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description ms.date ms.topic title
JSON schema reference for the 'whatIf' property in a DSC Resource manifest
01/17/2024
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DSC Resource manifest whatIf property schema reference

DSC Resource manifest whatIf property schema reference

Synopsis

Defines how to indicate whether and how the set command will modify an instance.

Metadata

SchemaDialect: https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema
SchemaID:      https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PowerShell/DSC/main/schemas/2024/04/resource/manifest.whatIf.json
Type:          object

Description

When enforcing a configuration document with the dsc config set command, users can specify the --what-if option to see whether and how resources will change system state without actually doing so. This property defines how DSC can invoke the resource to return that information directly.

When this property isn't defined, DSC synthesizes this behavior by converting the result of a test operation against the resource into a set result. The synthetic result can only indicate how the operation will change the resource properties. It can't indicate whether the set operation will fail due to invalid parameters or which read-only properties the resource will return from the operation. The following list describes a few cases where a synthetic what-if result won't return sufficient information to the user:

  • A resource requiring a credential parameter might successfully test the instance but not have permissions to modify it. In this case, the user might run dsc config set --what-if and see an apparently successful prediction for the resource. Then, when they run the command without the --what-if option, the resource raises an error that the user has to investigate. If any other resources applied successfully before the instance that failed, the system might be left in a partially-configured state.
  • A resource with a dependency service won't be able to report whether that service needs to be restarted from a synthetic result. After reviewing the impact of the configuration based on the what-if result, a user might then inadvertently restart a service or leave the configuration in a partially-configured state until that service is rebooted.

If your resource uses parameters or returns read-only properties from a set operation, define this method to ensure your users get the best information about whether and how the resource will modify system state in what-if mode.

DSC sends data to the command in three ways:

  1. When input is stdin, DSC sends the data as a string representing the data as a compressed JSON object without spaces or newlines between the object properties.
  2. When input is env, DSC sends the data as environment variables. It creates an environment variable for each property in the input data object, using the name and value of the property.
  3. When the args array includes a JSON input argument definition, DSC sends the data as a string representing the data as a compressed JSON object to the specified argument.

If you don't define the input property and don't define a JSON input argument, DSC can't pass the input JSON to the resource. You can only define one JSON input argument for a command.

You must define the input property, one JSON input argument in the args property array, or both.

Examples

Example 1 - Full definition

"set": {
  "executable": "my_app",
  "args": [
    "config",
    "set",
    "--what-if"
  ],
  "input":            "stdin",
  "return":           "state"
}

It defines executable as my_app, rather than my_app.exe. The extension isn't required when the operating system recognizes the command as an executable.

The manifest defines three arguments, config, set, and --what-if. The value of the input property indicates that the whatIf command expects its input as a JSON blob from stdin.

Combined with the value for executable, DSC calls the what-if method for this resource by running:

{ ... } | my_app config set --what-if

The manifest defines return as state, indicating that it only returns the expected final state of the resource after the set method runs. DSC compares the desired state to the return data of this resource to identify which of the resource's properties the set method will enforce, if any.

Required Properties

The whatIf definition must include these properties:

Properties

executable

The executable property defines the name of the command to run. The value must be the name of a command discoverable in the system's PATH environment variable or the full path to the command. A file extension is only required when the command isn't recognizable by the operating system as an executable.

Type:     string
Required: true

args

The args property defines the list of arguments to pass to the command. The arguments can be any number of strings. If you want to pass the JSON object representing the property bag for the resource to an argument, you can define a single item in the array as a JSON object, indicating the name of the argument with the jsonInputArg string property and whether the argument is mandatory for the command with the mandatory boolean property.

Type:     array
Required: false
Default:  []
Type:     [string, object(JSON Input Argument)]

String arguments

Any item in the argument array can be a string representing a static argument to pass to the command, like config or --format.

Type: string

JSON input argument

Defines an argument for the command that accepts the JSON input object as a string. DSC passes the JSON input to the named argument when available. A JSON input argument is defined as a JSON object with the following properties:

  • jsonInputArg (required) - the argument to pass the JSON data to for the command, like --input.
  • mandatory (optional) - Indicate whether DSC should always pass the argument to the command, even when there's no JSON input for the command. In that case, DSC passes an empty string to the JSON input argument.

You can only define one JSON input argument per arguments array.

If you define a JSON input argument and an input kind for a command, DSC sends the JSON data both ways:

  • If you define input as env and a JSON input argument, DSC sets an environment variable for each property in the JSON input and passes the JSON input object as a string to the defined argument.
  • If you define input as stdin and a JSON input argument, DSC passes the JSON input over stdin and as a string to the defined argument.
  • If you define a JSON input argument without defining the input property, DSC only passes the JSON input as a string to the defined argument.

If you don't define the input property and don't define a JSON input argument, DSC can't pass the input JSON to the resource. This makes the manifest invalid. You must define the input property, a JSON input argument in the args property array, or both.

Type:                object
RequiredProperties: [jsonInputArg]

input

The input property defines how to pass input to the resource. If this property isn't defined and the definition doesn't define a JSON input argument, DSC doesn't send any input to the resource when invoking the whatIf operation.

The value of this property must be one of the following strings:

  • env - Indicates that the resource expects the properties of an instance to be specified as environment variables with the same names and casing.

    This option only supports the following data types for instance properties:

    • boolean
    • integer
    • number
    • string
    • array of integer values
    • array of number values
    • array of string values

    For non-array values, DSC sets the environment variable to the specified value as-is. When the data type is an array of values, DSC sets the environment variable as a comma-delimited string. For example, the property foo with a value of [1, 2, 3] is saved in the foo environment variable as "1,2,3".

    If the resource needs to support complex properties with an object value or multi-type arrays, set this to stdin instead.

  • stdin - Indicates that the resource expects a JSON blob representing an instance from stdin. The JSON must adhere to the instance schema for the resource.

Type:        string
Required:    false
ValidValues: [env, stdin]

implementsPretest

The implementsPretest property defines whether the resource tests whether the instance is in the desired state internally before enforcing the desired state. Set this property to true when the resource tests the instance as part of the set operation. Set this property to false when it doesn't. In most cases, this value should be set the same as the implementsPretest property in the definition for the set method in the resource manifest.

When this value is false, it indicates that users should always call dsc resource test against the instance before invoking the dsc resource set command against the resource.

The default value is false.

Type:     boolean
Required: false
Default:  false

handlesExist

The handlesExist property defines whether the resource has built-in handling for the _exist property in the set operation. The default value is false. In most cases, this value should be set the same as the implementsPretest property in the definition for the set method in the resource manifest.

Set this property to true when the resource meets the following implementation requirements:

  • The resource's instance schema defines the _exist property as a valid instance property.
  • The resource's set command handles creating, updating, and deleting an instance based on the current state of the instance and the value of the _exist property in the desired state.

When this property is set to true, the resource indicates that it has the SetHandlesExist capability. When processing resources with the SetHandlesExist capability in a configuration, DSC calls the set operation for the resource when an instance defines _exist as false. Without this capability, a resource must define the delete operation to support removing instances of the resource.

If a resource manifest doesn't define this property as true and doesn't define the delete operation, DSC raises an error when it encounters an instance of the resource with _exist set to false.

return

The return property defines how DSC should process the output for this method. The value of this property must be one of the following strings:

  • state - Indicates that the resource returns only the instance's expected final state after the set operation as a JSON blob.
  • stateAndDiff - Indicates that the resource returns the instance's expected final state and an array of property names that the resource modified.

The default value is state.

Type:        string
Required:    false
Default:     state
ValidValues: [state, stateAndDiff]