Save action outputs
Another very useful feature that Blitz has, is the ability to save the output of actions or a variation of it. You can either save values to a variable name and later use that variable in other actions or save it to a file in the directory where the script was executed. There are different ways to save the output and also different ways to reuse them:
Save the entire output of an action.
Save a part of the output of an action.
Blitz provides 3 forms of filters that can be applied to an action output and extract a part of the output to be saved
Dq filter: This filter is named after our JSON querying tool Dq. It will apply a query on JSON output and save it as a part of a dictionary.
Regex filter: For actions that have string outputs you can apply a regex filter. If regex matches the output, the grouped value, that has a variable name specified like
(?P<variable_name>), will be stored.Regex findall: For actions that have string outputs you can apply a regex findall filter. It returns a list of all matches in the output, or an empty list if no match is found.
List filter: It is a specific filter that can only be applied to action outputs that are lists.
Examples of saving outputs with or without applying a filter on the action output can be found here
Re-use variables
The following example is showing how to use our specific markup language
to load a saved variable in another action. In this example we save the output
of the get_interface_mtu_size api and later use it within the command
of the action configure.
- apply_configuration:
- api:
device: PE1
function: get_interface_mtu_size
save:
- variable_name: api_output
arguments:
interface: GigabitEthernet1
- configure:
device: PE1
command: |
router bgp '%VARIABLES{api_output}'
Another example of how to use our markup language is provided below. In this example, the output of the learn
action is saved on variable main_learn_output. Also, a filter is applied on this output and is saved
in variable filtered_learn_output. We later check the inclusion of the filtered_learn_output
in action execute output and print the main_learn_output into the console.
- apply_configuration:
- learn:
device: PE1
feature: bgp
save:
- variable_name: main_learn_output
- variable_name: filtered_learn_output
filter: raw("[info][instance][default][vrf][default][cluster_id]")
- execute:
device: PE1
command: show version
include:
- "w"
- "%VARIABLES{filtered_learn_output}"
- print:
print_item1: "%VARIABLES{main_learn_output}"
Note
Both filter and include/exclude features are using our dictionary querying tool Dq.
Save variables in testscript level
Up until this point all the examples of saving variables is to save a variable to be able to re-use in other actions but in the same section of the same testcase. None of those examples shows how to save a variable and later re-use it in another action within another testcases. Examples are provided here that show you how to save variables that are re-usable every other testcases in the testscript.
In the following example a variable is saved to the variable name testscript.part within test1 and later in test 2 it is being re-used
by using "%VARIABLES{testscript.part}".
Note
It is necessary to name your variable with the prefix testscript. in order to be able to later on reuse it in other testcase.
If naming convention is not followed properly the variable cannot be re-used later on.
test1:
source:
pkg: genie.libs.sdk
class: triggers.blitz.blitz.Blitz
test_sections:
- global_save:
- parse:
device: PE1
command: show version
save:
- variable_name: testscript.part
filter: get_values("rtr_type")
test2:
source:
pkg: genie.libs.sdk
class: triggers.blitz.blitz.Blitz
test_sections:
- global_reuse:
- api:
function: get_list_items
common_api: True
arguments:
input: "%VARIABLES{testscript.part}"
save:
- variable_name: item
Save action outputs to files
Action results can be saved in both variables and files and all filters applicable to variables can also be applied when saving to files.
To save the result of an action to a file, you need to use the file_name argument. An example can be seen below:
Note
A file with the name informed in file_name will be created in the runinfo directory.
testsave:
source:
pkg: genie.libs.sdk
class: triggers.blitz.blitz.Blitz
test_sections:
- apply_configuration:
- parse:
command: show version
device: R1_xe
save:
- file_name: file.txt
filter: get_values("rtr_type")
Moreover, it is possible to save multiple results in the same file. For this to happen, you
must also use append: True. The output (or the result of a filter) will be appended to an existing file or create it if it does not yet exist.
In the example below, you can see how this can be achieved.
The parsed output of show version is saved to a variable named parse_output and also saved to a file named file.txt.
After that, the parsed output is filtered using get_values("rtr_type") and the result of this operation is appended to the same file.
testsave:
source:
pkg: genie.libs.sdk
class: triggers.blitz.blitz.Blitz
test_sections:
- apply_configuration:
- parse:
command: show version
device: R1_xe
save:
- variable_name: parse_output
file_name: file.txt
- file_name: file.txt
filter: get_values("rtr_type")
append: True
Save action outputs as dictionary
Action results can now be saved as a dictionary by using as_dict argument. In the example below, we can see that
a nested dictionary parse_output_dict is created from the saved variables "%VARIABLES{device.name}"
and "%VARIABLES{action_output}".
Note
"%VARIABLES{action_output}" saves the action output and can be used as key and value for the dictionary.
testsave:
source:
pkg: genie.libs.sdk
class: triggers.blitz.blitz.Blitz
test_sections:
- apply_configuration:
- parse:
device: R1_xe
command: show version
save:
- variable_name: parse_output_dict
as_dict:
"%VARIABLES{device.name}":
rt_2_if2: "%VARIABLES{action_output}"
To update an existing saved dictionary variable you can pass as_dict_update=True.
In the example, you can see parse_output_dict variable is updated.
testsave:
source:
pkg: genie.libs.sdk
class: triggers.blitz.blitz.Blitz
test_sections:
- apply_configuration:
- parse:
device: R1_xe
command: show version
save:
- variable_name: parse_output_dict
as_dict_update: True
as_dict:
rt_2_if2:
rt_22: "%VARIABLES{action_output}"
This feature also supports dq filter. An example is given below:
testsave:
source:
pkg: genie.libs.sdk
class: triggers.blitz.blitz.Blitz
test_sections:
- apply_configuration:
- parse:
device: R1_xe
command: show version
save:
- variable_name: filtered_output
as_dict:
rt_2_if2:
rt_22: "%VARIABLES{action_output}"
filter: contains('version_short').get_values('version_short')