Step Machine definition lacks proper formatting

The synthesized Cloudformation from of a step-machine cdk definition lacks formatting.

State machine ( AWS::StepFunctions::StateMachine) JSON Strings (DefinitionString) is generated in a single line, new lines characters (\n) and spaces could be added to provide proper visualization in the AWS Console since this is still used to check step-machine execution steps. Been able to visualize the step machine code properly helps the Developer User Experience. Currently this is an undesired outcome.

There is a workaround to fix this and consists in Editing State machine definition and formatting it from the AWS Console.

Reproduction Steps

Create CDK Typescript App with following code:

import * as cdk from '@aws-cdk/core';
import * as sfn from '@aws-cdk/aws-stepfunctions';

export class CdkWorkshopStack extends cdk.Stack {
  constructor(scope: cdk.App, id: string, props?: cdk.StackProps) {
    super(scope, id, props);

    const pass = new sfn.Pass(this, 'Pass');

    const step_definition = pass;

    new sfn.StateMachine(this, 'StateMachine', {
      definition: step_definition,
      timeout: cdk.Duration.seconds(30)
    });
  }
}

Comparison

Generated cloudformation resource property for the AWS::StepFunctions::StateMachine type:

DefinitionString: '{"StartAt":"Pass","States":{"Pass":{"Type":"Pass","End":true}},"TimeoutSeconds":30}'

Expected output:

DefinitionString":"{\n \"StartAt\": \"Pass\",\n \"States\": {\n \"Pass\": {\n \"Type\": \"Pass\",\n \"End\": true\n }\n },\n \"TimeoutSeconds\": 30\n}"

Environment

• **CLI Version :1.38.0 (build d5fa31f)
• Framework Version:
• **OS :Ubuntu 20.04
• **Language :en

Other

Side comparison of AWS Console. Default:

Expected:

*With lager state machine definition the cumbersome is to visualize it in the editor

This is 🐛 Bug Report

[wong-a]

@kristianpaul As an alternative to the console, you can visualize the graph (and format the code) in VS Code using the AWS Toolkit.

See:

• https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/compute/aws-step-functions-support-in-visual-studio-code/
• https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=AmazonWebServices.aws-toolkit-vscode

[peterwoodworth]

Closing this issue as no changes will be (or were) made to the CDK for this