Modify format based on custom DataType attribute about njsonschema

[RicoSuter]

So this is for the JSON Schema generator from a C# type? Can you provide a sample?

[AndyEdmonds]

public class Connectivity
{
    [Required]
    [Display(Name = "External connections", Description = "Connections to external SaaS vendors triggered by or triggering projects")]
    public List<Connector> connectors { get; set; }
}

public enum ConnectorType { twilio, sendgrid, skype, facebook, custom}

public class Connector
{
    [Required]
    [Display(Name = "SaaS vendor", Description = "The SaaS service you are connecting to.")]
    public ConnectorType type { get; set; }

    [Required]
    [Display(Name = "Your ID", Description = "The SaaS service ID that identifies your account")]
    public string id { get; set; }

    [Required]
    [Display(Name = "Your API key", Description = "The SaaS service secret token or API key")]
    public string key { get; set; }

    [Display(Name = "The destination address", Description = "The destination of any transmission over a public medium")]
    public string dest { get; set; }
}

creates the schema:

{
  "typeName": "Connectivity",
  "additionalProperties": false,
  "type": "object",
  "required": [
    "connectors"
  ],
  "properties": {
    "connectors": {
      "items": {
        "typeName": "Connector",
        "additionalProperties": false,
        "type": "object",
        "required": [
          "type",
          "id",
          "key"
        ],
        "properties": {
          "type": {
            "typeName": "ConnectorType",
            "type": "integer",
            "enum": [
              0,
              1,
              2,
              3,
              4
            ],
            "enumNames": [
              "twilio",
              "sendgrid",
              "skype",
              "facebook",
              "custom"
            ],
            "title": "SaaS vendor",
            "description": "The SaaS service you are connecting to."
          },
          "id": {
            "type": "string",
            "title": "Your ID",
            "description": "The SaaS service ID that identifies your account"
          },
          "key": {
            "type": "string",
            "title": "Your API key",
            "description": "The SaaS service secret token or API key"
          },
          "dest": {
            "type": [
              "null",
              "string"
            ],
            "title": "The destination address",
            "description": "The destination of any transmission over a public medium"
          }
        }
      },
      "type": "array",
      "title": "External connections",
      "description": "Connections to external SaaS vendors triggered by or triggering projects"
    }
  },
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#"
}

In order to get json-editor to display this in grid format, the first part of the schema should be:

{
  "typeName": "Connectivity",
  "additionalProperties": false,
  "type": "object",
  "format": "grid",
  "required": [
    "connectors"
  ],

I'm looking for some method to inject this. I want to use your tool to dynamically create the json so that changes to the classes are automatically reflected in the editor.

[RicoSuter]

Can't you post process the generated schema and add the additional format strings?

We could add a custom attribute like this:

[JsonFormat("grid")]
public class Connectivity
{
    public List<Connector> connectors { get; set; }
}

However I'm not yet sure if this is a good idea (as it is a custom JSON Schema extension)

[AndyEdmonds]

Hi, I certainly can post process, and that's the interim fix, but it's clumsy. Your solution looks good.

[RicoSuter]

Hmm, the problem is, that there is currently no annotations NuGet... can we use an attribute of the .NET framework or Json.NET? Is DataTypeAttibute a fit?

[AndyEdmonds]

That was my guess. There is a custom datatype defined. Also, and I should probably make this a separate issue, do you support readOnly? It's in the Json schema spec, and the matching attribute is
[ReadOnly(true)]

[RicoSuter]

The readonly keyword has been removed: http://json-schema.org/latest/json-schema-hypermedia.html#anchor15

[RicoSuter]

And btw: Using the format property for describing the UI is wrong. The property is intended to describe the format of the value (i.e. how to parse it) and not how to display it (i.e. list, grid, etc). See http://json-schema.org/latest/json-schema-validation.html#anchor104

[RicoSuter]

Maybe you should write an object tree traverser to enhance the model for your needs... All your are extremely customized for your needs and do not really fit into a generic JSON Schema library...

[AndyEdmonds]

Hi Rico,
They've moved it to the hyper schema. It's still there as far as I can see on your link.
You are probably right that json-editor is trying to stretch the spec, but it would be nice anyway.

[RicoSuter]

I understand your problem, as I've implemented something similar: http://visualjsoneditor.org. It is important only add really required customizations because you can never remove/or change them later...

[RicoSuter]

Ok, ill add the attributes JsonSchemaFormat and JsonSchemaType to the NuGet NJsonSchema. Additionally a IsReadOnly property to the JsonSchema4 class & documentation

[RicoSuter]

... then you can "abuse" the format field ;-)

[RicoSuter]

Ok, features added:

IsReadOnly: 0cf3a63
JsonSchemaAttribute: e56b008

[RicoSuter]

NuGet v1.37 released: https://www.nuget.org/packages/NJsonSchema/1.37.5912.16399

[RicoSuter]

Dokumented here: https://github.com/NJsonSchema/NJsonSchema/wiki/JsonSchemaGenerator