harshaguptha / armlinker

Custom tool linking relative paths for ARM templates in Visual Stuido.

Overview

ARM Templates does not support local and relative paths. The only way to link to other files is to put them online.
This tool expects local and/or relative paths and merges your ARM templates into a one template.
A fuller narrative with example usage can be read on my blog here.

Install

install-module ARMLinker

PowerShell Usage

import-module ARMLinker
Convert-TemplateLinks -InputPath <path to main template> [-OutputPath <path to output file>]

If no output path is specified, the merged JSON is written to output.

Example input/output

azuredeploy.linked.json

{
    "$schema": "https//schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
    "parameters": {},
    "resources": [
        {
            "templateLink": {
                "uri": "./aresource.json"
            }
        }
    ]
}

aresource.json

{
    "type": "Microsoft.Web/connections",
    "apiVersion": "2016-06-01",
    "properties": "..."
}

Running Convert-TemplateLinks azuredeploy.linked.json azuredeploy.json will output a merged version of the two in a file called azuredeploy.json:

{
    "$schema": "https//schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
    "parameters": {},
    "resources": [
        {
            "type": "Microsoft.Web/connections",
            "apiVersion": "2016-06-01",
            "proper": "properties were probably here"
        }
    ]
}

If the JSON you want to link is at some deeper level in the linked JSON, you can specify a "jsonPath" as well:

azuredeploy.linked.json

{
    "$schema": "https//schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
    "parameters": {},
    "resources": [
        {
            "templateLink": {
                "uri": "./aresource.json",
                "jsonPath": "special.path"
            }
        }
    ]
}

aresource.json

{
    "special": {
        "path": {
            "type": "Microsoft.Web/connections",
            "apiVersion": "2016-06-01",
            "properties": "..."
        }
    }
}

Incidentally...

This works with any JSON, but the main goal is for ARM templates.
Hence following the same convension as the supported "full online URL" feature.