I am struggling with the with_dict module - ansible

Question

I am trying to automate VMware builds using Ansible. I am expecting a workflow engine to output a file that would act as a var_file and have all of the objects that can be used to build the VM using the vmware_guest module. It works great until you get to the networks dictionary portion of the module then it falls apart.
I initially tried setting up a vars_file with all of the variables like this:
---
validate_certs: no
datacenter: this is the DC
cluster: this is the cluster
folder: "this is the folder"
name: some-server
template: template-name
datastore: "datastore-name"
netname: This is the network
ip: 10.6.6.10
netmask: 255.255.255.0
gateway: 10.6.6.1
mac: aa:bb:dd:aa:00:14
domain: domain.com
However, that returned:
argument networks is of type <type 'dict'> and we were unable to convert to list: <type 'dict'> cannot be converted to a list"}
Where the code fails is on this task:
- name: Clone a virtual machine from Windows template and customize
vmware_guest:
hostname: "{{ hostname }}"
username: "{{ username }}"
password: "{{ password }}"
validate_certs: "{{ validate_certs }}"
datacenter: "{{ datacenter }}"
cluster: "{{ cluster }}"
folder: "{{ folder }}"
name: "{{name }}"
template: "{{ template }}"
datastore: "{{ datastore}}"
networks:
name: "{{ netname }}"
ip: "{{ ip }}"
netmask: "{{ netmask }}"
gateway: "{{ gateway }}"
mac: "{{ mac }}"
domain: "{{ domain }}"```
I tried creating a dictionary in the variable file like this:
---
validate_certs: no
datacenter: this is the DC
cluster: this is the cluster
folder: "this is the folder"
name: some-server
template: template-name
datastore: "datastore-name"
bnetworks:
name: This is the network
ip: 10.6.6.10
netmask: 255.255.255.0
gateway: 10.6.6.1
mac: aa:bb:dd:aa:00:14
domain: americas.global-legal.com
And changed the task to include this:
networks:
name: "{{ item.value.name }}"
ip: "{{ item.value.ip }}"
netmask: "{{ item.value.netmask }}"
gateway: "{{ item.value.gateway }}"
mac: "{{ item.value.mac }}"
domain: "{{ item.value.domain }}"
with_dict: bnetworks```
And I get this error:
The task includes an option with an undefined variable. The error was: 'item' is undefined
Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

argument networks is of type <type 'dict'> and we were unable to convert to list: cannot be converted to a list"}
There might be more networks in one VM therefor a list is needed. The corect syntax is below
- name: Clone a virtual machine from Windows template and customize
vmware_guest:
hostname: "{{ hostname }}"
username: "{{ username }}"
password: "{{ password }}"
validate_certs: "{{ validate_certs }}"
datacenter: "{{ datacenter }}"
cluster: "{{ cluster }}"
folder: "{{ folder }}"
name: "{{name }}"
template: "{{ template }}"
datastore: "{{ datastore}}"
networks:
- name: "{{ netname }}"
ip: "{{ ip }}"
netmask: "{{ netmask }}"
gateway: "{{ gateway }}"
mac: "{{ mac }}"
domain: "{{ domain }}"```
This is a list
list:
- key: value
This is a dictionary
dictionary:
key: value
This is a list of dictionaries
dictionary:
- key1: value-1-1
key2: value-2-1
- key1: value-2-1
key2: value-2-2
The task includes an option with an undefined variable. The error was: 'item' is undefined
The indentation of with_dict is wrong. The correct syntax is below.
vmware_guest:
...
networks:
- name: "{{ item.value.name }}"
ip: "{{ item.value.ip }}"
netmask: "{{ item.value.netmask }}"
gateway: "{{ item.value.gateway }}"
mac: "{{ item.value.mac }}"
domain: "{{ item.value.domain }}"
with_dict: "{{ bnetworks }}"