Support configurations in JSON syntax in the provider test framework

[rudo-thomas]

SDK version

v2.4.4

Use-cases

The end goal is being able to use the JSON syntax when authoring provider tests.

Currently, you're forced to write the test configurations in the native syntax (see resource.TestStep.Config).

We're generating our Terraform configuration in JSON syntax. Having the feature would simplify testing the generated JSON with Terraform CLI directly (which is what resource.Test does), rather than passing the configuration through a conversion before feeding it to the test framework.

Attempted Solutions

As stated above, converting from the native syntax to JSON would work, but that adds a conversion layer that is not present outside of the tests. Outside of the tests, the JSON configuration is fed to Terraform CLI directly via *.tf.json files.

Proposal

(This is a revised proposal and now incorporates suggestions from this comment.)

Auto-detect whether resource.TestStep.Config contains valid JSON. When it does, the test framework will write out a .tf.json file, rather than a .tf one, before running the Terraform CLI.

I have a PR that achieves this: #722

References

• Test HCL configs isolated in files terraform-plugin-testing#72 would very likely solve the issue but seems much more involved

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