Error when changing Matrix WhatsApp displayname_template

[mr8tom]

Describe the bug
I want to have the address book name from my contacts in WhatsApp. I'm the only user at my matrix server. Tried many versions, nothing seems to be correct.

To Reproduce

I tried to change the matrix_mautrix_whatsapp_configuration_yaml in the section displayname_template and always get different errors when running the Ansible playbook.

displayname_template: "{{or .FullName .BusinessName .Push
Name .JID}} (WA)"
-> when I run the Ansible script it says

msg: |-
    The task includes an option with an undefined variable. The
 error was: {{ matrix_mautrix_whatsapp_configuration_yaml | fro
m_yaml | combine(matrix_mautrix_whatsapp_configuration_extensio
n, recursive=True) }}: {{ matrix_mautrix_whatsapp_configuration
_extension_yaml | from_yaml if matrix_mautrix_whatsapp_configur
ation_extension_yaml | from_yaml is mapping else {} }}: bridge:
      delivery_receipts: true
      history_sync:
        backfill: true
      user_avatar_sync: true
      archive_tag: m.lowpriority
      displayname_template: "{{or .FullName .BusinessName .Push
Name .JID}} (WA)"
    : 'or' is undefined

Then I only used .FullName:
displayname_template: "{{.FullName}} -W"
and got this Error message:

ERROR! We were unable to read either as JSON nor YAML, these ar
e the errors we got from each:
JSON: Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)

Syntax Error while loading YAML.
  did not find expected key

The error appears to be in '/work/inventory/host_vars/matrix.8t
om.de/vars.yml': line 53, column 5, but may
be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.

The offending line appears to be:

#  displayname_template: "{{or .FullName .PushName .JID}} -W"
    displayname_template: "{{.FullName}} -W"
    ^ here
We could be wrong, but this one looks like it might be an issue
 with
missing quotes. Always quote template expression brackets when
they
start a value. For instance:

    with_items:
      - {{ foo }}

Should be written as:

    with_items:
      - "{{ foo }}"

Then I tried
displayname_template: "{{ '{{.FullName}}' }}" and got also an Error:

ERROR! We were unable to read either as JSON nor YAML, these ar
e the errors we got from each:
JSON: Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)

Syntax Error while loading YAML.
  did not find expected key

The error appears to be in '/work/inventory/host_vars/matrix.8t
om.de/vars.yml': line 54, column 5, but may
be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.

The offending line appears to be:

#    displayname_template: "{{.FullName}} -W"
    displayname_template: "{{ '{{.FullName}}' }}"
    ^ here`ERROR! We were unable to read either as JSON nor YAML, these ar
e the errors we got from each:
JSON: Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)

Syntax Error while loading YAML.
  did not find expected key

The error appears to be in '/work/inventory/host_vars/matrix.8t
om.de/vars.yml': line 54, column 5, but may
be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.

The offending line appears to be:

#    displayname_template: "{{.FullName}} -W"
    displayname_template: "{{ '{{.FullName}}' }}"
    ^ here

Even if I try the standard from the example in Ansible WhatsApp (displayname_template: "{{ '{{if .BusinessName}}{{.BusinessN
ame}}{{else if .PushName}}{{.PushName}}{{else}}{{.JID}}{{end}}
(WA)' }}"),
it doesn't work:

ERROR! We were unable to read either as JSON nor YAML, these ar
e the errors we got from each:
JSON: Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)

Syntax Error while loading YAML.
  did not find expected key

The error appears to be in '/work/inventory/host_vars/matrix.8t
om.de/vars.yml': line 56, column 5, but may
be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.

The offending line appears to be:

#    ...
    displayname_template: "{{ '{{if .BusinessName}}{{.BusinessN
ame}}{{else if .PushName}}{{.PushName}}{{else}}{{.JID}}{{end}}
(WA)' }}"
    ^ here

Seems Syntax related but I have no clue 😓

Expected behavior
Run the Ansible playbook and give me address book names.

Matrix Server:

• OS: debian 12
• Architecture: amd64

Ansible:

• containerized Ansible on debian 12
• version: 2.13.6-r0-3 docker

[spantaleev]

You need to use raw/endraw statements around Jinja2 characters which have a special meaning (like {{ and }}).

Example: {% raw %}{{.PushName}}{{% endraw %}}

[mr8tom]

Thank you @spantaleev
There was a little quota @{{% endraw %}}

I changed mine to this and it works now:
displayname_template: {% raw %}{{.FullName}}{% endraw %}

Now I have the next question, how to format it with "if" statements? Because no I have contacts with an empty name f.E. in WhatsApp Groups.
I tried around a bit but that's kind of hard. Never heard of Jinia2, will read into it but maybe someone already got it? Thanks in advance.

displayname_template: "{{ '{{if .BusinessName}}{{.BusinessN ame}}{{else if .PushName}}{{.PushName}}{{else}}{{.JID}}{{end}} (WA)' }}"

[spantaleev]

Jinja is what we use for templating the YAML files. Using raw/endraw or the {{ '{{ stuff here }}' }} syntax allows Jinja to not choke on special characters.

---

Later on, it's a problem of configuring the displayname_template setting. This is not really related to this Ansible playbook and playbook should not be impeding you in any way.

You can try going to the mautrix-whatsapp repository or #whatsapp:maunium.net Matrix room for assistance with this.

Nevertheless, I'll try to point you in the right direction.

These if statements that you wish to use are for Golang's text/template templating system. It's because the mautrix-whatsapp bridge is written in Golang. For other bridges (written in other languages), the situation will be different.

[mr8tom]

Thank you @spantaleev
I issued the problem also at the GitHub mautrix WhatsApp:
mautrix/whatsapp#565

With the tips from here and from them I got following solution working:

displayname_template: "{{or .FullName .PushName .JID}} (WA)"

needs to enclosed by {% raw %} and {% endraw %} :

displayname_template: {% raw %}{{or .FullName .PushName .JID}} (WA){% endraw %}