Chapter 5. Browsing collections with Automation content navigator

As a content creator, you can browse your Ansible collections with Automation content navigator and interactively delve into each collection developed locally or within Automation execution environments.

5.1. Automation content navigator collections display

Automation content navigator displays information about your collections with the following details for each collection:

SHADOWED
Indicates that an additional copy of the collection is higher in the search order, and playbooks prefer that collection.
TYPE
Shows if the collection is contained within an automation execution environment or volume mounted on onto the automation execution environment as a bind_mount.
PATH
Reflects the collections location within the automation execution environment or local file system based on the collection TYPE field.
Automation content navigator collections display

5.2. Browsing collections from Automation content navigator

You can browse Ansible collections with the Automation content navigator text-based user interface in interactive mode and delve into each collection. Automation content navigator shows collections within the current project directory and those available in the automation execution environments

Prerequisites

  • A locally accessible collection or installed automation execution environments.

Procedure

  1. Start Automation content navigator 

    $ ansible-navigator

  2. Browse the collection. Alternately, you can type ansible-navigator collections to directly browse the collections. 

    $ :collections
    A list of Ansible collections shown in the Automation content navigator

  3. Type the number of the collection you want to explore. 

    :4
    A collection shown in the Automation content navigator

  4. Type the number corresponding to the module you want to delve into. 

    ANSIBLE.UTILS.IP_ADDRESS: Test if something in an IP address
 0│---
 1│additional_information: {}
 2│collection_info:
 3│  authors:
 4│  - Ansible Community
 5│  dependencies: {}
 6│  description: Ansible Collection with utilities to ease the management, manipulation,
 7│    and validation of data within a playbook
 8│  documentation: null
 9│  homepage: null
10│  issues: null
11│  license: []
12│  license_file: LICENSE
13│  name: ansible.utils
14│  namespace: ansible
15│  path:/usr/share/ansible/collections/ansible_collections/ansible/utils/
16│  readme: README.md
<... output truncated...>

  5. Optional: jump to the documentation examples for this module. 

    :{{ examples }}

0│
1│
2│#### Simple examples
3│
4│- name: Check if 10.1.1.1 is a valid IP address
5│  ansible.builtin.set_fact:
6│    data: "{{ '10.1.1.1' is ansible.utils.ip_address }}"
7│
8│# TASK [Check if 10.1.1.1 is a valid IP address] *********************
9│# ok: [localhost] => {
10│#     "ansible_facts": {
11│#         "data": true
12│#     },
13│#     "changed": false
14│# }
15│

  6. Optional: open the example in your editor to copy it into a playbook. 

    :open
    Documentation example shown in the editing tool

Verification

  • Browse the collection list.

    Collection list

Additional resources

5.3. Review documentation from Automation content navigator

You can review Ansible documentation for collections and plugins with the Automation content navigator text-based user interface in interactive mode. Automation content navigator shows collections within the current project directory and those available in the automation execution environments

Prerequisites

  • A locally accessible collection or installed automation execution environments.

Procedure

  1. Start Automation content navigator 

    $ ansible-navigator

  2. Review the module you are interested in. Alternately, you can type ansible-navigator doc to access the documentation. 

    :doc ansible.utils.ip_address
    ANSIBLE.UTILS.IP_ADDRESS: Test if something in an IP address
 0│---
 1│additional_information: {}
 2│collection_info:
 3│  authors:
 4│  - Ansible Community
 5│  dependencies: {}
 6│  description: Ansible Collection with utilities to ease the management, manipulation,
 7│    and validation of data within a playbook
 8│  documentation: null
 9│  homepage: null
10│  issues: null
11│  license: []
12│  license_file: LICENSE
13│  name: ansible.utils
14│  namespace: ansible
15│  path:/usr/share/ansible/collections/ansible_collections/ansible/utils/
16│  readme: README.md
<... output truncated...>

  3. Jump to the documentation examples for this module. 

    :{{ examples }}

0│
1│
2│#### Simple examples
3│
4│- name: Check if 10.1.1.1 is a valid IP address
5│  ansible.builtin.set_fact:
6│    data: "{{ '10.1.1.1' is ansible.utils.ip_address }}"
7│
8│# TASK [Check if 10.1.1.1 is a valid IP address] *********************
9│# ok: [localhost] => {
10│#     "ansible_facts": {
11│#         "data": true
12│#     },
13│#     "changed": false
14│# }
15│

  4. Optional: open the example in your editor to copy it into a playbook. 

    :open
    Documentation example in editor

    See Automation content navigator general settings for details on how to set up your editor.

Additional resources