In JSON schema, define and reference a reusable enum type? - jsonschema

I noticed the following: Reusable enum types in json schema , which talks about defining a reusable enum type in JSON schema.
I would have assumed USING this reusable enum type would be trivial, simply specifying (in this case) the value of "MyEnum" for a "type" value.
I don't know if the results from Oxygen XML are authoritative, but I tried something like the following:
{
"$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2019-09/schema#",
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"content": {"$ref": "#/definitions/content_type"}
},
"additionalProperties": false,
"definitions": {
"costCategory_type": {
"type": "object",
"enum": ["VH", "H", "M", "L"]
},
"allowedDevices_type": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"costCategory": {
"type": "costCategory_type"
},
On the line near the bottom of this, where I reference "costCategory_type", Oxygen gives me a syntax error, saying
#/definitions/allowedDevices_type/properties/costCategory/type: unknown type: [costCategory_type]
What am I missing?

Yes, the type keyword can only have values from the list null, boolean, object, array, string, number, integer. You can reference definitions with the $ref keyword:
...
"properties": {
"costCategory": {
"$ref": "#/definitions/costCategory_type",
}
}
(incidentally, your definition won't ever evaluate successfully as-is since you define it as being the "object" type, but the list of values in the enum are all strings.)

Related

Are there more examples of readOnly being used at several levels of a schema to clarify the semantics?

I've been using the readOnly keyword in my schemas and I just realized that I was just making up my own semantics. Now I'm cleaning up a bunch of my designs and trying to validate that I was using this annotation as it was intended. The validation spec is what I'm basing this question on but I'd like to be aware of more example usage scenarios.
Let me give three examples. In this first example I mean to say the entire resource is read only. Nothing can be mutated at any level.
{
"type": "object",
"readOnly": true,
"properties": {
"name": {
"type": "string",
},
"members": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"member1": { "type" : "string" },
"member2": { "type" : "string" }
}
}
}
}
I don't think that's too controversial. But originally, my own mental model was that readOnly at the top level meant you couldn't replace this resource with a new resource. The server would prevent that. But the internal members were still mutable. So I sprinkled readOnly at the name sub-schema and each member sub-schema. I think removing all of those was correct. (My mental model was maybe loosely based on how I interpret const variables in JavaScript. If my const var is an object, I can't change the value of the variable, but I can mutate its members or even add members to it.)
In the second example I leave readOnly out of the schema completely. So it's not too controversial to take that to mean anything is mutable in the resource.
{
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"name": {
"type": "string",
},
"members": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"member1": { "type" : "string" },
"member2": { "type" : "string" }
}
}
}
}
In the third example, I want to mix and match
{
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"name": {
"type": "string",
"readOnly": true
},
"members": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"member1": { "type" : "string", "readOnly": true },
"member2": { "type" : "string", "readOnly": true },
"member3": { "type" : "string"},
"member4": { "type" : "string"}
}
}
}
}
In this example the name, member1 and member2 are immutable. member3 and member4 can be modified.
So the question is, is there anything wrong about my interpretation of readOnly?
The spec, as you linked defines the following for readOnly...
If "readOnly" has a value of boolean true, it indicates that the value
of the instance is managed exclusively by the owning authority, and
attempts by an application to modify the value of this property are
expected to be ignored or rejected by that owning authority.
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-handrews-json-schema-validation-02#section-9.4
If you take the JSON defined meaning of value, it's the bit to the right of the key followed by colon. Therefore I would read this as any part of the value.
The OpenAPI specification only really defines readOnly as being applicable to individual properties.

Using a $ref and other properties within a JSON Schema

In a JSON Schema is is valid to have a $ref and then other properties within the same schema, for example.
{
"$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#",
"type": "object",
"title": "My schema",
"properties": {
"scripts": {
"$ref": "#/definitions/scriptsBase",
"description": "More docs.",
"minLength": 10
}
},
"definitions": {
"scriptsBase": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Base Description",
"minLength": 5
}
}
}
If this is allowable, then what are the rules when it comes to resolving properties defined in the $refed and the $refing schemas (in this example minLength and description. But potentially this could become much more complex if allOf etc where defined in both.
Found the answer in json schema property description and "$ref" usage, basically if a $ref exists all other properties are ignored.
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-pbryan-zyp-json-ref-03#section-3
Syntax
A JSON Reference is a JSON object, which contains a member named
"$ref", which has a JSON string value. Example:
{ "$ref": "http://example.com/example.json#/foo/bar" }
If a JSON value does not have these characteristics, then it SHOULD
NOT be interpreted as a JSON Reference.
The "$ref" string value contains a URI [RFC3986], which identifies
the location of the JSON value being referenced. It is an error
condition if the string value does not conform to URI syntax rules.
Any members other than "$ref" in a JSON Reference object SHALL be
ignored.

