{
    "$schema": "http://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
    "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
    "resources": [
        {
            "type": "Microsoft.Automation/automationAccounts/variables",
            "name": "Start-Stop-VMs-Test/myVariableName",
            "apiVersion": "2015-10-31",
            "location": "westeurope",
            "properties": {
                "description": "myVariableDesc",
                "value": "myVariableValue"
            }
        }
    ]
}

You get this error:
{"code":"DeploymentFailed","message":"At least one resource deployment operation failed. Please list deployment operations for details. Please see https://aka.ms/DeployOperations for usage details.","details":[{"code":"BadRequest","message":"{\"Message\":\"The request is invalid.\",\"ModelState\":{\"variable.properties.value\":[\"Invalid JSON primitive: myVariableValue.\"]}}"}]}

The issue seems to be that it's stripping the quotes off of the input JSON and exposing the raw string.

A temporary workaround is to wrap the string in extra quotes. These 3 approaches work:

• "\"myVariableValue\""
• "'myVariableValue'"
• concat('"', myVariable, '"')

Credit to this StackOverflow post.

Author:	KenBenjamin
Assignees:	ruowan
Labels:	Automation, Service Attention, needs-triage, question
Milestone:	-

[jaspkaur28]

Thanks for the feedback. We will take this up as an improvement area for the API spec , however , deferring it to Q3 CY21 due to other over-arching priorities in the service.

[justinkhart]

Just ran into this issue also but with Bicep. This work around works for me.

resource automationVariable 'Microsoft.Automation/automationAccounts/variables@2020-01-13-preview' = {
  parent: automationAccount
  name: 'myVarName'
  properties: {
    value: '"${myVarNameValue}"' // Have surrounded with double quotes to work around issue
    description: 'myVarDescription'
    isEncrypted: false
  }
}

[KenBenjamin]

Just ran into this issue also but with Bicep. This work around works for me.

Bicep transpiles to ARM so that's expected. I use Bicep and do the same as you suggest.

[paullizer]

I appreciate sharing this! I modified your concat suggestion to work with parameters or variables. I needed to use
single quote, backslash, double quote, single quote = '"' with the parameter, variable, or [reference().attribute] to get it to work.

"value": "[concat('"',parameter('stringParameter'),'"')]"
"value": "[concat('"',variables('stringVar'),'"')]"

[nguyenanhducs]

The provided workaround does not work for me. I have to modify a little bit

"value": "[concat('\"', variables('myVariable'), '\"')]"
"value": "[concat('\"', subscription().subscriptionId, '\"')]"

[jkrntx]

@jaspkaur28 Can you provide an update on the priority of this item? Thanks!

[bsonnek]

These are working Reference functions for Automation Account Variable "Value" Properties.

Log Analytics Workspace ID:
"value": "[concat('"', reference(concat('Microsoft.OperationalInsights/workspaces/', parameters('LawWorkspaceName')), '2020-08-01').customerId, '"')]"

Log Analytics Workspace KEY:
"value": "[concat('"', listKeys(concat('Microsoft.OperationalInsights/workspaces/', parameters('LawWorkspaceName')), '2020-08-01').primarySharedKey, '"')]"

Logic App HTTP URL:
"value": "[concat('"', listCallbackUrl(resourceId('Microsoft.Logic/workflows/triggers', parameters('LogicAppLowStorage'), 'manual'), '2016-06-01').value, '"')]"