Event Broker Subscription Condition fails to trigger due to syntax formatting in VMware Aria Automation

Products

• VCF Automation

Issue/Introduction

An Event Broker Subscription configured for the deployment.resource.action.post topic fails to trigger when a Condition is applied.

•The subscription works correctly if the Condition field is left blank (triggering on all events).

•The subscription fails to trigger when filtering for specific actions, such as Compute.Disk.Resize, even though the logic appears syntactically correct (e.g., event.data.actionName == 'Compute.Disk.Resize').

•The event log or payload indicates that the actionName field exists and matches the expected value, but the filter still evaluates as false or is ignored.

Environment

• Aria Automation 8.18.x
• Event Broker / Extensibility Subscriptions

Cause

• This issue is caused by "Smart Quotes" (curled quotes) being introduced into the Condition field, typically when copying syntax from rich text sources like email, ticketing systems, or word processors.
• The Event Broker requires standard "straight" JavaScript quotes.

Resolution

To resolve this issue:

1. Navigate to Extensibility > Subscriptions in Aria Automation Assembler.

2. Open the affected Subscription.

3. Delete the existing text in the Condition field.

4. Manually type the condition to ensure standard formatting is used.

 •Correct Syntax: event.data.actionName == 'Compute.Disk.Resize'

•Incorrect Syntax (Smart Quotes): event.data.actionName == ’Compute.Disk.Resize’

•Save the Subscription.

 

Note: If you prefer to copy/paste, paste the text into a plain text editor (e.g., Notepad) first to strip formatting, then copy it into the Aria Automation UI.

Additional Information

The Event Broker Condition field utilizes standard JavaScript syntax. Rich text editors automatically convert straight quotes (') into smart quotes (’) for readability, which breaks the code interpretation in the backend.

To verify the correct field names for your specific version or action:
1. Navigate to Extensibility > Library > Event Topics.
2. Select the topic (e.g., deployment.resource.action.post).
3. Click the Schema tab to view available properties for the payload (e.g., actionName, resourceType).