Working with parameters

When working with serverless actions, data is supplied by adding parameters to the actions; these are in the parameter declared as an argument to the main serverless function. All data arrives this way and the values can be set in a few different ways. The first option is to supply parameters when an action or package is created (or updated). This approach is useful for data that stays the same on every execution, equivalent to environment variables on other platforms, or for default values that might be overridden at invocation time. The second option is to supply parameters when the action is invoked - and this approach will override any parameters already set.

This page outlines how to configure parameters when deploying packages and actions, and how to supply parameters when invoking an action. There is also information on how to use a file to store the parameters and pass the filename, rather than supplying each parameter individually on the command-line.

Passing parameters to an action at invoke time

Parameters can be passed to the action when it is invoked. These examples use JavaScript but all the other languages work the same way.

1. Use parameters in the action. For example, create ‘hello.js’ file with the following content:

function main(params) {
    return {payload:  'Hello, ' + params.name + ' from ' + params.place};
}

The input parameters are passed as a JSON object parameter to the main function. Notice how the name and place parameters are retrieved from the params object in this example.

2. Update the action so it is ready to use:

wsk action update hello hello.js

3. Parameters can be provided explicitly on the command-line, or by supplying a file containing the desired parameters

To pass parameters directly through the command-line, supply a key/value pair to the --param flag:

wsk action invoke --result hello --param name Dorothy --param place Kansas

This produces the result:

{
    "payload": "Hello, Dorothy from Kansas"
}

Notice the use of the --result option: it implies a blocking invocation where the CLI waits for the activation to complete and then displays only the result. For convenience, this option may be used without --blocking which is automatically inferred.

Additionally, if parameter values specified on the command-line are valid JSON, then they will be parsed and sent to your action as a structured object. For example, if we update our hello action to:

function main(params) {
    return {payload:  'Hello, ' + params.person.name + ' from ' + params.person.place};
}

Now the action expects a single person parameter to have fields name and place. If we invoke the action with a single person parameter that is valid JSON:

wsk action invoke --result hello -p person '{"name": "Dorothy", "place": "Kansas"}'

The result is the same because the CLI automatically parses the person parameter value into the structured object that the action now expects:

{
    "payload": "Hello, Dorothy from Kansas"
}

Setting default parameters on an action

Actions can be invoked with multiple named parameters. Recall that the hello action from the previous example expects two parameters: the name of a person, and the place where they're from.

Rather than pass all the parameters to an action every time, you can bind certain parameters. The following example binds the place parameter so that the action defaults to the place “Kansas”:

1. Update the action by using the --param option to bind parameter values, or by passing a file that contains the parameters to --param-file (for examples of using files, see the section on working with parameter files.

To specify default parameters explicitly on the command-line, provide a key/value pair to the param flag:

wsk action update hello --param place Kansas

2. Invoke the action, passing only the name parameter this time.

wsk action invoke --result hello --param name Dorothy

{
    "payload": "Hello, Dorothy from Kansas"
}

Notice that you did not need to specify the place parameter when you invoked the action. Bound parameters can still be overwritten by specifying the parameter value at invocation time.

3. Invoke the action, passing both name and place values, and observe the output:

wsk action invoke --result hello --param name Dorothy --param place "Washington, DC"

{
    "payload": "Hello, Dorothy from Washington, DC"
}

Despite a parameter set on the action when it was created/updated, this is overridden by a parameter that was supplied when invoking the action.

Setting default parameters on a package

Parameters can be set at the package level, and these will serve as default parameters for actions unless:

• The action itself has a default parameter.
• The action has a parameter supplied at invoke time, which will always be the “winner” where more than one parameter is available.

The following example sets a default parameter of name on the MyApp package and shows an action making use of it.

1. Create a package with a parameter set:

wsk package update MyApp --param name World

2. Create an action in this package:

   function main(params) {
       return {payload: "Hello, " + params.name};
   }

wsk action update MyApp/hello hello.js

3. Invoke the action, and observe the default package parameter in use:

wsk action invoke --result MyApp/hello

   {
       "payload": "Hello, World"
   }

Working with parameter files

It's also possible to put parameters into a file in JSON format, and then pass the parameters in by supplying the filename with the param-file flag. This works for both packages and actions when creating/updating them, and when invoking actions.

1. As an example, consider the very simple “hello” example from earlier. Using hello.js with this content:

function main(params) {
    return {payload:  'Hello, ' + params.name + ' from ' + params.place};
}

2. Update the action with the updated contents of hello.js:

wsk action update hello hello.js

3. Create a parameter file called parameters.json containing JSON-formatted parameters:

{
    "name": "Dorothy",
    "place": "Kansas"
}

4. Use the parameters.json filename when invoking the action, and observe the output

wsk action invoke --result hello --param-file parameters.json

{
    "payload": "Hello, Dorothy from Kansas"
}