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I have a resource that has a string value that I want to return. But I don’t know it immediately. How can I return it as a promise-like output that pulumi recognizes?

More importantly how do I define it so that before its assigned pulumi recognizes that it has to wait for a value.

This is what I have in my resource:

```export default class ValidCertificate extends pulumi.ComponentResource {           
    
    private certificateArn: pulumi.Output&lt;string&gt;;                                 
      
            
    constructor(name: string, args: { fqdn: string, zoneId: pulumi.Input&lt;string&gt; }, opts?: pulumi.ComponentResourceOptions) {
       
        //stuff...
        certificateArn = certificate.arn

        //other stuff
    }
}
                                                                                     ```
Is that sufficient?

I have a getter that returns the certificateArn

Wouldn’t this be undefined until its assigned?

i’m sorry, not really following the question :sweat_smile:

I have a resource which I’m returning an output that I’m creating. But that output is not immediately known. It comes from a promise. How do I create my own output this way?

You might have to resolve the promise first of course so you have a string

I’m confused. How does pulumi know that it’s going to get an output?

How does it know that myCertificateResource.certificateArn has a value if initially it’s undefined and only set in the constructor after the promise has been fulfilled?

```export default class ValidCertificate extends pulumi.ComponentResource {           
    
    private certificateArn: pulumi.Output&lt;string&gt;;                                 
      
            
    constructor(name: string, args: { fqdn: string, zoneId: pulumi.Input&lt;string&gt; }, opts?: pulumi.ComponentResourceOptions) {
       
        //stuff...
        mypromise.then(result =&gt; {
          certificateArn = pulumi.output(certificateArn)
        });

        //other stuff
    }
}```

Then later:
```myValidCertificateResource.certificateArn```

If the certificate is being created by Pulumi, then it's an output already, just use it.
If you're using your own code to create / retrieve it, then put that code in an async function. The value returned from the function is a Promise. Pulumi understands Promises (look at the definition of `Input&lt;&gt;`) and will do the right thing.