getconfig fails if template contains a placeholder that is not enclosed in quotes

[yasufs]

• iotedgedev Version: 2.1.0
• Python Version: 3.7.4
• Pip Version: 19.2.3
• Development machine OS Version: Ubuntu 18.04
• IoT Edge device OS Version: n/a

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Author a deployment.template.json file that contains environment variable placeholders not enclosed in quotes. For example, the properties.desired section might contain something like this:
   "boolean_value": $ENV_VAR_THAT_CONTAINS_BOOLEAN,
2. Author a .env file that defines this environment variable to be a JSON boolean value:
   ENV_VAR_THAT_CONTAINS_BOOLEAN=true
3. Run iotedgedev genconfig --file deployment.template.json

Expected:
Generates deployment.json file that contains something like "boolean_value": true,, which is valid JSON.

Actual:
Tool aborts with an error like ERROR: Expecting value: line xxx column yyy (char zzz)

This used to work fine with version 2.0.2.

[blackchoey]

Hi @yasufs This error will be fixed in next release. In 2.1.0 we added schema validations for deployment.template.json and the generated deployment.json. The error is because your deployment.template.json is not a valid json due to the use of environment variable. You can install v2.0.2 to skip the validations temporary.
By the way, environment variables are always strings. The tool won't prevent you from using environment variables as other types, but it's not a best practice.