Azurerm first experience with c# dotnet and typescript

[cveld]

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Terraform cdk seems to be a great initiative to open up even more great infrastructure as code scenarios!

One use case I am in particular exploring currently is intellisense in vscode on adding configurations.

At the very core using a terraform file, I played with declaring an azurerm resource.
e.g.

resource "azurerm_storage_account" "storageaccount" {
    name = "mystorageaccount"
    location = "westeurope"
    accountTier: "Standard",
    accountReplicationType: "LRS"
}

Installed hashicorp and Microsoft terraform extensions in vscode in order to get intellisense.
The behavior is that it is not reporting the missing required properties, and it does not show the valid values on e.g. accountTier and accountReplicationType.

So I started to explore the intellisense when using terraform cdk.
I created this ticket to get your feedback on my thinking and maybe it helps you to steer the direction of your product.

cdktf & Language Versions

nodejs:
"cdktf": "0.11.2"
"azurerm@~> 2.0.0"

dotnet:
HashiCorp.Cdktf; Version="0.11.2"
HashiCorp.Cdktf.Providers.Azurerm; Version="0.8.2"

Actual Behavior for TypeScript

• I like that missing required properties are reported design-time. It is unfortunate that the way typescript reports this is quite user-unfriendly, i.e. it shows a big ball of text explaining a type mismatch due to some missing properties.
• It is unfortunate that it does not show the valid values on e.g. accountTier and accountReplicationType. Maybe because the azurerm provider is not reporting the list of values.

Actual Behavior for c# dotnet

• missing required properties are not reported. Maybe this is something that can be added with the new .NET 7 init feature?
• it does not show the valid values on e.g. accountTier and accountReplicationType.

I will also test this out with bicep. If intellisense is great over there, maybe you can work together with the bicep team to improve the azurerm experience in the terraform space.

[jsteinich]

There are a couple related issues in the upstream jsii library pertaining to to the required properties:

• Improve the .NET runtime error message when a required property is null aws/jsii#716
• .NET Generator/Runtime: primitive types should all be nullables in props object aws/jsii#715
• Also similar issue seen in cdktf: "Terraform Apply" fail with 500 error when creating Azure ServiceBus Subscription. #1860

The valid values you mention aren't available in the provider schema that is used to generate provider bindings. They are sometimes present in the provider source code or in documentation; however, that gets pretty messy to incorporate.

As much as I would like to recommend C# (I use it myself), you'll likely find TypeScript to be a smoother experience.

[cveld]

Thanks for your helpful response! Where/how is the azurerm provider schema produced? And where/how is cdk consuming this? And off topic, how is the vscode terraform language server consuming this? Also there is no completion. In the meanwhile I tested with Bicep and it does provide completion. Maybe in future Bicep metadata can be used to populate terraform metadata. It is painful to see that the c# issues are already open for so long 😬 Op za 25 jun. 2022 04:45 schreef Jon Steinich ***@***.***>:

…

There are a couple related issues in the upstream jsii library pertaining to to the required properties: - aws/jsii#716 <aws/jsii#716> - aws/jsii#715 <aws/jsii#715> - Also similar issue seen in cdktf: #1860 <#1860> The valid values you mention aren't available in the provider schema that is used to generate provider bindings. They are sometimes present in the provider source code or in documentation; however, that gets pretty messy to incorporate. As much as I would like to recommend C# (I use it myself), you'll likely find TypeScript to be a smoother experience. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#1898 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABPIYJHQMLSI7T2VG67WR4TVQZXDZANCNFSM5ZZB762Q> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[jsteinich]

Where/how is the azurerm provider schema produced?

The schema comes from a Terraform cli command

And where/how is cdk consuming this?

The resulting schema is parsed and used to generate TypeScript code. That code is then processed by jsii to generate code for other languages.

And off topic, how is the vscode terraform language server consuming this?

I'm not sure, but am also curious. I have seen that the IntelliJ platform Terraform plugin also has more information in certain cases. One possibility is that it is actually reading the go source code of the provider.

In the meanwhile I tested with Bicep and it does provide completion. Maybe in future Bicep metadata can be used to populate terraform metadata.

That may be possible if Bicep aligns close enough with the Terraform provider.

It is painful to see that the c# issues are already open for so long

I believe c# is the least used CDK language so it does tend to get less attention. Despite some limitations, it is still very powerful to work with.