Problem with Ansible Form when reading JSON file in the form

[jtordesillasmt]

Hello everyone, I am trying to load a dropdown list in an Ansible form using data from a JSON file, but it keeps loading and doesn’t work. I would appreciate any help.

I have this JSON file:

[
  { "id": 1, "name": "Ana", "department": "Sales" },
  { "id": 2, "name": "Luis", "department": "Marketing" },
  { "id": 3, "name": "María", "department": "Sales" }
]

And this form:

name: Read JSON
type: ansible
playbook: leer.yaml
roles:
  - admin
categories:
  - Fedora
tileClass: has-background-info-light
icon: spider
fields:
  - type: enum
    name: empleados
    label: Employee List
    expression: fn.fnReadJsonFile('empleados.json','.[].name')
    runLocal: true
source: Fedora.yaml

The Ansible playbook looks like this:

---
- name: Process form data
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: no

  tasks:
    - name: Show selected employee
      debug:
        msg: "Selected employee: {{ empleados }}"

The problem is that the form keeps loading with this error in the logs:

Form warnings
'empleados' has query errors
ReferenceError: fn is not defined

I’ve already checked that the JSON file path is correct, but I don’t understand what’s causing this error.

Additionally, I tried testing the Pet Store API using fn.fnRestBasic, but it doesn’t work either. I’d like to understand how to use it properly.

Has anyone managed to make something like this work? Thanks in advance!

[ansibleguy76]

remove runLocal.
and your jq is wrong too.
wrap it in additional square brackets

[jtordesillasmt]

Thank you for your reply. I’ve tried making the changes you suggested, but I’m still having issues.

• If I remove runLocal: true, the form can’t find the empleados.json file and keeps showing an error saying it can't access it. It seems that without running locally, it can't access the file in the configured location.

• Regarding the expression, when I change it to expression: fn.fnReadJsonFile('empleados.json', '.[] | .name'), it now shows "No data" in the dropdown, indicating that it either can’t find the file or can’t read the data properly. The path to the JSON file is correct, though.

Do you have any ideas on how to fix this? Maybe there’s something else I need to configure for it to work properly.

[ansibleguy76]

do you run this in a container?

do you have a persistent folder mapped to you container?

if you used docker compose the path to your persistent folder is likely : /app/dist/persistent. this will be your mapped data folder.

you can try fn.fnSsh('')

with ls and pwd you will dind the correct path to your file

[ansibleguy76]

api calls and reading files are backend actions. not frontend

[jtordesillasmt]

yes please, i mounted it on the fedora machine in docker but i didn't map a data folder to /app/dist/persistent or so i think. i didn't do any of that. i just installed it.

[ansibleguy76]

you "just installed this". can you explain? you generally don't install ansible forms. you deploy it as a container or you compile and run it with nodejs.

can you use expression fn.fnSsh('ls /app/dist/persistent/') as a field?

what is the result?

[jtordesillasmt]

It shows something like this, but I’m not sure where to execute it. If I run it in the form, I would have to include a playbook, which will result in an error.
[root@node ansibleforms-docker]# fn.fnSsh('ls /app/dist/persistent/')
bash: error sintáctico cerca del elemento inesperado `'ls /app/dist/persistent/''

I didn't have the /app/dist/persistent/ folders, but I created them and added the files, and it still can't find the file.

I went into the folder /home/ansibleforms/ansibleforms-docker/k8s/server-deployment.yaml and saw the following lines:

volumeMounts: 
  - mountPath: /app/dist/persistent
    name: server-persistent-storage

I followed the Ansible installation in Docker/Docker Compose in Fedora, exactly as it is, the only thing I changed was the password to access the Ansible form.
https://ansibleforms.com/installation/

[ansibleguy76]

ok... here we go

In my docker compose, I map a local folder to the persistent directory of the container.
This way, playbooks, forms, database => all consistent in case the container is recreated.

In my local data folder (mounted to the container):

When I go into my container, I find the exact same files:

Of which my json file

Now let's use the file, consider this field in the form

fields:
  - name: test
    type: enum
    expression: fn.fnReadJsonFile('/app/dist/persistent/files/sample.json')

Let's filter it with jq (although, you can just use the property columns

fields:
  - name: test
    type: enum
    expression: fn.fnReadJsonFile('/app/dist/persistent/files/sample.json','[.[]|.name]')

[jtordesillasmt]

Thank you so much for your help! I realized I didn’t have the JSON file inside the container. I’m still getting the hang of Ansible Form, so I really appreciate your time and guidance. Apologies for any inconvenience caused!