how to use ansible with_subelements - ansible

Question

Here is my database yaml file:
apn_operation:
action: create
epg_version: 4G
apn_name: internet_jack
access-restrictions selection-mode: public
routing-instance: sgi_nat
pgw-enabled: yes
uplink-dscp-map: test
allow-rule-space:
- RS_Mobile
- RS_Mobile_OCC
name-server:
- ip_address: 10.0.0.1
priority: 10
- ip_address: 10.0.0.2
priority: 20
Here is my playbook:
- hosts: all
gather_facts: no
vars_files:
- apn_operation.yaml
tasks:
- name: show content
debug:
msg: "{{item}}"
with_subelements:
- "{{apn_operation}}"
- name-server
when I ran the playbook. I got the following error:
TASK [show content] ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
fatal: [11RRvEPG01]: FAILED! => {"msg": "subelements lookup expects a dictionary, got 'OPTUS-QCIDSCP'"}
I don't know what the problem is. can anyone help?

Answer 1

apn_operation is dictionary. It's not possible to iterate a dictionary. It's possible to use dict2items but this is not what you're looking for.
with_subelements is able to iterate a list where each item is a dictionary that comprises another list. For example
apn_operation:
- action: create
name-server:
- ip_address: 10.0.0.1
priority: 10
- ip_address: 10.0.0.2
priority: 20
works as expected and gives
"msg": [
{
"action": "create"
},
{
"ip_address": "10.0.0.1",
"priority": 10
}
]
"msg": [
{
"action": "create"
},
{
"ip_address": "10.0.0.2",
"priority": 20
}
]