Aws-cdk: aws-cloudfront needs fromDistributionAttributes support

[Console32]

There is no way to use a existing cloud front distribution in aws cdk.

Use Case

Reusing existing components is useful in several use cases. one of them is mentioned in the stack overflow question.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/58286081/re-use-existing-cloudfront-distribution-with-aws-cdk/59561890#59561890

Proposed Solution

the solution should be as it is on other resources ex:

static fromUserPoolAttributes(scope, id, attrs) for cognito UserPools.

Other

• [ ] :wave: I may be able to implement this feature request
• [ ] :warning: This feature might incur a breaking change

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This is a :rocket: Feature Request

[codyfyi]

This would be nice as our CI/CD uses CDK to deploy an isolated stack for each branch.

Spinning up a new CloudFront distribution takes a long time so we'd like to just register a new origin on an existing CloudFront distribution outside of the stack. This would improves developer experience as the branch CI pipelines would complete much faster.

[heiba]

Any news as to whether this feature is in the plans or not ?

[njlynch]

For all those following this issue, it's worth noting that while the existing CloudFrontWebDistribution does not support importing a distribution, the new Distribution construct does. The CloudFront module is currently being redesigned and implemented to be cleaner and easier to use, and the new Distribution construct is the up-and-coming (and currently experimental) version.

The following will import an existing Distribution.

const distribution = cloudfront.Distribution.fromDistributionAttributes(scope, 'ImportedDist', {
  domainName: 'd111111abcdef8.cloudfront.net',
  distributionId: '012345ABCDEF',
});

[HannesT117]

Hi @njlynch, when utilizing fromDistributionAttributes, is there already a way (or a plan to add a way) to do something like existingDistribution.addBehavior()? I unfortunately wasn't able to find the right information helping me with this. Is the goal to have a returned class similar to the one from User.fromUserName (which provides some functions to the developer) in the end?

[njlynch]

@HannesT117 - Unfortunately not. Generally, imported resources can't be themselves modified; they can have other dependent resources added to them (e.g., new listener for a load balancer) and can be referenced by other constructs (e.g., use the distribution for a Route53 target, reference ARNs or identifiers in policies). The distribution and all of its properties -- including the origins and behaviors -- are all part of a single entity and so can't be modified on import.

[HannesT117]

Ah, that's a pity! Thanks for the fast reply and information though!