JSON schema draft4 VS JSON schema draft3 - json

What are the features present in the schema draft 4 that are not in the JSON schema draft 3 produced by IETF ?

From the change logs:
New keywords
anyOf (match at least one schema in the schema array),
allOf (match all schemas in the schema array),
oneOf (match exactly one schema in the schema array),
not (do not match the schema),
multipleOf (replaces divisibleBy),
minProperties and maxProperties (the minimum and maximum number of members in an object instance),
definitions (standardized container for inlined subschemas).
Removed:
disallow
extends
divisbleBy
Changed in functionality:
Type
When the value is an array, schemas are no longer allowed as elements. Also, the array must have at least one element.
Before
{
"type": [ "string", { "other": "schema" } ]
}
Now
{
"anyOf": [
{ "type": "string" },
{ "other": "schema" }
]
}
Required
Before, it was an attribute of subschemas in properties. It is now a first level keyword playing the same role, and has a string array as an argument.
Before
{
"properties": {
"p": {
"type": "string",
"required": true
},
"q": {
"type": "string",
"required": true
}
}
}
Now
{
"properties": {
"p": { "type": "string" },
"q": { "type": "string" }
},
"required": [ "p", "q" ]
}
Dependencies
A single string in a property dependency is no longer allowed, only arrays are allowed
Before
{
"dependencies": { "a": "b" }
}
Now
{
"dependencies": { "a": [ "b" ] }
}

If you're interested in a deep dive, you can review a diff between the two drafts on the IETF site.
However, if you're looking for a simpler summary of changes, Geraint Luff and Francis Galiegue created a changelog page on the project's github wiki that lists the changes, additions, and removals.

Related

Can a JSON schema specify required properties in object OR array?

I am struggling to understand if it's possible to write a json schema that requires certain properties, but also allows those properties to be in different areas of the json file (e.g. a property value can be in the main top-level object OR it can be in an array - it just needs to be somewhere).
For example, I have some devices that collect multiple temperature records over the course of a few hours and send the records in batches. However, some of the devices send the software version once in the main object, while others send the software version along with each hourly temperature record (inside a "records" array).
Example 1 (swversion sent once in main object):
{
"name": "device1",
"swversion": "1.3.abc2",
"records": [
{
"time": "10am",
"temp": 2
},
{
"time": "11am",
"temp": 4
}
]
}
Example 2 (swversion sent inside "records" array):
{
"name": "device1",
"records": [
{
"time": "10am",
"temp": 2,
"swversion": "1.3.abc2"
},
{
"time": "11am",
"temp": 4,
"swversion": "1.3.abc2"
}
]
}
Using these examples, I would like to write my schema definition as follows (the first two bullets are easy, the last one is where I'm struggling):
Main object requires name property and records array
records array can contain objects where time and temp would be required
swversion is required somewhere (could be in the main object or inside records array)
Is there a feature I'm missing in json-schema that enforces required properties, yet allows the flexibility for said properties to be anywhere (e.g. within an object OR an array), as long as they are present somewhere?
The anyOf keyword is a boolean OR operation. At least one of the schemas must pass for the keyword to pass. The first schema requires that the "swversion" property is present at the top level. The second schema requires that the "swversion" property is required in each of the items in the "record" array.
{
... define the easy stuff here, then ...,
"anyOf": [
{ "required": ["swversion"] },
{
"properties": {
"records": {
{ "items": { "required": ["swversion"] } }
}
}
}
]
}
In this example, "swversion" could appear in both places. If you only want to ensure that it only appear in one place (top level or items), you can use oneOf instead of anyOf.
Is there a feature .. that allows the flexibility for said properties to be anywhere
Not directly, but it's not difficult to express this. You can define the structure of "swversion" itself in a definition that is re-used via a reference.
In pseudocode, that would be:
any of:
the main object contains a "swversion" property,
all the items under "records" contain a "swversion" property
In code:
{
"$defs": {
"swversion": {
"type": "string",
.. other constraints?
}
},
"type": "object",
"properties": {
... other property definitions ...,
"records": {
"items": {
"type": "object",
... other definitions for the mandatory portion of records ...
}
}
},
"anyOf": [
{
"$comment": "swversion is a member of the main object",
"required": [ "swversion" ],
"properties": {
"swversion": {
"$ref": "#/$defs/swversion"
}
},
{
"$comment": "swversion is a member of all the items under the records property",
"properties": {
"records": {
"items": {
"type": "object",
"required": [ "swversion" ],
"properties": {
"swversion": {
"$ref": "#/$defs/swversion"
}
}
}
}
}
}
],
}
Note that if you are using JSON Schema version draft7 or earlier, change $defs to definitions.

