support variable when sourcing payload from file

[teto]

Problem to solve

I would like to be able to use a variable in the statement referencing an external payload
file,{{TEST_DATA_FOLDER}}/v2/payload.json;

but that doesn't seem supported at the moment.

Proposal

Interpolate .env variables in the file,<path> statement

Additional context and resources

I am a user/maintainer of https://github.com/rest-nvim/rest.nvim and I would be ready to have rest.nvim format converge to hurl's format that looks easier to parse with e.g., tree-sitter. rest-nvim/rest.nvim#195 .
rest.nvim has some advantages over hurl.nvim (can run per-request, I can select their order interactively etc) but hurl is more robust. I would like to be able to use both tools on the same file (or the ability to export/import from both formats easily).

Tasks to complete

• ...

[jcamiel]

Hi @teto, at least reading our grammar it should be actually supported => https://hurl.dev/docs/grammar.html#filename 😅

Yet, we haven't implemented it. See also #464 with the same issue. We should really implement it asap!

[teto]

feel free to close as duplicate then. when you mention a grammar, there is no tree-sitter grammar implemented yet ? I ask because I've written one (incomplete) for rest.nvim but it's nice to list query, filter them etc. The way hurl is used, I dont think it's necessary but that might be a fun project if someone wanna play with tree-sitter :)

[jcamiel]

We've have to work around tooling, a tree-sitter parser is certainly on our radar! No work has started yet though.

[teto]

Is there a reason why absolute paths can't be used ?

$ hurl v2/trial.hurl --variables-file .env
error: Unauthorized file access
   --> v2/trial.hurl:8:6
    |
  8 | file,/home/teto/test/data/payloads/v2/ComputationalModel.json;
    |      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ unauthorized access to file /home/teto/test/data/payloads/v2/ComputationalModel.json, check --file-root option

It works with --file-root but still I was surprised :)

EDIT: I have other requests that contain fullpaths and hurl didn't complain then :/ the first file exists, I dont understand why it didn't work the first time

[jcamiel]

We have make this constraint for security reason. If the included file is in a children directory of the Hurl file parent folder, file inclusion should work without --file-root. If you want to include files that are in a very different directory (let's say for instance /etc/passwd) you have to explicitly use --file-root (unless there is a bug of course)

[teto]

about the treesitter grammar, there is already one actually ^^'
https://github.com/pfeiferj/tree-sitter-hurl/

[ppaulweber]

@jcamiel is there any update in using and loading a file-based content (e.g. for the request body or only a JSON value) in a hurl request specification?

[jcamiel]

Hi @ppaulweber you can use a file body now (see https://hurl.dev/docs/request.html#file-body)
For instance, you can send a JSON body with this kind of file:

POST https://example.org/api/foo
Content-Type: application/json
file,data.bin;
HTTP 201

Do you have something else in mind (or needs)?

[ppaulweber]

@jcamiel great, thx for the quick reply ... yes, my use case would be more in the sense to include a file contents as e.g. JSON string value in the form of:

POST https://example.org/api/foo
{
    "key": {{file,data.bin;}}
}
HTTP 200

The problem with using just directly variables is on the newline and escape encoding in the variable string itself. Therefore, a "include" or "file load" on specific positions in the JSON payload would be one of my current needs.

[jcamiel]

OK, that's very clear. We have already filters that allow to transform value and we have in mind kind of "generators" to create/inject data (like random data or file inclusion in JSON parts). That will address your use case, we just need to prioritize it.

[ppaulweber]

@jcamiel perfect, good to know ... let me know if I can help out with the implementation or is there already a dedicated issue or PR for this?

[jcamiel]

Thanks, first we need to state and finalize what will be the syntax (and what we can support for generators). I'll link here the PR/issues as soon as we advance.