Problem with filters if filter value is Null

[VictorPavlushin]

Netbox - v3.1.6
pynetbox - 6.5.0
Repeatability I think on all versions.
Let's look at the request:
https://demo.netbox.dev/api/dcim/racks/?site_id=21&location_id=null
We'll get racks with no location.
If we try to do the same through the pynetbox library:
pynb.dcim.racks.filter(site_id=21, location_id=None)
Then we get all the racks on this site. The request will look like:
https://demo.netbox.dev/api/dcim/racks/?site_id=21
This applies to both the get request and all objects.

[markkuleinio]

Use location_id="null" (see #380)

[VictorPavlushin]

so i need to additionally keep track of the return value from the other request? It seems to me that this complicates and makes my code ugly.
instead of:
pynb.dcim.racks.filter(site_id=21, location=obj.location)
like this:
pynb.dcim.racks.filter(site_id=21, location=obj.location if obj.location else "null")
It's not pretty in my opinion

[markkuleinio]

The problem/feature is apparently this (https://docs.python-requests.org/en/latest/user/quickstart/#passing-parameters-in-urls): "Note that any dictionary key whose value is None will not be added to the URL’s query string."

@zachmoody what do you think, could we change Request._make_call() to check for any None values and just replace them with "null"? Extra mention in release notes is probably needed.

[VictorPavlushin]

By the way, if you substitute "null" in the filter, for example, in vrf_id, then there will be an error:
nb.ipam.prefixes.get(prefix=prefix.prefix, vrf_id=vrf)
pynetbox.core.query.RequestError: The request failed with code 400 Bad Request: {'vrf': ['Related objects must be referenced by numeric ID or by dictionary of attributes. Received an unrecognized value: null']}

[markkuleinio]

I don't get why the error says about vrf while your .get() is using vrf_id.

What does your vrf variable contain?

Anyway, this is how it looks like here (pynetbox ~6.5.0, NetBox 3.2.0-dev):

>>> netbox.ipam.prefixes.get(prefix="10.1.1.0/24").vrf is None
True

>>> netbox.ipam.prefixes.get(prefix="10.2.2.0/24").vrf
TestVRF

>>> netbox.ipam.prefixes.get(prefix="10.1.1.0/24", vrf_id="null")
10.1.1.0/24

>>> netbox.ipam.prefixes.get(prefix="10.2.2.0/24", vrf_id="null")
(not found, correct)

[VictorPavlushin]

Indeed, my mistake, the "null" value was passed to the "create" function: nb.ipam.prefixes.create(obj)

[zachmoody]

@zachmoody what do you think, could we change Request._make_call() to check for any None values and just replace them with "null"? Extra mention in release notes is probably needed.

I don't know, I agree it is cleaner, but I also worry it could result in some astonishing behavior for clients. E.g. someone initializing a variable that winds up getting passed to get or filter as None now has very confusing result. I think the current behavior with null is worth calling out in the docs though.