Pnp-sites-core: AppPackageIdToken doesn't always resolve on .sppkg name

[YannickRe]

Category

[X] Bug
[ ] Enhancement

Environment

[X] Office 365 / SharePoint Online
[ ] SharePoint 2016
[ ] SharePoint 2013

Expected or Desired Behavior

Adding an action to install a solution, using the AppPackageId token with the packagename (eg. pnp-react-search-refiners.sppkg), should install the solution from the tenant app catalog.

Observed Behavior

Error returns that a GUID is expected to have 32 characters with dashes. It only works by providing the title of the package "PnP - Search Web Parts".

Steps to Reproduce

1. Add a sppkg to the tenant app catalog, don't deploy globally
2. Create a provisioning template that installs the solution:

      <pnp:ApplicationLifecycleManagement>
        <pnp:Apps>
          <pnp:App AppId="{AppPackageId:pnp-react-search-refiners.sppkg}" Action="Install" />
        </pnp:Apps>
      </pnp:ApplicationLifecycleManagement>

1. Apply template. Notice this fails.
2. Adjust template to use the title of the Package (which can be found in the app catalog):

      <pnp:ApplicationLifecycleManagement>
        <pnp:Apps>
          <pnp:App AppId="{AppPackageId:PnP - Search Web Parts}" Action="Install" />
        </pnp:Apps>
      </pnp:ApplicationLifecycleManagement>

1. Apply template. Notice this works.

Code

I suspect the difference in behavior comes from the fact that the tokens get collected differently.
This specific use case only has code to add the title as a valid token:
https://github.com/SharePoint/PnP-Sites-Core/blob/19d82e1821b13b50b7546ea35b871956a422a4a2/Core/OfficeDevPnP.Core/Framework/Provisioning/ObjectHandlers/TokenParser.cs#L404)

The other case also adds the filename:
https://github.com/SharePoint/PnP-Sites-Core/blob/19d82e1821b13b50b7546ea35b871956a422a4a2/Core/OfficeDevPnP.Core/Framework/Provisioning/ObjectHandlers/Utilities/TenantHelper.cs#L124-L125

[SteveClements]

I notice the same behavior.
So, should we just use title going forwards rather than file name?

[YannickRe]

I switched to Title for now, but I don’t really like it. I’m still hoping for a reaction, at least I’ll know if it’s worth my time to try and fix it myself 😀

[phillipharding]

As of the 2020/02 release this is still an issue, using the package filename would be preferable