Implement resource update

12min
|
Terraform

In this tutorial, you will add update capabilities to the order resource of a provider that interacts with the API of a fictional coffee-shop application called Hashicups. To do this, you will:

Verify your schema and model.
Verify the last_updated attribute is in the order resource schema and model. The provider will update this attribute to the current date time whenever the order resource is updated.
Implement resource update.
This update method uses the HashiCups client library to invoke a PUT request to the /orders/{orderId} endpoint with the updated order items in the request body. After the update is successful, it updates the resource's state.
Enhance plan output with plan modifier.
This clarifies the plan output of the id attribute to remove its difference by keeping the existing state value on updates.
Verify update functionality.
This ensures the resource is working as expected.

Prerequisites

To follow this tutorial, you need:

Go 1.21+ installed and configured.
Terraform v1.8+ installed locally.
Docker and Docker Compose to run an instance of HashiCups locally.

Navigate to your terraform-provider-hashicups directory.

Your code should match the 05-create-read-order directory from the example repository.

If you haven't already done so, clone the Terraform HashiCups Provider repository.

$ git clone https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform-provider-hashicups

Change into the 05-create-read-order directory of cloned repository.

$ cd terraform-provider-hashicups/05-create-read-order

Then, install all the provider's dependencies.

$ go mod tidy

Build the provider

Terraform installs providers and verifies their versions and checksums when you run terraform init. Terraform will download your providers from either the provider registry or a local registry. However, while building your provider you will want to test Terraform configuration against a local development build of the provider. The development build will not have an associated version number or an official set of checksums listed in a provider registry.

Terraform allows you to use local provider builds by setting a dev_overrides block in a configuration file called .terraformrc. This block overrides all other configured installation methods.

Terraform searches for the .terraformrc file in your home directory and applies any configuration settings you set.

First, find the GOBIN path where Go installs your binaries. Your path may vary depending on how your Go environment variables are configured.

$ go env GOBIN
/Users/<Username>/go/bin

If the GOBIN go environment variable is not set, use the default path, /Users/<Username>/go/bin.

Create a new file called .terraformrc in the root directory (~), then add the dev_overrides block below. Change the <PATH> to the value returned from the echo $GOBIN command above.

~/.terraformrc

provider_installation {

  dev_overrides {
    "hashicorp.com/edu/hashicups" = "<PATH>"
  }

  # For all other providers, install them directly from their origin provider
  # registries as normal. If you omit this, Terraform will _only_ use
  # the dev_overrides block, and so no other providers will be available.
  direct {}
}

You must create your CLI configuration file in your user %APPDATA% root directory. The physical location of this directory depends on your Windows version and system configuration.

Search for the user environment variables in PowerShell to find its location on your system.

$ $env:APPDATA

In another terminal, change into the directory returned from the command above.

Find the GOBIN path where go installs your binaries. Your path may vary depending on how your Go environment variables are configured.

$ go env GOBIN
/Users/<Username>/go/bin

If the GOBIN go environment variable is not set, use the default path, /Users/<Username>/go/bin.

Create a new file called terraform.rc and add the dev_overrides block below. Change the <PATH> to the value returned from the go env GOBIN command above.

terraform.rc

provider_installation {

  dev_overrides {
    "hashicorp.com/edu/hashicups" = "<PATH>"
  }

  # For all other providers, install them directly from their origin provider
  # registries as normal. If you omit this, Terraform will _only_ use
  # the dev_overrides block, and so no other providers will be available.
  direct {}
}

Start HashiCups locally

Your HashiCups provider requires a running instance of HashiCups. Navigate to the docker_compose directory.

$ cd docker_compose

Run docker-compose up to spin up a local instance of HashiCups on port 19090.

$ docker-compose up

Leave this process running in your terminal window. The HashiCups service will print out log messages in this terminal.

In the original terminal window, verify that HashiCups is running by sending a request to its health check endpoint. The HashiCups service will respond with ok.

