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Json
Overview
JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation. It is a plain text format commonly used for serialization of data. It is specified in RFC 4627. The JSON format is designed to support 100% fidelity with with the full Haystack type system.
JSON is represented by the def filetype:json.
JSON Version 4
This section describes the Haystack 4 method for encoding Haystack types to JSON. This is the default encoding for JSON in Haystack 4.
The following Haystack types can be mapped directly to JSON:
Haystack JSON -------- ---- Dict Object List Array null null Bool Boolean Str String Number Number (see note)
Note: Number maps directly to JSON Number when it is not special (INF, -INF, NaN) and when the number has no unit. Otherwise it is encoded as an object as described below.
All other Haystack types map to a JSON Object. These objects are required to have a _kind key whose value is the Haystack 4 def name for the type. A dict is the only object where the _kind is optional. Therefore, all properly formatted JSON objects without a _kind are, by definition, dicts.
The following sections indicate how the various Haystack types are encoded as JSON objects.
Number
A JSON number. If the number is special or has a unit, it is encoded an object with the following keys:
_kind: "number"val: the JSON Number,INF,-INF, orNaN.unit: (optional) the String unit
// unitless number
123.45
// verbose encoding of a unitless number
{ "_kind": "number", "val": 123.45 }
// with a unit
{ "_kind": "number", "val": 123, "unit": "m" }
// positive infinity
{ "_kind": "number", "val": "INF" }
// negative infinity
{ "_kind": "number", "val": "-INF" }
// Not-a-number
{ "_kind": "number", "val": "NaN" }
Marker
A marker object is encoded with just its _kind.
{ "_kind": "marker" }
Remove
A remove object is encoded with just its _kind.
{ "_kind": "remove" }
NA
An NA (not available) object is encoded with just its _kind.
{ "_kind": "na" }
Ref
A Haystack Ref is encoded as an object with the following keys:
_kind: "ref"val: the String id for the refdis: (optional) the String display name for the ref
// no diplay name
{ "_kind": "ref", "val": "abc-def"}
// with a display name
{ "_kind": "ref", "val": "abc-def", "dis": "Main Elec Meter" }
Date
A Haystack Date is encoded as an object with the following keys:
_kind: "date"val: the ISO 8601 String encoding of the date
{ "_kind": "date", "val": "2021-03-22" }
Time
A Haystack Time is encoded as an object with the following keys:
_kind: "time"val: the ISO 8601 String encoding of the time
{ "_kind": "time", "val": "17:19:23" }
DateTime
A Haystack DateTime is encoded as an object with the following keys:
_kind: "dateTime"val: the ISO 8601 String encoding of the date and timetz: (optional) the Olsen timezone database city name of the time zone. If this key is missing,GMTis the default.
// default timezone
{ "_kind": "dateTime", "val": "2021-03-22T17:56:05.411Z"}
// with a timezone
{ "_kind": "dateTime", "val": "2021-03-22T13:57:00.381-04:00", "tz": "New_York" }
Uri
A Haystack URI is encoded as an object with the following keys:
_kind: "uri"val: The URI String value
{ "_kind": "uri", "val": "https://project-haystack.org" }
Coordinate
A Haystack Coordinate is encoded as an object with the following keys:
_kind: "coord"lat: the latitude in decimal degrees (Number)lng: the longitude in decimal degrees (Number)
{ "_kind": "coord", "lat": 50.979603, "lng": 10.318789 }
XStr
A Haystack XStr is encoded as an object with the following keys:
_kind: "xstr"type: The String type nameval: The String encoding of the type
{ "_kind": "xstr", "type": "Span", "val": "today" }
Symbol
A Haystack Symbol is encoded as an object with the following keys:
_kind: "symbol"val: The String symbol name
{ "_kind": "symbol", "val": "site" }
List
A Haystack List is encoded as a JSON Array, Elements of the array can be of any Haystack type.
// empty list
[]
// A list with some values
[ true, 123, "a string", {"site": { _kind:"marker"}, "dis":"Carnegie Hall"}]
Dict
A Haystack Dict is encoded as a JSON object. The _kind is optional. All other keys in the Dict are tag name/value pairs. If the key is not a valid Haystack tag name then it should be skipped (ignored).
// empty dict
{}
// also empty
{ "_kind": "dict" }
// a dict with some tags
{
"site": { "_kind": "marker" },
"dis": "Kennedy Center",
"Ignore": "This tag should be ignored"
}
Grid
A Haystack Grid is encoded as a JSON object with the following keys:
_kind: "grid"meta: The JSON encoding of the grid metadata dict. The meta versionvertag should always be included in the meta.cols: A List of grid columns. Each column should have the following keys:name: the String column namemeta: (optional) The JSON encoding of the column metadata dict.
rows: A List of the grid rows where each row is encoded as a dict.
