Bug for nested instance referencing adjacent nested instance

[michaeltlombardi]

Prerequisites

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• Make sure you are able to repro it on the latest version
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Summary

Updating the documentation for nested instances, my prior examples no longer work.

Steps to reproduce

Consider this set of minimal repro documents:

1. Working references/dependencies, top-level resources.

   repro.working.dsc.yaml document

   # repro.working.dsc.yaml
   $schema: https://aka.ms/dsc/schemas/v3/bundled/config/document.json
   resources:
   - name: Deeply nested OSInfo
     type: Microsoft/OSInfo
     properties: {}
   # The deeply nested echo references and depends on the adjacent
   # deeply nested OSInfo.
   - name: Deeply nested echo
     type: Microsoft.DSC.Debug/Echo
     properties:
       output:  >-
         [reference(
           resourceId('Microsoft/OSInfo', 'Deeply nested OSInfo')
         )]
     dependsOn:
       - "[resourceId('Microsoft/OSInfo', 'Deeply nested OSInfo')]"

   dsc config get --file ./repro.working.dsc.yaml

   Result

   metadata: Microsoft.DSC: version: 3.0.0 operation: get executionType: actual startDatetime: 2025-03-13T16:26:48.071242900-05:00 endDatetime: 2025-03-13T16:26:48.950015-05:00 duration: PT0.8787721S securityContext: restricted results: - metadata: Microsoft.DSC: duration: PT0.055847S name: Deeply nested OSInfo type: Microsoft/OSInfo result: actualState: $id: https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/dsc/os_info/20230303/Microsoft.Dsc.OS_Info.schema.json family: Windows version: 10.0.26100 edition: Windows 11 Enterprise bitness: '64' architecture: x86_64 - metadata: Microsoft.DSC: duration: PT0.0861504S name: Deeply nested echo type: Microsoft.DSC.Debug/Echo result: actualState: output: $id: https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/dsc/os_info/20230303/Microsoft.Dsc.OS_Info.schema.json family: Windows version: 10.0.26100 edition: Windows 11 Enterprise bitness: '64' architecture: x86_64 messages: [] hadErrors: false

2. Failing reference, nested in a group.

   repro.failing.dsc.yaml document

   $schema: https://aka.ms/dsc/schemas/v3/bundled/config/document.json
   resources:
   - name: Nested Group
     type: Microsoft.DSC/Group
     properties:
       $schema: https://aka.ms/dsc/schemas/v3/bundled/config/document.json
       resources:
       - name: Deeply nested OSInfo
         type: Microsoft/OSInfo
         properties: {}
       # The deeply nested echo references and depends on the adjacent
       # deeply nested OSInfo.
       - name: Deeply nested echo
         type: Microsoft.DSC.Debug/Echo
         properties:
           output:  >-
             [reference(
               resourceId('Microsoft/OSInfo', 'Deeply nested OSInfo')
             )]
         dependsOn:
           - "[resourceId('Microsoft/OSInfo', 'Deeply nested OSInfo')]"

   dsc config get --file .\repro.failing.dsc.yaml

   Result

   2025-03-13T21:31:48.344691Z ERROR Parser: Invalid resourceId or resource has not executed yet: Microsoft/OSInfo:Deeply nested OSInfo

Expected behavior

The expressions in the nested instance are deferred from the top level and processed in the Group resource instance.

Actual behavior

It looks like DSC tries to resolve the references/resources before handing off to the group:

