proxmox-api

Mantras

The API must work like Terraform. If a value is not set, nothing is sent to the API.

Attribute Flow

For each attribute, we must think about three flows.

1. The attribute is set to some value and sent to the API.
2. The attribute is set to a zero value and sent to the API.
3. The attribute is not set (nil) and sent to the API.

For each of these flows there is an associated read from the API. We need to have a clear understanding of what the API should return in each of these cases. The API should be designed to be consumed by Terraform.

For this example I will use the comment attribute of the Network object.

1. The comment attribute is set to "test" in the Network object and sent to the API.
2. The API will return the Network object with the comment attribute set to "test".
3. The comment attribute is not set (nil) in the Network object and sent to the API.
4. The API will return the Network object with the comment attribute set to "test".
5. The comment attribute is set to "" in the Network object and sent to the API.
6. The API will return the Network object with the comment attribute set to "".

For attributes like these, we use a pointer, so we can differentiate between the zero value and nil.

"test" --> create --> "test"
"test" <-- read <-- "test"

"" --> update --> ""
"" <-- read <-- ""

nil --> update --> ""
"" <-- read <-- ""