Deserialize an anonymous JSON array? - json

I got an anonymous array which I want to deserialize, here the example of the first array object
[
{ "time":"08:55:54",
"date":"2016-05-27",
"timestamp":1464332154807,
"level":3,
"message":"registerResourcePath ('', '/sap/bc/ui5_ui5/ui2/ushell/resources/')",
"details":"","component":"sap.ui.ModuleSystem"},
{"time":"08:55:54","date":"2016-05-27","timestamp":1464332154808,"level":3,"message":"URL prefixes set to:","details":"","component":"sap.ui.ModuleSystem"},
{"time":"08:55:54","date":"2016-05-27","timestamp":1464332154808,"level":3,"message":" (default) : /sap/bc/ui5_ui5/ui2/ushell/resources/","details":"","component":"sap.ui.ModuleSystem"}
]
I tried deserializing using CL_TREX_JSON_SERIALIZER, but it is corrupt and does not work with my JSON, here is why
Then I tried /UI2/CL_JSON, but it needs a "structure" that perfectly fits the object given by the JSON Object. "Structure" means in my case an internal table of objects with the attributes time, date, timestamp, level, messageanddetails. And there was the problem: it does not properly handle references and uses class description to describe the field assigned to the field-symbol. Since I can not have a list of objects but only a list of references to objects that solution also doesn't works.
As a third attempt I tried with the CALL TRANSFORMATION as described by Horst Keller, but with this method I was not able to read in an anonymous array, and here is why
My major points:
I do not want to change the JSON, since that is what I get from sap.ui.log
I prefere to use built-in functionality and not a thirdparty framework

Your problem comes out not from the anonymity of array, but from the awkwardness of SAP JSON (De)serializer, which doesn't respect double quotes, which enclose JSON attributes. The issue is thoroughly described in this answer.
If you don't want to change your JSON on-the-fly, the only way you have is to change CL_TREX_JSON_DESERIALIZER class like this.

/UI5/CL_JSON_PARSER parses JSONs with unknown format.
Note that it's got "for internal use" written on it so many times that you probably should take it seriously and clone its code to fixate it.

Related

Mapping JSON to Apama Events

I am trying to use the Mapper codec in my connectivity chain to convert a JSON object that looks like this:
{"test2":[
["column1","column2","column3"],
["16091", "449", "05302018"],
["16092", "705", "05302018"]
]}
to an EPL type. To me it looks like a sequence of sequences, so I used
event test1 {
sequence<string> values;
}
event test2 {
sequence<test1> tests;
}
But this gives me the error
Unable to parse event test.1: Incorrect type in get (you asked for map but its' actually list)
Any ideas how I should be using the Mapper codec to this end?
Unless explicitly remapped, that won't quite work. You have to consider the entire structure of the document from top to bottom. It's not a sequence of strings - it's a JSON object/dictionary at top-level, with a value that is a sequence of sequences of string.
A JSON object/dictionary can map to an event type based on field names. So as Matt's answer said, a JSON document like yours would need an event type like
event SomeEventType {
sequence<sequence<string > > test2;
}
If it's not appropriate to create an event type that exactly corresponds to the JSON document's structure, then you'll need to use the mapping codec to rearrange the fields in the JSON document to match the fields and sub-fields in an event type. Or possibly a custom codec; I think Matt's right that the mapper can't do exactly what you want.
Further, because JSON documents are type-less at the top-level, you'll need to make sure that the event type is defined somehow. There are multiple ways of doing that.
(1) If this particular connectivity will only send you events of one type, you can use the 'defaultEventType' configuration option of the apama.eventMap host plug-in at the top of your chain e.g.
apama.eventMap:
defaultEventMap: SomeEventType
(2) If it depends on the structure of the document, you'll need to use the classifier codec. That can take a message going towards the correlator, and assign it an event type based on the content of fields (or simply their presence). You can learn about it in the documentation.
(3) The transport will sometimes define it on messages being sent towards the correlator. For example, in the case of the Universal Messaging transport, then the 'tag' of the UM event will be used as the type. This may or may not be appropriate.
If you do end up doing anything non-trivial with the classifier or mapper, I'd strongly recommend use of the 'diagnostic codec' to help in developing the classifier or mapper rules. This is a codec you can put anywhere in the chain of codecs that will log every event going through it, so you can see how your rules are operating by seeing what happens before and after classification/mapping. You can read about it in the documentation, but it's usually as simple as putting '- diagnosticCodec' somewhere in your chain. I've found it absolutely invaluable when debugging connectivity chains.
you want your event type to look like:
event type1 {
sequence<sequence<string> > data;
}
it's not possible in the mapper directly to convert to your type2/type1 schema, but you'd be able to write your own codec to do that or do post-filtering in EPL.
HTH,
Matt

Json Object with one attribute or primitive Json Data type?

I am building a REST API which creates a resource. The resource has only one attribute which is a rather long and unique string. I am planning to send this data to the API as JSON. I see two choices for modeling the data as JSON
A primitive JSON String data type
A JSON object with one String attribute.
Both the options work.
Which of these two options is preferred for this context? And why?
Basic Answer for Returning
I would personally use option 2, which is: `A JSON object with one String attribute.'
Also, in terms of design: I prefer to return an object, that has a key/value. The key is also a name that provides context as to what has been returned.
Returning just a string, basically a "" or {""} lacks that context ( the name of the returned variable.
Debate: Are primitive Strings Json Objects?
There seems to be also some confusion as to if a String by itself is a valid JSON document.
This confusion and debate, are quite evident in the following posts where various technical specs are mentioned: Is a primitive type considered JSON?
The only thing for sure is that a JSON object with a key-value pair is definitely valid!
As to a string by itself.. I'm not sure ( requires more reading).
Update: Answer In terms of creating/updating an entity (Post/Put)
In the specific case above, relating to such a large string that "runs into a few kilobytes"... my feeling is that this would be included within the request body.
In the specific context of sending data, I would actually be comfortable with using either 1 or 2. Additionally, 1 seems more optimized ( if your frameworks support it), since the context about what the data is, is related to the rest API method.
However, if in the future you need to add one more parameter, you will have to use a JSON entity with more than one key.