Conditionally determine the required-ness of a field

I need to refer to a sub-schema of certain property (Kind in the example) from a different property in the schema, and then enforce some more conditions on it. Important thing to note is I cannot make those changes where I've defined Kind, I need to refer to it from some other property and then add conditionals on top of it.
{
"$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
"properties": {
"Kind": {
"$id": "#/properties/Kind",
"type": "string",
"enum": [
"Foo",
"Bar"
]
}
},
"allOf": [
{
"if": {
"$ref": "#/properties/Kind",
"const": "Foo"
},
"then": {
"required": [
"MyField"
]
}
}
]
}
A json object like below should fail the validation, because MyField property is absent
{
"Kind": "Foo"
}
I don't want the following solution, since this is just a simplified version and ultimately I want to refer to Kind value from another property. If I do following, then #/properties/Kind is interpreted relative to where I refer Kind so it doesn't refer to the Kind at the top level. I want a solution which uses the $ref and $id keywords.
{
"$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
"properties": {
"Kind": {
"$id": "#/properties/Kind",
"type": "string",
"enum": [
"Foo",
"Bar"
]
}
},
"allOf": [
{
"if": {
"properties": {"Kind":{
"const":"Foo"
}}
},
"then": {
"required": [
"MyField"
]
}
}
]
}
To summarize, let's say I've following JSON structure. The last allOf statement is what I need to add.
- Kind ( enum of One,Two)
- Other
- MyField
- ConditionField
- allOf ( which enforces the required-ness of MyField based on ConditionField)
- allOf ( MyField should be not-required if Kind is One)
[ To add this last conditional, I need to reference the value of Kind.
I'm hoping providing $id to Kind and referring to it with $ref should be my approach,
which doesn't seem to be working]
To summarize even further, I would get my answer if we're able to get the first snippet work using $id and $ref.
There seem to be some misunderstandings that are making it difficult to fully understand the problem here, but one part of the edited question makes enough sense that I think I can start things off and we can iterate on the answer as necessary.
Let's start with some of the things that don't make sense in hopes that it helps clarify possible misunderstandings.
$ref can't change the behavior of a schema. If you can't do something without $ref, then you can't make the schema behave another way by introducing $ref. The only exception to that rule is recursive schemas, which would require an infinitely large and repeating schema without using $ref.
I'm not sure what you are trying to get from $id, but it's pretty safe to say you don't need it for this. In any case, the $id used the question is invalid. An anchor can not have a / in it. Even if it was valid, it would be redundant because you can reference that location with the same JSON Pointer without an anchor.
MyField should be not-required if Kind is One
I'm not sure if "not-required" means forbidden or optional. Everything is optional by default in JSON Schema, so if you meant optional, there is nothing to do here. Therefore, I'll assume for now that you mean forbidden. Here's what that would look like.
{
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"Kind": { "enum": ["One", "Two"] },
"Other": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"MyField": {}
}
}
},
"allOf": [
{
"if": {
"properties": {
"Kind": { "const": "One" }
},
"required": ["Kind"]
},
"then": {
"properties": {
"Other": {
"not": { "required": ["MyField"] }
}
}
}
}
]
}

JSON Schema object with primitive type or $ref type?

I have a schema in which a particular property (child) can be either a string or it can be an object I already have defined (ChildClass). I'm having a hard time defining this in the schema, however:
{
definitions": {
"ChildClass": { ... },
"ParentClass": {
"description": "The parent object",
"type": [ "object" ],
"properties": {
"child": {
"anyOf": [
{ "$ref": "#/definitions/ChildClass" },
"string"
]
}
}
}
}
}
I can use either the "string" definition or my referenced definition, but not both together (with anyOf). What's the appropriate syntax to allow the schema to understand that either one of these is valid?
The anyOf keyword requires schemas as its items. "string" is not in itself a schema. Try using
{"type": "string"}
inside the anyOf alongside your ChildClass reference.

