Fix native type conversion in json_template (#154)

* Fix native type conversion in json_template

Fixes #151

*  The current implementation tries to convert the value
   to int irrespective to the actual desired type of data.
*  Ansible version 2.7 onwards supports native jinja2 types
   eg: value: "{{ item.name.acl_name|float }}"
   To convert to native jinja2 type by default need to set
   `jinja2_native` config varaible in `defaults` setion within
   configuration file.
   Note: this required jinja2 version to be >= 2.10

* Fix CI failure

* Update doc

* Add example usage in doc

action_plugins/command_parser.py

@@ -381,7 +381,7 @@ def do_pattern_group(self, block):
     def _process_directive(self, task):
         for directive, args in iteritems(task):
             if directive == 'block':
-                display.deprecated('`block` is not longer supported, use `pattern_group` instead')
+                display.deprecated('`block` is not longer supported, use `pattern_group` instead', version=2.6)
                 directive = 'pattern_group'
 
             if directive not in self.VALID_DIRECTIVES:

docs/directives/parser_directives.md

@@ -241,6 +241,36 @@ The following arguments are supported for this directive:
 
 * `template`
 
+
+**Note**
+Native jinja2 datatype (eg. 'int', 'float' etc.) rendering is supported with Ansible version >= 2.7
+and jinja2 library version >= 2.10. To enable native jinja2 config add below configuration in active
+ansible configuration file.
+```
+[defaults]
+jinja2_native= True
+```
+
+Usage example:
+```yaml
+  - set_fact:
+      count: "1"
+
+  - name: print count
+    debug:
+      msg: "{{ count|int }}"
+```
+
+With jinja2_native configuration enabled the output of above example task will have
+```
+"msg": 1
+```
+
+and with jinja2_native configuration disabled (default) output of above example task will have
+```
+"msg": "1"
+```
+
 ### `set_vars`
 
 Use the `set_vars` directive to set variables to the values like key / value pairs

lib/network_engine/plugins/template/__init__.py

@@ -43,24 +43,13 @@ def template(self, data, variables, convert_bare=False):
             self._templar.set_available_variables(variables)
             try:
                 resp = self._templar.template(data, convert_bare=convert_bare)
-                resp = self._coerce_to_native(resp)
             except AnsibleUndefinedVariable:
                 resp = None
                 pass
             finally:
                 self._templar.set_available_variables(tmp_avail_vars)
             return resp
 
-    def _coerce_to_native(self, value):
-        if not isinstance(value, bool):
-            try:
-                value = int(value)
-            except Exception:
-                if value is None or len(value) == 0:
-                    return None
-                pass
-        return value
-
     def _update(self, d, u):
         for k, v in iteritems(u):
             if isinstance(v, collections.Mapping):

tests/json_template/json_template/tasks/json_lookup.yaml

@@ -8,6 +8,6 @@
       - "'GigabitEthernet0/0' in result.msg"
       - "'config' in result['msg']['GigabitEthernet0/0']"
       - "'Configured by Ansible' in result['msg']['GigabitEthernet0/0']['config']['description']"
-      - "result['msg']['GigabitEthernet0/0']['config']['mtu'] == 1500"
+      - "result['msg']['GigabitEthernet0/0']['config']['mtu'] == '1500'"
       - "'iGbE' in result['msg']['GigabitEthernet0/0']['config']['type']"
       - "'GigabitEthernet0/0' in result['msg']['GigabitEthernet0/0']['config']['name']"