XMLtoJSON policy

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What

This policy converts messages from the extensible markup language (XML) format to JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), giving you several options for controlling how messages are converted.

Assuming that the intent is to convert an XML-formatted response into a JSON-formatted response, the policy would be attached to a response Flow (for example, Response / ProxyEndpoint / PostFlow).

About

In a typical mediation scenario, a JSON to XML policy on the inbound request flow is often paired with an XML to JSON policy on the outbound response flow. By combining policies this way, a JSON API can be exposed for backend services that natively support only XML.

For scenarios where APIs are consumed by diverse client apps that may require either JSON or XML, the response format can be dynamically set by configuring JSON to XML and XML to JSON policies to execute conditionally. See Flow variables and conditions for an implementation of this scenario.

Samples

For a detailed discussion on converting between JSON and XML, see http://community.apigee.com/articles/1839/converting-between-xml-and-json-what-you-need-to-k.html.

<XMLToJSON name="ConvertToJSON">
  <Options>
  </Options>
  <OutputVariable>response</OutputVariable>
  <Source>response</Source>
</XMLToJSON>

Element reference

Following are elements and attributes you can configure on this policy.

<XMLToJSON async="false" continueOnError="false" enabled="true" name="XML-to-JSON-1">
    <DisplayName>XML to JSON 1</DisplayName>
    <Source>response</Source>
    <OutputVariable>response</OutputVariable>
    <Options>
        <RecognizeNumber>true</RecognizeNumber>
        <RecognizeBoolean>true</RecognizeBoolean>
        <RecognizeNull>true</RecognizeNull>
        <NullValue>NULL</NullValue>
        <NamespaceBlockName>#namespaces</NamespaceBlockName>
        <DefaultNamespaceNodeName>&</DefaultNamespaceNodeName>
        <NamespaceSeparator>***</NamespaceSeparator>
        <TextAlwaysAsProperty>true</TextAlwaysAsProperty>
        <TextNodeName>TEXT</TextNodeName>
        <AttributeBlockName>FOO_BLOCK</AttributeBlockName>
        <AttributePrefix>BAR_</AttributePrefix>
        <OutputPrefix>PREFIX_</OutputPrefix>
        <OutputSuffix>_SUFFIX</OutputSuffix>
        <StripLevels>2</StripLevels>
        <TreatAsArray>
            <Path unwrap="true">teachers/teacher/studentnames/name</Path>
        </TreatAsArray>
    </Options>
    <!-- Use Options or Format, not both -->
    <Format>yahoo</Format>
</XMLToJSON>

<XMLtoJSON> attributes

<XMLtoJSON async="false" continueOnError="false" enabled="true" name="XML-to-JSON-1"> 

The following table describes attributes that are common to all policy parent elements:

<DisplayName> element

Use in addition to the name attribute to label the policy in the management UI proxy editor with a different, natural-language name.

<DisplayName>Policy Display Name</DisplayName>

<Source> element

The variable, request or response, that contains the XML message that you want to convert to JSON.

The HTTP Content-type header of the source message must be set to application/xml, otherwise the policy is not enforced.

If <Source> is not defined, then it is treated as message (which resolves to request when the policy is attached to a request flow, or response when the policy is attached to a response flow).

If the source variable cannot be resolved, or resolves to a non-message type, the policy throws an error.

<Source>response</Source>

<OutputVariable> element

Stores the output of the XML to JSON format conversion. This is usually the same value as the source, that is, usually XML response is converted to a JSON response.

The payload of the XML message is parsed and converted into JSON, and the HTTP Content-type header of the XML-formatted message is set to application/json.

If OutputVariable is not specified, the source is treated as OutputVariable. For example, if the source is response, then OutputVariable defaults to response.

<OutputVariable>response</OutputVariable>

<Options>

Options give you control over the conversion from XML to JSON. Use either the <Options> group, which lets you add specific conversion settings, or the <Format> element, which lets you reference a template of predefined options. You cannot use both <Options> and <Format>.

<Options> is required if <Format> isn't used.

<Options>/<RecognizeNumber> element

If true, then number fields in the XML payload retain their original format.

<RecognizeNumber>true</RecognizeNumber>

Consider the following XML example:

<a>
  <b>100</b>
  <c>value</c>
</a>

If true, converts to:

{
    "a": {
        "b": 100,
        "c": "value"
    }
}

If false, converts to:

{
    "a": {
        "b": "100",
        "c": "value"
    }
}

<Options>/<RecognizeBoolean> element

Lets the conversion maintain boolean true/false values rather than turning the values into strings.