AnyOf vs type array

Are there any differences between the following two JSON schemas validations or do they validate the same data structure?
SomeProperty
{
"type": ["integer","string"]
}
SomeProperty
{
"anyOf": [
{
"type": "integer"
},
{
"type": "string"
}
]
}
They are equivalent!
type
The value of this keyword MUST be either a string or an array. If it
is an array, elements of the array MUST be strings and MUST be unique.
String values MUST be one of the six primitive types ("null",
"boolean", "object", "array", "number", or "string"), or "integer"
which matches any number with a zero fractional part.
An instance validates if and only if the instance is in any of the
sets listed for this keyword.
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-handrews-json-schema-validation-01#section-6.1.1
Notice the last section "...in any of..."

Have one property define the types in another array property, using JSON Schema?

Given this example JSON:
{
"type": "number",
"values": [ 34, 42, 99 ]
}
Is it possible to define JSON Schema that makes sure that the contents of
the values array are of the type specified in another property (in this example type)?
Above type is saying that the array values can only contain integers (using the specifier "number").
Or specify that values contains strings:
{
"type": "string",
"values": [ "hello", "world" ]
}
Yes you can use the "items" keyword. If it has a single value then that value is the schema for every element of the array.
{
"type": "array",
"items": { "type: "string" }
}
Assuming you're using a draft4 schema like most people do, section 8.2.3.1 of the specification states:
8.2.3.1. If "items" is a schema
If items is a schema, then the child instance must be valid against
this schema, regardless of its index, and regardless of the value of
"additionalItems".
Yes, but you will have to write an if/then block for each type you want to support.
The Understanding JSON Schema has a section on if/then/else: http://json-schema.org/understanding-json-schema/reference/conditionals.html
Here is an extract that explains how if/then/else works.
For example, let’s say you wanted to write a schema to handle
addresses in the United States and Canada. These countries have
different postal code formats, and we want to select which format to
validate against based on the country. If the address is in the United
States, the postal_code field is a “zipcode”: five numeric digits
followed by an optional four digit suffix. If the address is in
Canada, the postal_code field is a six digit alphanumeric string where
letters and numbers alternate.
{
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"street_address": {
"type": "string"
},
"country": {
"enum": ["United States of America", "Canada"]
}
},
"if": {
"properties": { "country": { "const": "United States of America" } }
},
"then": {
"properties": { "postal_code": { "pattern": "[0-9]{5}(-[0-9]{4})?" } }
},
"else": {
"properties": { "postal_code": { "pattern": "[A-Z][0-9][A-Z] [0-9][A-Z][0-9]" } }
}
}
For each type you want to support, you would need to write if/then object, and wrap all of them in an allOf.

reusing an object for multiple JSON schemas

I have two separate JSON schemas (used to validate HTTP request endpoints for a REST API) where they both accept the same exact object, but have different required fields (this is a create vs update request). Is there a way I can reuse a single definition of this object and only change the required fields? I know how to use $ref for reusing an object as a property of another object, but I cannot figure out how to reuse an entire object as the top-level object in a schema. My failed attempt so far:
event.json
{
"id": "event",
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"name": {
"type": "string"
},
"start_date": {
"type": "integer"
},
"end_date": {
"type": "integer"
},
"description": {
"type": "string"
}
},
"additionalProperties": false
}
event-create.json
{
"id": "event-create",
"type": "object",
"$ref": "event",
"additionalProperties": false,
"required": [ "name", "description" ]
}
Obviously that doesn't work. It seems like it tries to insert the entirety of 'event' into the definition of 'event-create', including the ID and such. I tried referincing event#/properties to no avail. I can't seem to do a $ref as the sole value inside a properties property either. Any ideas?
Any members other than "$ref" in a JSON Reference object SHALL be ignored.
- https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-pbryan-zyp-json-ref-03#section-3
This is why your example doesn't work. Anything other than the $ref field is supposed to be ignored.
Support for $ref is limited to fields whose type is a JSON Schema. That is why trying to use it for properties doesn't work. properties is a plain object whose values are JSON Schemas.
The best way to do this is with allOf. In this case allOf can sort-of be thought of as a list of mixin schemas.
{
"id": "event-create",
"type": "object",
"allOf": [{ "$ref": "event" }],
"required": ["name", "description"]
}
I found some syntax that seems to work, but I'm not terribly happy with it:
{
"id": "event-create",
"allOf": [
{ "$ref": "event" },
{ "required": [ "name", "description" ] }
]
}
Seems like an abuse of the allOf operator, particularly for another case where there are no required fields (thus only one element insid the allof). But it works, so I'm going with it unless someone has a better idea.