Re: Light weight support for JSON

[Yair Lenga]

Sorry for not being clear. I'm looking for feedback. The solution that I
have is using python to read the JSON, and generate the commands to build
the associative array. Will have to rewrite in "C"/submit if there is
positive feedback from others readers. Yair.

On Sun, Aug 28, 2022 at 9:42 AM Alex fxmbsw7 Ratchev <fxmbsw7@gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>
> On Sun, Aug 28, 2022, 15:25 Yair Lenga <yair.lenga@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Over the last few years, JSON data becomes a integral part of processing.
>> In many cases, I find myself having to automate tasks that require
>> inspection of JSON response, and in few cases, construction of JSON. So
>> far, I've taken one of two approaches:
>> * For simple parsing, using 'jq' to extract elements of the JSON
>> * For more complex tasks, switching to python or Javascript.
>>
>> Wanted to get feedback about the following "extensions" to bash that will
>> make it easier to work with simple JSON object. To emphasize, the goal is
>> NOT to "compete" with Python/Javascript (and other full scale language) -
>> just to make it easier to build bash scripts that cover the very common
>> use
>> case of submitting REST requests with curl (checking results, etc), and to
>> perform simple processing of JSON files.
>>
>> Proposal:
>> * Minimal - Lightweight "json parser" that will convert JSON files to bash
>> associative array (see below)
>> * Convert bash associative array to JSON
>>
>> To the extent possible, prefer to borrow from jsonpath syntax.
>>
>> Parsing JSON into an associative array.
>>
>> Consider the following, showing all possible JSON values (boolean, number,
>> string, object and array).
>> {
>>     "b": false,
>>     "n": 10.2,
>>     "s: "foobar",
>>      x: null,
>>     "o" : { "n": 10.2,  "s: "xyz" },
>>      "a": [
>>          { "n": 10.2,  "s: "abc", x: false },
>>          {  "n": 10.2,  "s": "def" x: true},
>>      ],
>> }
>>
>> This should be converted into the following array:
>>
>> -------------------------------------
>>
>> # Top level
>> [_length] = 6                            # Number of keys in object/array
>> [_keys] = b n s x o a            # Direct keys
>> [b] = false
>> [n] = 10.2
>> [s] = foobar
>> [x] = null
>>
>> # This is object 'o'
>> [o._length] = 2
>> [o._keys] = n s
>> [o.n] = 10.2
>> [o.s] = xyz
>>
>> # Array 'a'
>> [a._count] =  2                   # Number of elements in array
>>
>> # Element a[0] (object)
>> [a.0._length] = 3
>> [a.0._keys] = n s x
>> [a.0.n] = 10.2
>> [a.0.s] = abc
>> [a.0_x] = false
>>
>> -------------------------------------
>>
>> I hope that example above is sufficient. There are few other items that
>> are
>> worth exploring - e.g., how to store the type (specifically, separate the
>> quoted strings vs value so that "5.2" is different than 5.2, and "null" is
>> different from null.
>>
>
> did you forget to send the script along ? or am i completly loss
>
> a small thing i saw, a flat _keys doesnt do the job..
>
> I will leave the second part to a different post, once I have some
>> feedback. I have some prototype that i've written in python - POC - that
>> make it possible to write things like
>>
>> declare -a foo
>> curl http://www.api.com/weather/US/10013 | readjson foo
>>
>> printf "temperature(F) : %.1f Wind(MPH)=%d" ${foo[temp_f]}, ${foo[wind]}
>>
>> Yair
>>
>