How to create diff of two generic T:Codable structs in Swift?

Given: I have two structs of the same type, conforming to Codable Protocol.
The structs can be multi-level (nested properties, surely also are conforming to Codable). The type is not known at the time of implementation, so i consider it generic, conforming to Codable.
One object is "base" (say, received from server), second (actually the copy of "base"), but modified inside application.
The intention is: To send a request for saving new data, but sending only the "diff" of two structs. So, only the fields, that are different should be present in resulting JSON.
The straightforward way with getting JSON strings for both structs and manipulating with them, is understandable, but seem to be the last-chance approach...
I've tried the approach with Mirror, and recursion, but now have managed to make it work only for first level - on the second level of nesting i've lost the type of nested property (if struct or array), and cannot cast it right then...
I wonder if it can be made somehow with custom encoder?
P.S.: the generic type should have all properties as Optionals, so should not provide any explicit initializers.
Instead of your "last-chance approach" -- matching JSON strings -- you could use JSONSerialization.jsonObject to convert the JSON data to Foundation objects and perform your comparison on that higher level of abstraction (if that's what you meant in your question in the first place, then sorry - nevermind).
Of course you'd pay an extra penalty of converting your Codable objects to data and then parsing that data into an object hierarchy.

Is it valid for JSON data structure to vary between a list and a boolean

The json data structure for jstree is define in https://github.com/vakata/jstree, here is an example
[ { "text" : "Root node", "children" : [ "Child node 1", "Child node 2" ] } ]
Notably it says
The children key can be used to add children to the branch, it should
be an array
However later on in section Populating the tree using AJAX and lazy loading nodes it shows to use set children to false to indicate when a child has not be processed
[{
"id":1,"text":"Root node","children":[
{"id":2,"text":"Child node 1","children":true},
{"id":3,"text":"Child node 2"}
]
}]
So here we see children used as both as an array and as a boolean
I am using jstree as an example because this is where I encountered the issue, but my question is really a general json question. My question is this, is it valid JSON for the same element in json to be two different types (an array and a boolean)
Structure wise, both are valid JSON packets. This is okay, as JSON is somewhat less stricter than XML(with a XSD or a DTD). As per: https://www.w3schools.com/js/js_json_objects.asp,
JSON objects are surrounded by curly braces {}.
JSON objects are written in key/value pairs.
Keys must be strings, and values must be a valid JSON data type (string, number, object, array, boolean or null).
Keys and values are separated by a colon.
Each key/value pair is separated by a comma.
Having said that, if the sender is allowed to send such JSONs, only caveat is that server side will have to handle this discrepancy upon receiving such different packets. This is a bad-looking-contract, and hence server might need to do extra work to manage it. Server side handling of such incoming JSON packets can become tricky.
See: How do I create JSON data structure when element can be different types in for use by
You could validate whether a JSON is okay or not at https://jsonlint.com/
See more about JSON in this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/4862511/945214
It is valid Json. JSON RFC 8259 defines a general syntax but it contains nothing that would allow a tool to identify that two equally named entries are meant to describe the same conceptual thing.
The need to have a criteria to check two JSON structures for instance equality has been one motivation to create something like Json Schema.
I also think it is not too unusual for javascript to provide this kind of mixed data. Sometimes it might help to explicitly convert the javascript object to JSON. Like in JSON.stringify(testObject)
A thing for json validation
https://www.npmjs.com/package/json-validation
https://davidwalsh.name/json-validation.

Are double definitions allowed in JSON, and if so, how should they be interpreted?

Is this valid JSON?
{
"name": "foo",
"name": "bar"
}
If so, how should it be interpreted?
It's technically legal, but strongly discouraged, according to the RFC:
The names within an object SHOULD be unique.
You can go one of two routes:
The JavaScript route: In JavaScript, this is illegal. Since JSON is supposed to be a subset, reject the input as invalid.
The Postel/Python route: Overwrite the "var" entry with the latest value.
According to RFC 4627, duplicate names are discouraged. See section 2.2. Objects:
The names within an object SHOULD be unique.
The above URL also refers us to RFC 2119, which specifies how the word SHOULD is interpreted:
SHOULD
This word, or the adjective "RECOMMENDED", mean that there
may exist valid reasons in particular circumstances to ignore a
particular item, but the full implications must be understood and
carefully weighed before choosing a different course.
However, many parsers & JSON APIs implement this as SHOULD ALWAYS, and throw an error or ignore multiple values upon encountering duplicate properties. This includes jQuery.parseJSON() as well as .NET's JSON serialization.
It is not valid JSON as there are two name variables. Take a read of this to help you understand JSON a bit better.
JSon object, like any other object, can not have two attribute with same name. That's illegal in the same way as having same key twice in a map.
JSONObject would throw an exception if you have two keys with same name in one object. You may want to alter your object so that keys are not repeated under same object.
In this case the change would be to make your json key name have value as an array
No, is not. You have two attributes with the same label/name/title. Here is a very simple and short explanation of the JSON