Cloudformation external parameter file do not support YAML file

[Yaowenjie]

I used aws-cli to update my stacks, and want to use an external yaml file (dev.yaml) as parameters file like below:

aws cloudformation update-stack --stack-name test --template-body file://./api-test.yaml --parameters file://./dev.yaml

In dev.yaml, it only has:

---
- ParameterKey: APICacheClusterSize
  ParameterValue: '1.6'

However, I got this Error message when I run the update command above:

Error parsing parameter '--parameters': Expected: '=', received: '-' for input:

---
- ParameterKey: APICacheClusterSize
^
  ParameterValue: '1.6'

If I use JSON file with same context as below, and use it instead of dev.yaml, it works fine:

[
  {
    "ParameterKey": "APICacheClusterSize",
    "ParameterValue": "1.6"
  }
]

So, can the external parameters file for aws cloudformation be YAML file? or will...?

[elkolo]

+1

[mlcloudsec]

+1

[corpix-net]

++

[dowdell]

+0.5

[ayatsynych]

+1

[brianconcannon]

++

[mda590]

+1!

[reidca]

Don't understand why you would have the template in YAML but then the parameters in JSON. Seems an odd omission and would I hope that AWS are working on....please?

[mbryne]

+1

[rogerlou66]

+1

[ASayre]

Good Morning!

We're closing this issue here on GitHub, as part of our migration to UserVoice for feature requests involving the AWS CLI.

This will let us get the most important features to you, by making it easier to search for and show support for the features you care the most about, without diluting the conversation with bug reports.

As a quick UserVoice primer (if not already familiar): after an idea is posted, people can vote on the ideas, and the product team will be responding directly to the most popular suggestions.

We’ve imported existing feature requests from GitHub - Search for this issue there!

And don't worry, this issue will still exist on GitHub for posterity's sake. As it’s a text-only import of the original post into UserVoice, we’ll still be keeping in mind the comments and discussion that already exist here on the GitHub issue.

GitHub will remain the channel for reporting bugs.

Once again, this issue can now be found by searching for the title on: https://aws.uservoice.com/forums/598381-aws-command-line-interface

-The AWS SDKs & Tools Team

This entry can specifically be found on UserVoice at: https://aws.uservoice.com/forums/598381-aws-command-line-interface/suggestions/33168310-cloudformation-external-parameter-file-do-not-supp

[gustavomf-cit]

+1

[jamesls]

Based on community feedback, we have decided to return feature requests to GitHub issues.

[ghost]

+1

[jmaciasluque]

+1

[suxor42]

+1

[yapale]

+100

[cslamar]

+1

[krmettu]

+1

[kharkevich]

+1

[badgerspoke]

+1 and +1000 for more consistency overall please ;)

[LordSnooz]

+1

[matthewflannery]

This issue is 2 years old ;_;

[Yaowenjie]

@matthewflannery nope, it's only 587 days actually.

[tianmarin]

+1

@Yaowenjie 587/365 = 1.608 ~ 2 years

[jcallin]

+1

[nemo83]

plus 11!1!1one!!1!11

[gustavomf-cit]

:+1:

[oshmyrko]

:heavy_plus_sign: :100:

[mtomic]

👍

[Fluro]

+1

[Yaowenjie]

there are two months left for the second-anniversary celebration of this issue, folks! 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦🎉🎉🎊🎊👨‍👨‍👧‍👦

[Fluro]

Because my team are used to YAML (all our templates are in YAML) I have some shell automation that turns a YAML file into a json file, then passes that to CF. That shows (to me at least) how wanted this feature is - having customers build their own automation around basic functionality like this isn't an answer.

Also, we should note that the whole parametersKey/ParamaterValue way of working for CloudFormation is stupid.

[Yashswarnkar]

Could we have the CloudFormation template in YAML and provide parameters file in JSON ?

[reidca]

@Yashswarnkar Yes - you can have the template in YAML and the parameters in JSON. This issue is because the parameters can only be in JSON - YAML files are not supported despite the template being in YAML.

[jwdinkel]

+1 Really would like to be able to add comments to my parameters files and run them from the CLI. Any plans yet to add .yaml support for the create-stack CLI command with --parameters to support yaml?

[qiwu7]

Any ETA for this feature?

[codycodes]

+1

[jav-12]

Almost 2 years and still no yaml for parameters... :(

[karl-barbour]

+1

[akshaykrjain]

+1

[natemacinnes-okta]

+1

[jwdinkel]

With SSM now available with secure strings and ways to decode them, I am entertaining the idea of running a script to place the variables into the AWS account, and then to reference them from the cloudformation template... Anybody have other ideas such as this?

[micklove]

As per comments above, you could use cfn-flip https://github.com/awslabs/aws-cfn-template-flip

In bash - Display parameters.yaml as a json file with <( ) operator

pip install cfn_flip

cat <(cfn-flip parameters.yaml)

Use, with <( ) in the cli command

aws cloudformation update-stack --stack-name test --template-body file://./api-test.yaml --parameters file://<(cfn-flip parameters.yaml)

[michael-crawford]

+100

This is obviously a feature in high demand - why has there been no movement on this despite what looks like hundreds of people requesting it?

[djbrightman]

+1 REAL use case, is where having to specify JSON within a parameter, in which case JSON is a nightmare with having to escape quotes...

[
    {
        "ParameterKey": "DistributionJSON",
        "ParameterValue": "{\"Account_ID_1\":\"region_1,region_2\",\"Account_ID_2\":\"region_1\"}"
    }
]

Compared to:

- ParameterKey: DistributionJSON
  ParameterValue: '{"Account_ID_1":"region_1,region_2","Account_ID_2":"region_1"}'

[deanoj]

Well? No more updates?

[the0ffh]

Well? No more updates?

Calm down, it's only January 2019

[njoannidi]

Hey, how are these guys with merging in PRs?

I'd consider writing this if I knew the team regularly merged in PRs from those outside their org.

[michael-crawford]

No idea. I figure there’s enough demand for this, they will implement it eventually.