$ curl localhost:19090/health
ok

Create a HashiCups user

HashiCups requires a username and password to generate a JSON web token (JWT) which is used to authenticate against protected endpoints. You will use this user to authenticate to the HashiCups provider to manage your orders.

Create a user on HashiCups named education with the password test123.

$ curl -X POST localhost:19090/signup -d '{"username":"education", "password":"test123"}'
{"UserID":1,"Username":"education","token":"eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJleHAiOjE1OTEwNzgwODUsInVzZXJfaWQiOjIsInVzZXJuYW1lIjoiZWR1Y2F0aW9uIn0.CguceCNILKdjOQ7Gx0u4UAMlOTaH3Dw-fsll2iXDrYU"}

Set the HASHICUPS_TOKEN environment variable to the token you retrieved from invoking the /signup endpoint. You will use this later in the tutorial to verify that Terraform has created your HashiCups order.

$ export HASHICUPS_TOKEN=ey...

The terminal containing your HashiCups logs will record the sign up operation.

api_1  | 2020-12-10T09:19:50.601Z [INFO]  Handle User | signup

Now that the HashiCups app is running, you are ready to start working on the Terraform provider.

Apply example configuration

Navigate to the examples/order directory. This contains a sample Terraform configuration for the Terraform HashiCups provider.

$ cd examples/order

Apply the configuration. This creates an order and returns its values in your output.

$ terraform apply -auto-approve
Apply complete! Resources: 1 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.

Navigate to your terraform-provider-hashicups directory.

$ cd ../..

If you're stuck at any point during this tutorial, refer to the update-order branch to see the changes implemented in this tutorial.

Verify schema and model

Verify your Schema method includes an attribute named last_updated.

internal/provider/order_resource.go

func (r *orderResource) Schema(_ context.Context, _ resource.SchemaRequest, resp *resource.SchemaResponse) {
    resp.Schema = schema.Schema{
        Attributes: map[string]schema.Attribute{
            "id": schema.StringAttribute{
                Computed: true,
            },
            "last_updated": schema.StringAttribute{
                Computed: true,
            },
            "items": schema.ListNestedAttribute{
                // ...

Verify that your orderResourceModel type includes a field to handle the last_updated attribute.

internal/provider/order_resource.go

type orderResourceModel struct {
    ID          types.String     `tfsdk:"id"`
    Items       []orderItemModel `tfsdk:"items"`
    LastUpdated types.String     `tfsdk:"last_updated"`
}

Implement update functionality

The provider uses the Update method to update an existing resource based on the schema data.

The update method follows these steps:

Retrieves values from the plan. The method will attempt to retrieve values from the plan and convert it to an orderResourceModel. The model includes the order's id attribute, which specifies which order to update.
Generates an API request body from the plan values. The method loops through each plan item and maps it to a hashicups.OrderItem. This is what the API client needs to update an existing order.
Updates the order. The method invokes the API client's UpdateOrder method with the order's ID and OrderItems.
Maps the response body to resource schema attributes. After the method updates the order, it maps the hashicups.Order response to []OrderItem so the provider can update the Terraform state.
Sets the LastUpdated attribute. The method sets the Order's LastUpdated attribute to the current system time.
Sets Terraform's state with the updated order.

Open the internal/provider/order_resource.go file.

Replace your Order resource's Update method in order_resource.go with the following.

internal/provider/order_resource.go

func (r *orderResource) Update(ctx context.Context, req resource.UpdateRequest, resp *resource.UpdateResponse) {
    // Retrieve values from plan
    var plan orderResourceModel
    diags := req.Plan.Get(ctx, &plan)
    resp.Diagnostics.Append(diags...)
    if resp.Diagnostics.HasError() {
        return
    }

    // Generate API request body from plan
    var hashicupsItems []hashicups.OrderItem
    for _, item := range plan.Items {
        hashicupsItems = append(hashicupsItems, hashicups.OrderItem{
            Coffee: hashicups.Coffee{
                ID: int(item.Coffee.ID.ValueInt64()),
            },
            Quantity: int(item.Quantity.ValueInt64()),
        })
    }

