Updating Variables Description via PATCH in Airflow API is Clearing the existing description field of the variable and unable to update description field

[PannagaMayya]

Apache Airflow version

2.5.1

What happened

When i made these patch requests to update description of the variable via axios

1) Trying to modify new value and description

let payload ={ key : "example_variable", value : "new_value", description: "new_Description" }
axios.patch("https://localhost:8080/api/v1/variables/example_variable" , payload ,
{
    auth : {
        username : "username",
        password : "password"
    },
    headers: {
        "Content-Type" : "application/json",
     }
});

following response received and In the airflow , Existing Variable's Description is cleared and set to None

response body : {
    "description" : "new_Description",
    "key": "example_variable",
    "value" : "new_value"
}

2) Trying to update Description with update_mask

let payload ={ key : "example_variable", value : "value", description: "new_Description" }
axios.patch("https://localhost:8080/api/v1/variables/example_variable?update_mask=description" , payload ,
{
    auth : {
        username : "username",
        password : "password"
    },
    headers: {
        "Content-Type" : "application/json",
     }
});

following response received

response body : {
    "detail" : null,
    "status": 400,
    "detail" : "No field to update",
    "type" : "https://airflow.apache.org/docs/apache-airflow/2.5.0/stable-rest-api-ref.html#section/Errors/BadRequest"
}

What you think should happen instead

The filed "description" is ignored both while setting the Variable (L113) and update_mask (L107-111).

airflow/airflow/api_connexion/endpoints/variable_endpoint.py

Lines 97 to 115 in 1768872

	def patch_variable(*, variable_key: str, update_mask: UpdateMask = None) -> Response:
	"""Update a variable by key."""
	try:
	data = variable_schema.load(get_json_request_dict())
	except ValidationError as err:
	raise BadRequest("Invalid Variable schema", detail=str(err.messages))
	if data["key"] != variable_key:
	raise BadRequest("Invalid post body", detail="key from request body doesn't match uri parameter")
	if update_mask:
	if "key" in update_mask:
	raise BadRequest("key is a ready only field")
	if "value" not in update_mask:
	raise BadRequest("No field to update")
	Variable.set(data["key"], data["val"])
	return variable_schema.dump(data)

Also in Variable setter its set to None if input doesn't contain description field

airflow/airflow/models/variable.py

Lines 156 to 165 in 1768872

	def set(
	key: str,
	value: Any,
	description: str | None = None,
	serialize_json: bool = False,
	session: Session = None,
	):
	"""
	Sets a value for an Airflow Variable with a given Key.
	This operation will overwrite an existing variable.

How to reproduce

PATCH in Airflow REST API

API call

"https://localhost:8080/api/v1/variables/example_variable?update_mask=description"

payload

{ key : "example_variable", value : "value", description: "new_Description" }

headers

"Content-Type" : "application/json"

OR

API call

"https://localhost:8080/api/v1/variables/example_variable

payload

{ key : "example_variable", value : "new_value", description: "new_Description" }

headers

"Content-Type" : "application/json"

Operating System

Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS

Versions of Apache Airflow Providers

No response

Deployment

Official Apache Airflow Helm Chart

Deployment details

No response

Anything else

Possible Solution to update Description field can be like

airflow/airflow/api_connexion/endpoints/connection_endpoint.py

Lines 134 to 145 in 1768872

	if update_mask:
	update_mask = [i.strip() for i in update_mask]
	data_ = {}
	for field in update_mask:
	if field in data and field not in non_update_fields:
	data_[field] = data[field]
	else:
	raise BadRequest(detail=f"'{field}' is unknown or cannot be updated.")
	data = data_
	for key in data:
	setattr(connection, key, data[key])
	session.add(connection)

Are you willing to submit PR?

• Yes I am willing to submit a PR!

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[boring-cyborg]

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