Feature request : Find an object by key from an array / dictionary of objects

[pinakighatak]

Hello Team.
I'm posting this here as a discussion since this is not an issue.
working with a customer of mine with Bicep the following topic came up.

If you have an array of objects (with Key / value pair), how do you retrieve an object, given the key?

Here is an illustration:

var partsUnlimitedUsers = [
  {
    userId: 'billp'
    firstName: 'Bill'
    lastName: 'Palmer'
    email: 'billp@partsunlimited.com'
    state: 'active'
    notes: 'VP of IT Operations'
    type: 'Basic' //Value is 'Azure' if user is in Azure AD
  }
  {
    userId: 'dickl'
    firstName: 'Dick'
    lastName: 'Landry'
    email: 'dickl@partsunlimited.com'
    state: 'active'
    notes: 'CFO'
    type: 'Basic' //Value is 'Azure' if user is in Azure AD
  }
]
//add set of users to existing API Management
resource apimUser 'Microsoft.ApiManagement/service/users@2021-01-01-preview' = [for usr in partsUnlimitedUsers: {
  parent: apiManagement
  name: usr.userId
  properties: {
    firstName: usr.firstName
    lastName: usr.lastName
    email: usr.email
    state: usr.state
    note: usr.notes
    identities: [
      {
        id: usr.email
        provider: usr.type
      }
    ]
  }
}]

//now somewhere down the line, I need the **userobject where userId = dickl**

The bicep object functions have many methods, except the one I want.
Object functions for Bicep

Any help?

[SimonWahlin]

This is where the new lambda expressions come in handy.

Check out Johns blog: https://johnlokerse.dev/2022/09/26/azure-bicep-lambda-expressions/

[StefanIvemo]

Yes, lambda expressions is the best way to do this. Here's how you could filter the array based on userId.

var filteredArray = filter(partsUnlimitedUsers, item => item.userId >= 'dickl' )

[pinakighatak]

@StefanIvemo : Thanks. Best answer here. This is appreciated. Can I do this in a Bicep resource - rather than an array object. What if I want the item of type apimuser with that filter passed?

[StefanIvemo]

Not sure what you mean. You can read the full docs on lambdas here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-resource-manager/bicep/bicep-functions-lambda