<RecognizeBoolean>true</RecognizeBoolean>

For the following XML example:

<a>
  <b>true</b>
  <c>value</c>
</a>

If true, converts to:

{
    "a": {
        "b": true,
        "c": "value"
    }
}

If false, converts to:

{
    "a": {
        "b": "true",
        "c": "value"
    }
}

<Options>/<RecognizeNull> element

Lets you convert empty values to null values.

<RecognizeNull>true</RecognizeNull>

For the following XML:

<a>
  <b></b>
  <c>value</c>
</a>

If true, converts to:

{
  "a": {
    "b": null,
    "c": "value"
  }
}

If false, converts to:

{
  "a": {
    "b": {},
    "c": "value"
  }
}

<Options>/<NullValue> element

Indicates the value to which recognized null values in the source message should be converted. By default the value is null. This option is effective only if RecognizeNull is true.

<NullValue>not-present</NullValue>

<Options>/<NamespaceBlockName>
<Options>/<DefaultNamespaceNodeName>
<Options>/<NamespaceSeparator> elements

Use these elements together.

<NamespaceBlockName>#namespaces</NamespaceBlockName>
<DefaultNamespaceNodeName>&</DefaultNamespaceNodeName>
<NamespaceSeparator>***</NamespaceSeparator>

Consider the following XML example:

<a xmlns="http://ns.com" xmlns:ns1="http://ns1.com">
  <ns1:b>value</ns1:b>
</a>

If NamespaceSeparator is not specified, the following JSON structure is generated:

{
    "a": {
        "b": "value"
    }
}

If the elements NamespaceBlockName, DefaultNamespaceNodeName, and NamespaceSeparator are specified as #namespaces, &, and ***, respectively, then the following JSON structure is generated:

{
    "a": {
        "#namespaces": {
            "&": "http://ns.com",
            "ns1": "http://ns1.com"
        },
        "ns1***b": "value"
    }
}

<Options>/<TextAlwaysAsProperty>
<Options>/<TextNodeName> elements

Use these elements together.

If set to true, the content of the XML element is converted to a string property.

<TextAlwaysAsProperty>true</TextAlwaysAsProperty>
<TextNodeName>TEXT</TextNodeName>

For the following XML:

<a>
  <b>value1</b>
  <c>value2<d>value3</d>value4</c>
</a>

If TextAlwaysAsProperty is set to true and TextNodeName specified as TEXT, the following JSON structure is generated:

{
  "a": {
    "b": {
      "TEXT": "value1"
    },
    "c": {
      "TEXT": [
        "value2",
        "value4"
        ],
        "d": {
          "TEXT": "value3"
        }
      }
    }
}

If TextAlwaysAsProperty is set to false and TextNodeName specified as TEXT, the following JSON structure is generated:

{
  "a": {
    "b": "value1",
    "c": {
      "TEXT": [
        "value2",
        "value4"
      ],
      {
        "d": "value3",
      }
    }
}

<Options>/<AttributeBlockName>
<Options>/<AttributePrefix> elements

Use these elements together.

Lets you group values into a JSON block and append prefixes to the attribute names.

<AttributeBlockName>FOO_BLOCK</AttributeBlockName>
<AttributePrefix>BAR_</AttributePrefix>

Consider the following XML example:

<a attrib1="value1" attrib2="value2"/>

If both the attributes (AttributeBlockName and AttributePrefix) are specified as defined in the XML to JSON example, the following JSON structure is generated:

{
  "a": {
    "FOO_BLOCK": {
      "BAR_attrib1": "value1",
      "BAR_attrib2": "value2"
    }
  }
}

If only AttributeBlockName is specified, the following JSON structure is generated:

{
    "a": {
        "FOO_BLOCK": {
            "attrib1": "value1",
            "attrib2": "value2"
        }
    }
}

If only AttributePrefix is specified, the following JSON structure is generated:

{
    "a": {
        "BAR_attrib1": "value1",
        "BAR_attrib2": "value2"
    }
}

If neither is specified, the following JSON structure is generated:

{
    "a": {
        "attrib1": "value1",
        "attrib2": "value2"
    }
}

<Options>/<OutputPrefix>
<Options>/<OutputSuffix> elements

Use these elements together.

