hcl/ext/dynblock

HCL Dynamic Blocks Extension

This HCL extension implements a special block type named "dynamic" that can be used to dynamically generate blocks of other types by iterating over collection values.

Normally the block structure in an HCL configuration file is rigid, even though dynamic expressions can be used within attribute values. This is convenient for most applications since it allows the overall structure of the document to be decoded easily, but in some applications it is desirable to allow dynamic block generation within certain portions of the configuration.

Dynamic block generation is performed using the dynamic block type:

toplevel {
  nested {
    foo = "static block 1"
  }

  dynamic "nested" {
    for_each = ["a", "b", "c"]
    iterator = nested
    content {
      foo = "dynamic block ${nested.value}"
    }
  }

  nested {
    foo = "static block 2"
  }
}

The above is interpreted as if it were written as follows:

toplevel {
  nested {
    foo = "static block 1"
  }

  nested {
    foo = "dynamic block a"
  }

  nested {
    foo = "dynamic block b"
  }

  nested {
    foo = "dynamic block c"
  }

  nested {
    foo = "static block 2"
  }
}

Since HCL block syntax is not normally exposed to the possibility of unknown values, this extension must make some compromises when asked to iterate over an unknown collection. If the length of the collection cannot be statically recognized (because it is an unknown value of list, map, or set type) then the dynamic construct will generate a single dynamic block whose iterator key and value are both unknown values of the dynamic pseudo-type, thus causing any attribute values derived from iteration to appear as unknown values. There is no explicit representation of the fact that the length of the collection may eventually be different than one.

Usage

Pass a body to function Expand to obtain a new body that will, on access to its content, evaluate and expand any nested dynamic blocks. Dynamic block processing is also automatically propagated into any nested blocks that are returned, allowing users to nest dynamic blocks inside one another and to nest dynamic blocks inside other static blocks.

HCL structural decoding does not normally have access to an EvalContext, so any variables and functions that should be available to the for_each and labels expressions must be passed in when calling Expand. Expressions within the content block are evaluated separately and so can be passed a separate EvalContext if desired, during normal attribute expression evaluation.

Some applications dynamically generate an EvalContext by analyzing which variables are referenced by an expression before evaluating it. This can be achieved for a block that might contain dynamic blocks by calling ForEachVariables, which returns the variables required by the for_each and labels attributes in all dynamic blocks within the given body, including any nested dynamic blocks.

Performance

This extension is going quite harshly against the grain of the HCL API, and so it uses lots of wrapping objects and temporary data structures to get its work done. HCL in general is not suitable for use in high-performance situations or situations sensitive to memory pressure, but that is especially true for this extension.