    // Update existing order
    _, err := r.client.UpdateOrder(plan.ID.ValueString(), hashicupsItems)
    if err != nil {
        resp.Diagnostics.AddError(
            "Error Updating HashiCups Order",
            "Could not update order, unexpected error: "+err.Error(),
        )
        return
    }

    // Fetch updated items from GetOrder as UpdateOrder items are not
    // populated.
    order, err := r.client.GetOrder(plan.ID.ValueString())
    if err != nil {
        resp.Diagnostics.AddError(
            "Error Reading HashiCups Order",
            "Could not read HashiCups order ID "+plan.ID.ValueString()+": "+err.Error(),
        )
        return
    }

    // Update resource state with updated items and timestamp
    plan.Items = []orderItemModel{}
    for _, item := range order.Items {
        plan.Items = append(plan.Items, orderItemModel{
            Coffee: orderItemCoffeeModel{
                ID:          types.Int64Value(int64(item.Coffee.ID)),
                Name:        types.StringValue(item.Coffee.Name),
                Teaser:      types.StringValue(item.Coffee.Teaser),
                Description: types.StringValue(item.Coffee.Description),
                Price:       types.Float64Value(item.Coffee.Price),
                Image:       types.StringValue(item.Coffee.Image),
            },
            Quantity: types.Int64Value(int64(item.Quantity)),
        })
    }
    plan.LastUpdated = types.StringValue(time.Now().Format(time.RFC850))

    diags = resp.State.Set(ctx, plan)
    resp.Diagnostics.Append(diags...)
    if resp.Diagnostics.HasError() {
        return
    }
}

Build and install the updated provider.

$ go install .

Verify update functionality

Navigate to the examples/order directory. This contains a sample Terraform configuration for the Terraform HashiCups provider.

$ cd examples/order

Replace your hashicups_order.edu resource in examples/order/main.tf. This configuration changes the drinks and quantities in the order.

examples/order/main.tf

resource "hashicups_order" "edu" {
  items = [{
    coffee = {
      id = 3
    }
    quantity = 2
    },
    {
      coffee = {
        id = 2
      }
      quantity = 3
  }]
}

Plan the configuration.

$ terraform plan
hashicups_order.edu: Refreshing state... [id=1]

Terraform used the selected providers to generate the following execution plan. Resource actions are indicated with the following symbols:
  ~ update in-place

Terraform will perform the following actions:

  # hashicups_order.edu will be updated in-place
  ~ resource "hashicups_order" "edu" {
      ~ id           = "1" -> (known after apply)
      ~ items        = [
          ~ {
              ~ coffee   = {
                  + description = (known after apply)
                    id          = 3
                  ~ image       = "/vault.png" -> (known after apply)
                  ~ name        = "Vaulatte" -> (known after apply)
                  ~ price       = 200 -> (known after apply)
                  ~ teaser      = "Nothing gives you a safe and secure feeling like a Vaulatte" -> (known after apply)
                }
                # (1 unchanged attribute hidden)
            },
          ~ {
              ~ coffee   = {
                  + description = (known after apply)
                  ~ id          = 1 -> 2
                  ~ image       = "/hashicorp.png" -> (known after apply)
                  ~ name        = "HCP Aeropress" -> (known after apply)
                  ~ price       = 200 -> (known after apply)
                  ~ teaser      = "Automation in a cup" -> (known after apply)
                }
              ~ quantity = 2 -> 3
            },
        ]
      ~ last_updated = "Thursday, 09-Feb-23 11:32:05 EST" -> (known after apply)
    }

Plan: 0 to add, 1 to change, 0 to destroy.

Note that the id attribute is showing a plan difference where the value is going from the known value to an unknown value ((known after apply)).

      ~ id           = "1" -> (known after apply)

During updates, this attribute value is not expected to change. To prevent practitioner confusion, in the next section you will update the id attribute's definition to keep the existing state value on update.

Enhance plan output

Terraform Plugin Framework attributes which are not configurable and that should not show updates from the existing state value should implement the UseStateForUnknown() plan modifier.