<OutputPrefix>PREFIX_</OutputPrefix>
<OutputSuffix>_SUFFIX</OutputSuffix>

Consider the following XML example:

<a>value</a>

If both the attributes (OutputPrefix and OutputSuffix) are specified as defined in the XML to JSON example, the following JSON structure is generated:

PREFIX_{
    "a": "value"
}_SUFFIX

If only OutputPrefix is specified, the following JSON structure is generated:

PREFIX_{
  "a" : "value"
}

If only OutputSuffix is specified, the following JSON structure is generated:

{
  "a" : "value"
}_SUFFIX

If neither OutputPrefix nor OutputSuffix is specified, the following JSON structure is generated:

{
    "a": "value"
}

<Options>/<StripLevels> element

<Options>
    <StripLevels>4</StripLevels>
</Options>

Sometimes XML payloads, such as SOAP, have many parent levels you don't want to include in the converted JSON. Here's an example SOAP response containing many levels:

<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/Schemata-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <soap:Body>
      <GetCityWeatherByZIPResponse xmlns="http://ws.cdyne.com/WeatherWS/">
          <GetCityWeatherByZIPResult>
              <State>CO</State>
              <City>Denver</City>
              <Description>Sunny</Description>
              <Temperature>62</Temperature>
          </GetCityWeatherByZIPResult>
      </GetCityWeatherByZIPResponse>
  </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

There are 4 levels before you get to the State, City, Description, and Temperature level. Without using <StripLevels>, the converted JSON response would look like this:

{
   "Envelope" : {
      "Body" : {
         "GetCityWeatherByZIPResponse" : {
            "GetCityWeatherByZIPResult" : {
               "State" : "CO",
               "City" : "Denver",
               "Description" : "Sunny",
               "Temperature" : "62"
            }
         }
      }
   }
}

If you want to strip those first 4 levels in the JSON response, you'd set <StripLevels>4</StripLevels>, which would give you the following JSON:

{
  "State" : "CO",
  "City" : "Denver",
  "Description" : "Sunny",
  "Temperature" : "62"
}

You can strip levels away up to the first element that contains multiple children. What does that mean? Let's look at a more complex JSON example:

{
   "Envelope" : {
      "Body" : {
         "GetCityForecastByZIPResponse" : {
            "GetCityForecastByZIPResult" : {
               "ResponseText" : "City Found",
               "ForecastResult" : {
                  "Forecast" : [
                     {
                        "ProbabilityOfPrecipiation" : {
                           "Nighttime" : "00",
                           "Daytime" : 10
                        }  ...

Level 3 in this example is GetCityForecastByZIPResponse, which has only one child. So if you were to use <StripLevels>3</StripLevels> (remove the first three levels), the JSON would look like this:

{
   "GetCityForecastByZIPResult" : {
      "ResponseText" : "City Found",
      "ForecastResult" : {
         "Forecast" : [
            {
               "ProbabilityOfPrecipiation" : {
                  "Nighttime" : "00",
                  "Daytime" : 10
               }  ...

Notice that GetCityForecastByZIPResult has multiple children. Since it's the first element containing multiple children, you can strip this last level using <StripLevels>4</StripLevels>, which will give you the following JSON:

{
   "ResponseText" : "City Found",
   "ForecastResult" : {
      "Forecast" : [
         {
            "ProbabilityOfPrecipiation" : {
               "Nighttime" : "00",
               "Daytime" : 10
            }  ...

Because level 4 is the first level containing multiple children, you can't strip any levels lower than this. If you set the strip level to 5, 6, 7, and so on, you'll continue to get the response above.

<Options>/<TreatAsArray>/<Path> element

<Options>
    <TreatAsArray>
        <Path unwrap="true">teachers/teacher/studentnames/name</Path>
    </TreatAsArray>
</Options>

This element combination lets you ensure that values from an XML document are put in a JSON array. This is useful, for example, when the number of child elements can vary (from one to multiple), and you want to ensure the values are always in an array. Doing this helps keep your code stable, because you can get data from the array the same way every time. For example: $.teachers.teacher.studentnames[0] gets the first student name value in the array regardless of the number of values in the array.

Let's take a step back and look at the XML to JSON default behavior, then explore how to control the output using <TreatAsArray>/<Path>.

When an XML document contains an element with multiple child values (usually based on a schema where the element's maxOccurs='unbounded'), the XML to JSON policy automatically puts those values in an array. For example, the following XML block

<teacher>
    <name>teacherA</name>
    <studentnames>
        <name>student1</name>
        <name>student2</name>
    </studentnames>
</teacher>

...gets converted into the following JSON automatically with no special policy configuration:

{
  "teachers" : {
      "teacher" : {
          "name" : "teacherA",
          "studentnames" : {
              "name" : [
                 "student1",
                 "student2"
              ]}
           }
      }
}

Notice that the two student names are put into an array.