Validate each JSON node with different JSON schema

Im trying to make a system monitor, which is highly customisable by user. This customization is achieved by using JSON file for modeling look of system monitor. The JSON could look like this.
{
"_": "WINDOW",
"name": "myWindow",
"children": [
{
"_": "CPU",
"name": "cpuMonitor",
"freq_Unit": "MHZ"
},
{
"_": "NETWORK",
"name": "network",
"unit": "Kb/s"
},
{
"_": "DISK",
"name": "disk"
}
],
"background": "red"
}
As you can see, each object coresponds to this schema.
{
"$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
"name":"Component",
"type": "object",
"properties":{
"_": {
"type": "string"
},
"name":{
"type":"string"
},
"childern":{
"type":"array"
}
},
"required": ["_","name"]
}
But each component has also its own schema definition. I'd like to parse whole JSON and validate each node for different schema (first if its component and then to its corresponding schema).
I had look at rapidJson and other libraries, but I didnt find solution for validating nodes for different schema. Do you know any library which could do that? Or is it even possible to validate JSON in this way?
All feedback on how to solve this will be appreciated.
Edit: Corrected schema :(
There's a simple approach involved with that, use the oneOf pattern declaration to specify the layout of the array elements. Inside these nested declarations, you specify the fixed identifier (probably the content of your _ field) as a constant, so that there is only one nested schema matching each of your panel types.
Notes:
I had to specify the constant type identifier using the enum specifier because the regular constant specifier didn't work with the library I was using. This may also have been an oversight in the revision of the specification that it was based on.
A different approach is to split the the validation steps. You simply verify that the elements of the array are objects and that they have a string field _ containing one of the supported types. When iterating over the array, you then validate each field individually according to its _ field.
In addition to Ulrich's answer, here's an example of what I'd do:
{
"$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
"title": "Component",
"type": "object",
"definitions": {
"base": {
"properties": {
"name": { "type": "string" },
"children": {
"type": "array",
"items": { "$ref": "#" }
}
},
"required": [ "_", "name" ]
},
"cpu": {
"properties": {
"_": { "const": "CPU" },
"freq_Unit": "MHZ"
}
},
"network": {
"properties": {
"_": { "const": "NETWORK" },
"unit": "Kb/s"
}
},
"disk": {
"properties": {
"_": { "const": "DISK" }
}
},
"window": {
"properties": {
"_": { "const": "WINDOW" },
"background": { "enum": [ "red", "orange", "yellow", ... ] }
}
}
},
"allOf": [
{ "$ref": "#/definitions/base" },
{
"oneOf": [
{ "$ref": "#/definitions/cpu" },
{ "$ref": "#/definitions/network" },
{ "$ref": "#/definitions/disk" },
{ "$ref": "#/definitions/window" }
]
}
]
}
First, we require that any instance MUST adhere to base which declares _ and name as required properties. Additionally, we declare a children array property that requires all items also match this schema (giving us a recursive behavior). This doesn't really do much except that it allows us to declare these things in one place instead of having to declare them in the other three definitions.
(Note that we don't declare _ in the properties list. This means that any value will pass for this portion of the schema. We clean it up in the next part. If you want to ensure that future components are declared with strings, then you can add a "type": "string" requirement to that property, but I don't feel it's necessary unless others are authoring those components.)
Second, we declare each of our specific types as separate definitions, using the const keyword to isolate the one we want. This construct is analogous to a switch (or case) statement. If the instance doesn't match one of these explicit options, it fails. If it's missing one of the required base properties, it fails.
This will get you where you want to be.
To take it further, there are two more things you can do:
Add required to the other definitions to say that the specific properties are also required (e.g. freq_Unit for the cpu definition).
Declare each of the definitions in separate files. This would allow you to add a new definition by simply adding a new file and referencing it in the main schema. In my opinion, it's a bit cleaner. Some people prefer to have it all in one file, though.

JSON Schema require a specific array element

I defined a list of attributes as json schema:
{
"$schema": "http://json-schema.org/schema#",
"type": "object",
"definitions": {
"attribute": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"symbolic-name": { "type":"string"},
"value": { "type":"string"}
},
"required": ["symbolic-name", "value"]
},
"displayname": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"symbolic-name": {"enum":["displayName"]},
"value": { "type":"string"}
},
"required": ["symbolic-name", "value"]
}
},
"properties": {
"attributes":{
"type": "array",
// This is the crucial point:
"items": {"oneOf": [
{"$ref": "#/definitions/attribute"},
{"$ref": "#/definitions/displayname"}
]},
"uniqueItems": true
}
}
}
I want to require the list to have exactly one attribute with symbolic-name="displayName"
A valid data object would be:
{
"attributes":[
{"symbolic-name": "displayName", "value": "Display Name"},
{"symbolic-name": "somethingElse", "value": "value1"}
{"symbolic-name": "somethingElse", "value": "value2"}
]
}
Now, this fails to validate as the displayName attribute does not only match "oneOf", but both restrictions. I cannot change it to "allOf", since then all other attributes beside displayName won't match anymore.
In order for your "oneOf" to work, you need your "attribute" and "displayname" schemas to be mutually exclusive- as written, anything that is a valid "displayname" is also a valid "attribute". We can do that by excluding "displayName" as a valid symbolic name for "attribute":
"symbolic-name": {
"type": "string",
"not": {"enum": ["displayName"]}
}
Now elements with a symbolic name of "displayName" can match the "displayname" definition, but will never match the "attribute" definition.
The other part of your question is about having exactly one "displayname" in your array. This is trickier. It also depends on what draft of JSON Schema you are using. 4 and 6 are implemented, and 7 was released on Monday- just declaring "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/schema#" means you are using the most recent one, which would be 7. I recommend using a specific draft for $schema instead of the non-numbered one which may change without notice.
If you are OK with requiring the "displayname" to be the first element of the array, then this would work in any draft (and you don't even need the "oneOf"):
"items": [{"$ref": "#/definitions/displayname"}],
"additionalItems": {"$ref": "#/definitions/attribute"}
Note that "items" is an array here. This means that the first item MUST be a "displayname" and all additional items beyond that first item MUST be "attribute"s.
If you want to allow the "displayname" at any position, that's harder. As of draft-06 there is "contains", which requires at least one item to match the given schema. But there is no easy way to say "at most one item". However, "minContains" and "maxContains" have been suggested for draft-08: https://github.com/json-schema-org/json-schema-spec/issues/441
For now, hopefully you are OK with requiring the first position to be the "displayname", as that will work in all drafts.