2025-03-13T21:36:01.947305Z DEBUG dsc::subcommand: 311: No parameters specified
2025-03-13T21:36:01.948364Z  INFO dsc_lib::configure: 582: No parameters defined in configuration and no parameters input
2025-03-13T21:36:01.949028Z DEBUG dsc_lib::configure: 650: No variables defined in configuration
2025-03-13T21:36:01.949591Z DEBUG dsc_lib::configure::depends_on: 27: Getting resource invocation order
2025-03-13T21:36:01.950488Z DEBUG dsc_lib::configure::depends_on: 90: Resource invocation order: [Resource { resource_type: "Microsoft.DSC/Group", name: "Nested Group", depends_on: None, properties: Some({"$schema": String("https://aka.ms/dsc/schemas/v3/bundled/config/document.json"), "resources": Array [Object {"name": String("Deeply nested OSInfo"), "type": String("Microsoft/OSInfo"), "properties": Object {}}, Object {"name": String("Deeply nested echo"), "type": String("Microsoft.DSC.Debug/Echo"), "properties": Object {"output": String("[reference(\n  resourceId('Microsoft/OSInfo', 'Deeply nested OSInfo')\n)]")}, "dependsOn": Array [String("[resourceId('Microsoft/OSInfo', 'Deeply nested OSInfo')]")]}]}), metadata: None }]
2025-03-13T21:36:01.952158Z DEBUG dsc_lib::configure: 729: Invoke property expressions
2025-03-13T21:36:01.953485Z DEBUG dsc_lib::parser: 48: Parsing statement: https://aka.ms/dsc/schemas/v3/bundled/config/document.json
2025-03-13T21:36:01.954699Z DEBUG dsc_lib::parser: 72: Parsing string literal: https://aka.ms/dsc/schemas/v3/bundled/config/document.json
2025-03-13T21:36:01.955950Z DEBUG dsc_lib::configure: 729: Invoke property expressions
2025-03-13T21:36:01.956901Z DEBUG dsc_lib::parser: 48: Parsing statement: Deeply nested OSInfo
2025-03-13T21:36:01.958075Z DEBUG dsc_lib::parser: 72: Parsing string literal: Deeply nested OSInfo
2025-03-13T21:36:01.958952Z DEBUG dsc_lib::parser: 48: Parsing statement: Microsoft/OSInfo
2025-03-13T21:36:01.959564Z DEBUG dsc_lib::parser: 72: Parsing string literal: Microsoft/OSInfo
2025-03-13T21:36:01.960188Z DEBUG dsc_lib::configure: 729: Invoke property expressions
2025-03-13T21:36:01.960728Z DEBUG dsc_lib::configure: 729: Invoke property expressions
2025-03-13T21:36:01.961261Z DEBUG dsc_lib::parser: 48: Parsing statement: Deeply nested echo
2025-03-13T21:36:01.961772Z DEBUG dsc_lib::parser: 72: Parsing string literal: Deeply nested echo
2025-03-13T21:36:01.962270Z DEBUG dsc_lib::parser: 48: Parsing statement: Microsoft.DSC.Debug/Echo
2025-03-13T21:36:01.962775Z DEBUG dsc_lib::parser: 72: Parsing string literal: Microsoft.DSC.Debug/Echo
2025-03-13T21:36:01.963264Z DEBUG dsc_lib::configure: 729: Invoke property expressions
2025-03-13T21:36:01.963786Z DEBUG dsc_lib::parser: 48: Parsing statement: [reference(
  resourceId('Microsoft/OSInfo', 'Deeply nested OSInfo')
)]
2025-03-13T21:36:01.964348Z DEBUG dsc_lib::parser: 84: Parsing expression
2025-03-13T21:36:01.964978Z DEBUG dsc_lib::parser::expressions: 43: Parsing function '{Node function (0, 1) - (2, 1)}'    
2025-03-13T21:36:01.965516Z DEBUG dsc_lib::parser::expressions: 43: Parsing function '{Node function (1, 2) - (1, 56)}'   
2025-03-13T21:36:01.966093Z DEBUG dsc_lib::parser::functions: 57: Function name: 'resourceId'
2025-03-13T21:36:01.966630Z DEBUG dsc_lib::parser::functions: 57: Function name: 'reference'
2025-03-13T21:36:01.967136Z DEBUG dsc_lib::parser::functions: 75: Argument is an expression
2025-03-13T21:36:01.967631Z DEBUG dsc_lib::parser::functions: 80: Argument is a value: 'String("Microsoft/OSInfo")'       
2025-03-13T21:36:01.968438Z DEBUG dsc_lib::parser::functions: 80: Argument is a value: 'String("Deeply nested OSInfo")'   
2025-03-13T21:36:01.969379Z DEBUG dsc_lib::functions::reference: 28: reference function
2025-03-13T21:36:01.971009Z ERROR dsc::subcommand: 68: Parser: Invalid resourceId or resource has not executed yet: Microsoft/OSInfo:Deeply nested OSInfo

Error details

2025-03-13T21:31:48.344691Z ERROR Parser: Invalid resourceId or resource has not executed yet: Microsoft/OSInfo:Deeply nested OSInfo

Environment data

N/A

Version

3.0.0

Visuals

No response

[SteveL-MSFT]

Based on the traces, it appears the problem is that there is recursive expression invocation happening before the Group resource is even invoked. I think the problem right now is that the intent is to allow expressions in deeply nested objects, but the engine doesn't differentiate a Group type resource from an arbitrary property object. I think the fix is for it to skip parsing expressions when the resource type is a Group.