However, if only one student appears in the XML document, the XML to JSON policy automatically treats the value as a single string, not an array of strings, as shown in the following example:

{
  "teachers" : {
      "teacher" : {
          "name" : "teacherA",
          "studentnames" : {
              "name" : "student1"
              }
          }
      }
}

In the previous examples, similar data was converted differently, once as an array, another as a single string. This is where the <TreatAsArray>/<Path> element lets you control the output. You can, for example, make sure that the student names are always put in an array even if there's only one value. You configure this by identifying the Path to the element whose values you want to put in an array, like so:

<Options>
    <TreatAsArray>
        <Path>teachers/teacher/studentnames/name</Path>
    </TreatAsArray>
</Options>

The configuration above would write the JSON like this:

{
  "teachers" : {
      "teacher" : {
          "name" : "teacherA",
          "studentnames" : {
              "name" : ["student1"]
              }
            ]
          }
      }
}

Notice that student1 is now in an array. Now, regardless of whether there are one or multiple students, you can retrieve them from a JSON array in your code using the following JSONPath: $.teachers.teacher.studentnames.name[0]

The <Path> element also has an unwrap attribute, explained in the next section.

Attributes

 <Options>
    <TreatAsArray>
        <Path unwrap="true">teachers/teacher/studentnames/name</Path>
    </TreatAsArray>
</Options>

{
  "teachers" : {
      "teacher" : {
          "name" : "teacherA",
          "studentnames" : {
              "name" : [
                 "student1",
                 "student2"
              ]}...

<TreatAsArray>
    <Path unwrap="true">teachers/teacher</Path>
    <Path unwrap="true">teachers/teacher/studentnames/name</Path>
</TreatAsArray>

{
  "teachers" : [{
      "name" : "teacherA",
      "studentnames" : ["student1","student2"]
      }]...

For more examples and a feature walkthrough, see this Apigee Community article: https://community.apigee.com/content/kbentry/33374/new-edge-minifeature-the-treatasarray-option-in-th.html.

<Format>

Format gives you control over the conversion from XML to JSON. Enter the name of a predefined template that contains a specific combination of Options elements described in this topic. Predefined formats include: xml.com, yahoo, google, badgerFish.

Use either the <Format> element or the <Options> group. You cannot use both <Format> and <Options>.

Following are the Format definitions of each predefined template.

xml.com

<RecognizeNull>true</RecognizeNull>
<TextNodeName>#text</TextNodeName>
<AttributePrefix>@</AttributePrefix>

yahoo

<RecognizeNumber>true</RecognizeNumber>
<TextNodeName>content</TextNodeName>

google

<TextNodeName>$t</TextNodeName>
<NamespaceSeparator>$</NamespaceSeparator>
<TextAlwaysAsProperty>true</TextAlwaysAsProperty>

badgerFish

<TextNodeName>$</TextNodeName>
<TextAlwaysAsProperty>true</TextAlwaysAsProperty>
<AttributePrefix>@</AttributePrefix>
<NamespaceSeparator>:</NamespaceSeparator>
<NamespaceBlockName>@xmlns</NamespaceBlockName>
<DefaultNamespaceNodeName>$</DefaultNamespaceNodeName>

Element syntax:

<Format>yahoo</Format>

Schemas

Error reference

This section describes the fault codes and error messages that are returned and fault variables that are set by Edge when this policy triggers an error. This information is important to know if you are developing fault rules to handle faults. To learn more, see What you need to know about policy errors and Handling faults.

Runtime errors

These errors can occur when the policy executes.

Deployment errors

These errors can occur when you deploy a proxy containing this policy.

Fault variables

These variables are set when a runtime error occurs. For more information, see What you need to know about policy errors.

Example error response

{
  "fault": {
    "faultstring": "XMLToJSON[XMLtoJSON-1]: Source xyz is not available",
    "detail": {
      "errorcode": "steps.xml2json.SourceUnavailable"
    }
  }
}

Example fault rule

<faultrule name="VariableOfNonMsgType"></faultrule><FaultRule name="XML to JSON Faults">
    <Step>
        <Name>AM-SourceUnavailableMessage</Name>
        <Condition>(fault.name Matches "SourceUnavailable") </Condition>
    </Step>
    <Step>
        <Name>AM-BadXML</Name>
        <Condition>(fault.name = "ExecutionFailed")</Condition>
    </Step>
    <Condition>(xmltojson.XMLtoJSON-1.failed = true) </Condition>
</FaultRule>

Related topics

JSON to XML: JSON to XML policy