run_instance requires instance type enum which limits types depending on sdk version

[ben-kugler]

Describe the feature

Allow usage of String instance type when calling run_instance instead of InstanceType enum.

Use Case

1. The available instance types are limited to what the sdk version currently has access too. This seems like a very strange decision to limit access of instance types
2. Rolling back code that previously upgraded sdk client could cause a poison pill due to a previously known instance type becoming unknown. This is very insidious as I imagine most aren't thinking about how these enums are tied to sdk versions.

Proposed Solution

Allow user to use a plan String instead of InstanceType enum when calling run_instance. I believe that InstanceType is translated to a string when making the request anyway, this doesn't seem very hard to add an additional field to all users to use a string value instance type.

Other Information

NA

Acknowledgements

• I may be able to implement this feature request
• This feature might incur a breaking change

A note for the community

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[aajtodd]

Allow usage of String instance type when calling run_instance instead of InstanceType enum.

InstanceType implements From<&str> and FromStr. This allows any arbitrary string value which will be used directly when serializing.

The available instance types are limited to what the sdk version currently has access too. This seems like a very strange decision to limit access of instance types

This is precisely why all enums support an unknown variant and accept arbitrary string values. This provides forwards compatibility as well. e.g. it allows you to round trip a response with an instance type your SDK version doesn't know and make use of it.

Rolling back code that previously upgraded sdk client could cause a poison pill due to a previously known instance type becoming unknown. This is very insidious as I imagine most aren't thinking about how these enums are tied to sdk versions.

This is true if you use the concrete instance type (e.g. InstanceType::OnlyInNewerVersion). Though this would be true for any new API in any library you take advantage of and then try to downgrade.