Variable paths for modules

[jrobins-tfa]

Hi,
I'm running into an issue including modules, and I suspect it may be a limitation of Bicep, but it seems like a very useful thing to be able to do, so I thought I'd ask about it here.

I have a Bicep file myApp.bicep, which includes modules for various resources, such as keyVault.bicep. Right now, those are all in the same directory, so this works:

module keyVault './keyVault.bicep' = {
  name: 'keyVaultAppDeploy'
  params: {
    vault_name: vault_name
  }
}

However, we want to separate out our base resource templates from composite and deployment templates, so in the future, these won't be in the same directory, or even in the same repo. I wanted to be able to pass a parameter for the template path, so that the module statement can find the modules. I was hoping to do something like this:

param templatePath string = '.'

module keyVault '${templatePath}/keyVault.bicep' = {
  name: 'keyVaultAppDeploy'
  params: {
    vault_name: vault_name
  }
}

or even

param templatePath string = '.'

var keyVaultModule = '${templatePath}/keyVault.bicep'
module keyVault keyVaultModule = {
  name: 'keyVaultAppDeploy'
  params: {
    vault_name: vault_name
  }
}

Unfortunately, this doesn't work, and the bicep compiler explodes when I try to do this. Is it possible to have anything other than a hardcoded path for a module declaration? Is there any plan to support this in the future? If not, I'm guessing I would have to copy the templates from the base template repo into a known location as part of my pipeline before executing this bicep deployment, but I'd love to hear if there are better ideas.

Thanks!

[brwilkinson]

Adding the related error: Error BCP092: String interpolation is not supported in file paths. to the discussion.

[kevball2]

An option that may work better for you will be the upcoming Module registry, #2128, This would let you call your modules from a public or private container registry.

Today I can tell you that I use hardcoded modules path with each deployment.
Repo Root
-> Templates
-> IaC
-> modules
-> main.bicep

choosing a standard location in your repos may make it easier to control the expected path till the Module registry option becomes available.

[jrobins-tfa]

That looks like it would give us exactly what we're looking for! Thank you for pointing that out.

[brwilkinson]

Hi @jrobins-tfa given the news on Bicep Modules, are you okay if we close this item as answered?

Otherwise if there are any outstanding questions please let us know?

The latest info on the Bicep registry is available from the recent community call: https://youtu.be/q2m-Kr3covc?t=949

I used the timestamp of the discussion on this topic, however if you have time I recommend watching the whole thing (if you didn't get the chance so far).

[jrobins-tfa]

@brwilkinson Yes, it looks like the upcoming changes will address our need. Thank you for the link to the call, I'll watch that to get more detail, but I feel comfortable that it will work for us.