Configuration file not parsing correctly.

[John P. Rouillard]

Using a configuration file formatted like:

{
    "due": "net 30",
    "from": "XYzzY Inc.",
    "to": "ABCD Services",
    "tax": 0.06
}

and a command line:

./invoice generate --import ABCD.json --id "20230703-33" --title "Invoice for June 2023" --item "Addition of Autoresponder" --quantity 10  --rate 75 --discount .10 --item "Phone review of proposal" --quantity 1 --rate -75

I get:

2023/07/04 00:09:12 json file not correctly formatted

with no info as to why it failed. If I run jq . ABCD.json, it passes without error:

{
  "due": "net 30",
  "from": "XYzzY Inc.",
  "to": "ABCD Services",
  "tax": 0.06
}

Using your example input:

{
    "logo": "/path/to/image.png",
    "from": "Dream, Inc.",
    "to": "Imagine, Inc.",
    "tax": 0.13,
    "items": ["Yellow Rubber Duck", "Special Edition Plaid Rubber Duck"],
    "quantities": [5, 1],
    "rates": [25, 25],
}

fails jq because of the trailing ','. If I remove that so jq is happy, I still get the error: 'file is not formatted correctly'.

Ideas?

Thanks.

[Dan Castrillo]

@rouilj I tested both cases and they work for me. I checked and the problem seems to be passing extra arguments with the import flag

[John P. Rouillard]

@dvrd Hmm, for me even running:

./invoice generate --import ABCD.json

results in the same error. I would claim that --import should be able to work with command
line arguments in any case. I could see an ambiguity there though. If tax is set in ABCD.json and I use:

./invoice generate --import ABCD.json --tax 0.05

where "tax: 0.13" is present in ABCD.json, what is the tax? I can see two ways to handle it:

1. command line overrides value in import so tax is 0.05.
2. order of import and setting matter (last wins):
   • --import ABCD.json --tax 0.05 tax is 0.05
   • --tax 0.05 --import ABCD.json tax is 0.13
3. I am not sure how to handle array values (e.g. quantity, item). Does use of --quantity and --item wipe out the setting in ---import file or do they get added to the array? I could see value for both cases.
   • the import file has a monthly retainer charge. Then items/quantity should be added to the import values.
   • the import file setting should be ignored and only command line item/quantity used

For testing, I am using docker to compile/run the example. On the host:

$ git clone https://github.com/maaslalani/invoice.git
$ cd invoice
$ docker run -u 1000:1000 -it -v $PWD:/mnt golang@sha256:344193a70dc3588452ea39b4a1e465a8d3c91f788ae053f7ee168cebf18e0a50

Note my uid/gid on the host is 1000, 1000.

Inside the running container:

$ go version
go version go1.20.5 linux/amd64
$ cd /mnt
$ mkdir /tmp/home
$ HOME=/tmp/home
$ go build -v
[bunch of stuff]
$ ./invoice generate --import ABCD.json --id "20230703-33" --title "Invoice for June 2023" --item "Addition of Autoresponder" --quantity 10  --rate 75 --discount .10 --item "Phone review of proposal" --quantity 1 --rate -75
2023/07/04 19:40:19 json file not correctly formatted
$ sum ABCD.json
25530     1 ABCD.json
$ cat ABCD.json
{
    "logo": "/path/to/image.png",
    "from": "Dream, Inc.",
    "to": "Imagine, Inc.",
    "tax": 0.13,
    "items": ["Yellow Rubber Duck", "Special Edition Plaid Rubber Duck"],
    "quantities": [5, 1],
    "rates": [25, 25],
}

Ideas on how to debug this?

Thanks.

[Dan Castrillo]

Well for that output example you have an extra comma in the json. Json cannot have linggering commas

[John P. Rouillard]

Well for that output example you have an extra comma in the json. Json cannot have linggering commas

Yup, that's how it's documented as I noted in my original report. jq noted that it was incorrect.
Removing the trailing ',' makes the bare ./invoice --import ABCD.json work correctly. Sorry for the bad test case. If the output had reported a line number where the error was or some info
about why it was incorrect it would help.

I agree that mixing --import and other command line parameters are the cause of the issue.

[Eugene Mikhaylov]

The example JSON contains a lingering comma.