Open the internal/provider/order_resource.go file.

Replace the id attribute definition in the Schema method with the following.

internal/provider/order_resource.go

// Schema defines the schema for the resource.
func (r *orderResource) Schema(_ context.Context, _ resource.SchemaRequest, resp *resource.SchemaResponse) {
    resp.Schema = schema.Schema{
        Attributes: map[string]schema.Attribute{
            "id": schema.StringAttribute{
                Computed: true,
                PlanModifiers: []planmodifier.String{
                    stringplanmodifier.UseStateForUnknown(),
                },
            },

Replace the import statement with the following.

internal/provider/order_resource.go

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"
    "strconv"
    "time"

    "github.com/hashicorp-demoapp/hashicups-client-go"
    "github.com/hashicorp/terraform-plugin-framework/resource"
    "github.com/hashicorp/terraform-plugin-framework/resource/schema"
    "github.com/hashicorp/terraform-plugin-framework/resource/schema/planmodifier"
    "github.com/hashicorp/terraform-plugin-framework/resource/schema/stringplanmodifier"
    "github.com/hashicorp/terraform-plugin-framework/types"
)

In your terminal, navigate to the terraform-provider-hashicups directory.

cd ../..

Build and install the updated provider.

go install .

Verify update functionality

Navigate back to the examples/order directory.

cd examples/order

Run a Terraform apply to update your order. The plan will not mark the id attribute as (known after apply) any longer. Your provider will update your order and set a new value for the last_updated attribute.

$ terraform apply -auto-approve
##...

Apply complete! Resources: 0 added, 1 changed, 0 destroyed.

Outputs:

edu_order = {
  "id" = "1"
  "items" = tolist([
    {
      "coffee" = {
        "description" = ""
        "id" = 3
        "image" = "/vault.png"
        "name" = "Vaulatte"
        "price" = 200
        "teaser" = "Nothing gives you a safe and secure feeling like a Vaulatte"
      }
      "quantity" = 2
    },
    {
      "coffee" = {
        "description" = ""
        "id" = 2
        "image" = "/packer.png"
        "name" = "Packer Spiced Latte"
        "price" = 350
        "teaser" = "Packed with goodness to spice up your images"
      }
      "quantity" = 3
    },
  ])
  "last_updated" = "Thursday, 09-Feb-23 11:39:35 EST"
}

Verify that the provider updated your order by invoking the HashiCups API.

$ curl -X GET -H "Authorization: ${HASHICUPS_TOKEN}" localhost:19090/orders/1
{"id":1,"items":[{"coffee":{"id":3,"name":"Vaulatte","teaser":"Nothing gives you a safe and secure feeling like a Vaulatte","collection":"Foundations","origin":"Spring 2015","color":"#FFD814","description":"","price":200,"image":"/vault.png","ingredients":[{"ingredient_id":1},{"ingredient_id":2}]},"quantity":2},{"coffee":{"id":2,"name":"Packer Spiced Latte","teaser":"Packed with goodness to spice up your images","collection":"Origins","origin":"Summer 2013","color":"#1FA7EE","description":"","price":350,"image":"/packer.png","ingredients":[{"ingredient_id":1},{"ingredient_id":2},{"ingredient_id":4}]},"quantity":3}]}%

This is the same API call that your Terraform provider made to update your order's state.

Navigate back to the terraform-provider-hashicups directory.

$ cd ../..

Next steps

Congratulations! You have enhanced the order resource with update capabilities.

If you were stuck during this tutorial, checkout the 06-update-order directory in the example repository to see the code implemented in this tutorial.

To learn more about the Terraform Plugin Framework, refer to the Terraform Plugin Framework documentation.
For a full capability comparison between the SDKv2 and the Plugin Framework, refer to the Which SDK Should I Use? documentation.
The example repository contains directories corresponding to each tutorial in this collection.
Submit any Terraform Plugin Framework bug reports or feature requests to the development team in the Terraform Plugin Framework Github repository.
Submit any Terraform Plugin Framework questions in the Terraform Plugin Framework Discuss forum.

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