tower_workflow_template module fails in parser for extra vars

[kedark3]

ISSUE TYPE

• Bug Report

SUMMARY

While using extra_vars with tower_workflow_template module, it fails to parse the variables.

ENVIRONMENT

• Tower version: 3.6.2
• AWX install method: linux using bundle
• Ansible version: 2.9.1 on Tower, 2.9.2 on my local system from where I run the playbook
• Operating System: not relevant I believe
• Web Browser: N/A

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

Use tower_workflow_template ansible module to create workflow and pass it following data:

tower_workflows:
  - name: Test workflow
    description: created by Ansible Playbook
    organization: Default
    survey_enabled: false
    allow_simultaneous: no
    schema:
      - job_template: Demo Job Template
    extra_vars:
      var1: val1
      var2:
        var21: val21
        var22: val22
      var3:
        - var4
        - var5
      var6:
        - var7: val7
        - var8: val8
          var9: val9

Sample Playbook could look like:

- name: Play
  hosts: < IP/Hostname of your Tower>
  tasks:
  - name: Create ansible tower workflows
    tower_workflow_template:
      allow_simultaneous:           "{{ workflow.allow_simultaneous | default('no') }}"
      ask_extra_vars:               "{{ workflow.ask_extra_vars | default('no') }}"
      ask_inventory:                "{{ workflow.ask_inventory | default('no') }}"
      description:                  "{{ workflow.description | default('Created using Ansible Role') }}"
      extra_vars:                   "{{ workflow.extra_vars | default(omit) }}"
      inventory:                    "{{ workflow.inventory | default(omit) }}"
      name:                         "{{ workflow.name }}"
      organization:                 "{{ workflow.organization | default(omit) }}"
      schema:                       "{{ workflow.schema }}"
      state:                        "{{ workflow.state | default('present') }}"
      survey:                       "{{ workflow.survey | default(omit) }}"
      survey_enabled:               "{{ workflow.survey_enabled | default('no') }}"
      tower_host:                   "{{ tower_hostname }}"
      tower_username:               admin
      tower_password:               "{{tower_admin_password}}"
      tower_verify_ssl:             false
    loop: "{{ tower_workflows }}"
    loop_control:
      loop_var: workflow

EXPECTED RESULTS

Workflow should be created with correct extra_vars

ACTUAL RESULTS

The full traceback is:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 102, in <module>
  File "<stdin>", line 94, in _ansiballz_main
  File "<stdin>", line 40, in invoke_module
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.7/runpy.py", line 176, in run_module
    fname, loader, pkg_name)
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.7/runpy.py", line 82, in _run_module_code
    mod_name, mod_fname, mod_loader, pkg_name)
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.7/runpy.py", line 72, in _run_code
    exec code in run_globals
  File "/tmp/ansible_tower_workflow_template_payload_sphiyR/ansible_tower_workflow_template_payload.zip/ansible/modules/web_infrastructure/ansible_tower/tower_workflow_template.py", line 203, in <module>
  File "/tmp/ansible_tower_workflow_template_payload_sphiyR/ansible_tower_workflow_template_payload.zip/ansible/modules/web_infrastructure/ansible_tower/tower_workflow_template.py", line 187, in main
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/tower_cli/models/base.py", line 720, in modify
    return self.write(pk, create_on_missing=create_on_missing, force_on_exists=True, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/tower_cli/models/base.py", line 1187, in write
    kwargs['extra_vars'] = parser.process_extra_vars(kwargs['extra_vars'])
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/tower_cli/utils/parser.py", line 130, in process_extra_vars
    opt_dict = string_to_dict(extra_vars_opt, allow_kv=True)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/tower_cli/utils/parser.py", line 105, in string_to_dict
    'variables.\nvariables: \n%s' % var_string
tower_cli.exceptions.TowerCLIError: failed to parse some of the extra variables.
variables: 
{

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

[kedark3]

A possible fix that I tested and worked well for me was like this: ansible/tower-cli#748

[ryanpetrello]

@AlanCoding is this ready for needs_test or is there more work to do (I see a merged PR linked).

[AlanCoding]

no, this should be totally wrapped up.

Note for QE:

It was originally feared that this would break old use cases, where someone provides a JSON-formatted string. This is not the case, because Ansible core does generous duck typing, will recognize this case and parse it into a dict. The only case that we lose support for is where someone provides a list of dicts, which only ever worked due to a code error.

[squidboylan]

tested by #6297