Is it possible to create a module that either creates a resource or sources a data source, based on a boolean value?

Question

Basically, what I'd like to do is create a module that does this pseudocode:

if <boolean> then
  resource "<resource type>" "name" {
    # ... set variables ...
  } else {
  data "<data source>" "name" {
    # grab data
  }

output "resource_type.name" {
  if <boolean> then
    value = resource_type.name
  else
    value = data_source.name
}

I hope I'm being clear. Happy to add more info to clarify what I'm hoping is possible.

Answer 1

You can use the count meta-parameter to achieve the effects of an if-else statement. It is talked about in detail in the link below and I also pulled one relevant example out.

I'm not 100% sure if you can give both the data source and resource the same name without a conflict; but I assume it would work. It may be dependent on the resource you're creating though, not sure.

https://blog.gruntwork.io/terraform-tips-tricks-loops-if-statements-and-gotchas-f739bbae55f9

Excerpt:

# This is just pseudo code. It won't actually work in Terraform.
if var.give_neo_cloudwatch_full_access {
  resource "aws_iam_user_policy_attachment" "neo_cloudwatch_full" {
    user       = aws_iam_user.example[0].name
    policy_arn = aws_iam_policy.cloudwatch_full_access.arn
  }
} else {
  resource "aws_iam_user_policy_attachment" "neo_cloudwatch_read" {
    user       = aws_iam_user.example[0].name
    policy_arn = aws_iam_policy.cloudwatch_read_only.arn
  }
}

To do this in Terraform, you can use the count parameter and a conditional expression on each of the resources:

resource "aws_iam_user_policy_attachment" "neo_cloudwatch_full" {
  count = var.give_neo_cloudwatch_full_access ? 1 : 0
  user       = aws_iam_user.example[0].name
  policy_arn = aws_iam_policy.cloudwatch_full_access.arn
}
resource "aws_iam_user_policy_attachment" "neo_cloudwatch_read" {
  count = var.give_neo_cloudwatch_full_access ? 0 : 1
  user       = aws_iam_user.example[0].name
  policy_arn = aws_iam_policy.cloudwatch_read_only.arn
}