// Zinc
ver:"3.0" projName:"test"
dis dis:"Equip Name",equip,siteRef,installed
"RTU-1",M,@153c-699a "HQ",2005-06-01
"RTU-2",M,@153c-699b "Library",1999-07-12
// JSON
{
"_kind": "grid",
"meta": { "ver": "3.0", "foo": "bar" },
"cols": [
{ "name": "dis", "meta": { "dis": "Equip Name"} },
{ "name": "equip" },
{ "name": "siteRef" },
{ "name": "installed" }
],
"rows": [
{
"dis": "RTU-1",
"equip": { "_kind": "marker" },
"siteRef": { "_kind": "ref", "val": "153c-699a", "dis": "HQ"},
"installed": { "_kind": "date", "val": "2005-06-01" }
},
{
"dis": "RTU-2",
"equip": { "_kind": "marker" },
"siteRef": { "_kind": "ref", "val": "153c-699b", "dis": "Library"},
"installed": { "_kind": "date", "val": "1999-07-12" }
}
]
}
Here is another example with nested lists, dicts, and grids:
// Zinc
ver:"3.0"
type,val
"list",[1,2,3]
"dict",{dis:"Dict!" foo}
"grid",<<
ver:"2.0"
a,b
1,2
3,4
>>
"scalar","simple string"
// JSON
{
"_kind": "grid",
"meta": { "ver": "3.0" },
"cols": [
{ "name": "type" },
{ "name": "val" }
],
"rows": [
{
"type": "list",
"val": [1, 2, 3]
},
{
"type": "dict",
"val": { "dis": "Dict!", "foo": { "_kind": "marker" } }
},
{
"type": "grid",
"val": {
"_kind": "grid",
"meta": { "ver": "3.0" },
"cols": [
{ "name": "a" },
{ "name": "b" }
],
"rows" [
{ "a": 1, "b": 2 },
{ "a": 3, "b": 4 }
]
}
},
{
"type": "scalar",
"val": "simple string"
}
]
}
JSON Version 3
The following is an alternate encoding of Haystack to JSON. This encoding was the default for Haystack version 3, but has been supplanted by the above (version 4) encoding. It is supported for backwards compatibility.
The following is the mapping between Haystack (version 3) and JSON types:
Haystack JSON -------- ---- Grid Object (specified below) List Array Dict Object null null Bool Boolean Marker "m:" Remove "-:" NA "z:" Number "n:<float> [unit]" "n:45.5" "n:73.2 °F" "n:-INF" Ref "r:<id> [dis]" "r:abc-123" "r:abc-123 RTU #3" Symbol "y:<id>" "y:hot-water", "y:lib:ph" Str "hello" "s:hello" Date "d:2014-01-03" Time "h:23:59" DateTime "t:2015-06-08T15:47:41-04:00 New_York" Uri "u:http://project-haystack.org/" Coord "c:<lat>,<lng>" "c:37.545,-77.449" XStr "x:Type:value"
Notes:
- Number encodings use a space between the floating point value and unit for easier parsing (in Zinc there is no space)
- Number specials use same values as Zinc: "INF", "-INF", and "NaN"
- Refs strings use first space to separate id from dis portions of the string
- DateTime, Date, and Time use ISO 8601 formats exactly as specified by Zinc
- DateTime has required timezone name
- Strings that contain a colon must be encoded with "s:" prefix
- Strings without a colon may optionally omit the "s:" prefix
- Any JSON string without a colon as the second char is assumed to be a string value
Here is an example:
// Haystack
dis: "Site-A", site, area: 5000ft², built: 1992-01-23
// JSON
{"dis":"Site-A", "site":"m:", "area":"n:5000 ft²", "built":"d:1992-01-23"}
The Haystack and JSON models are very similar since they both support the same core list and object/dict types. The difference is that Haystack has a richer set of scalar types such as Date, Time, Uri which are not supported directly by JSON; so we encode them as strings using a special type code prefix.
Grid Format
In addition to the flexible type mapping defined above, we have a standard mapping of grid into JSON which is used by the REST API.
The Grid to JSON mapping is as follows:
- Grid is mapped into a JSON object with three fields: meta, cols, rows
- The meta field is a JSON object with a required "ver" field
- The cols field is a JSON list of column objects
- Each column object defines a "name" field and the column metadata
- The rows field is a list of JSON objects
- Meta and row dicts are mapped to JSON objects
- Dict values are mapped using type mappings defined above
Example:
// Zinc
ver:"3.0" projName:"test"
dis dis:"Equip Name",equip,siteRef,installed
"RTU-1",M,@153c-699a "HQ",2005-06-01
"RTU-2",M,@153c-699a "HQ",1999-07-12
// JSON
{
"meta": {"ver":"3.0", "projName":"test"},
"cols":[
{"name":"dis", "dis":"Equip Name"},
{"name":"equip"},
{"name":"siteRef"},
{"name":"installed"}
],
"rows":[
{"dis":"RTU-1", "equip":"m:", "siteRef":"r:153c-699a HQ", "installed":"d:2005-06-01"},
{"dis":"RTU-2", "equip":"m:", "siteRef":"r:153c-699a HQ", "installed":"d:999-07-12"}
]
}
Here is another example with nested lists, dicts, and grids:
// Zinc
ver:"3.0"
type,val
"list",[1,2,3]
"dict",{dis:"Dict!" foo}
"grid",<<
ver:"2.0"
a,b
1,2
3,4
>>
"scalar","simple string"
// JSON
{
"meta": {"ver":"2.0"},
"cols":[
{"name":"type"},
{"name":"val"}
],
"rows":[
{"type":"list", "val":["n:1", "n:2", "n:3"]},
{"type":"dict", "val":{"dis":"Dict!", "foo":"m:"}},
{"type":"grid", "val":{
"meta": {"ver":"2.0"},
"cols":[
{"name":"b"},
{"name":"a"}
],
"rows":[
{"b":"n:20", "a":"n:10"}
]
}},
{"type":"scalar", "val":"simple string"}
]
}