Internet Engineering Task Force P. Bryan, Ed. Internet-Draft ForgeRock US, Inc. Intended status: Informational K. Zyp Expires: May 27, 2012 SitePen (USA) November 24, 2011 JSON Reference draft-pbryan-zyp-json-ref-01 Abstract JSON Reference allows a JSON value to reference another JSON value in a JSON document. Status of this Memo This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet- Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." This Internet-Draft will expire on May 27, 2012. Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2011 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License. Bryan & Zyp Expires May 27, 2012 [Page 1] Internet-Draft JSON Reference November 2011 Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2. Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3. Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4. Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 5. Error Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6. Media Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 7. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 8. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 9. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Appendix A. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Appendix B. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Bryan & Zyp Expires May 27, 2012 [Page 2] Internet-Draft JSON Reference November 2011 1. Introduction This specification defines a JSON [RFC4627] structure which allows a JSON value to reference another JSON value in a JSON document. This provides the basis for transclusion in JSON: the use of a target resource as an effective substitute for the reference. 2. Conventions The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119]. 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. 4. Resolution Resolution of a JSON Reference object SHOULD yield the referenced JSON value. Implementations MAY choose to replace the reference with the referenced value. If the URI contained in the JSON Reference value is a relative URI, then the base URI resolution MUST be calculated according to [RFC3986], section 5.2. Resolution is performed relative to the referring document. If a URI contains a fragment identifier, then the fragment should be resolved per the fragment resolution mechansim of the referrant document. If the representation of the referrant document is JSON, then the fragment identifier SHOULD be interpreted as a [JSON Pointer]. Bryan & Zyp Expires May 27, 2012 [Page 3] Internet-Draft JSON Reference November 2011 5. Error Handling In the event of an error condition, evaluation of the JSON Reference SHOULD fail to complete. 6. Media Type Documents that use JSON Reference SHOULD include a media type parameter: application/json; profile=http://json-schema.org/json-ref or refer to a schema that extends http://json-schema.org/json-ref. 7. IANA Considerations This draft includes no request to IANA. 8. Security Considerations A JSON Reference is not guaranteed to resolve to a JSON value. Implementations of this specification SHOULD take appropriate precautions. Documents containing JSON References can be structured to resolve cyclically. Implementations SHOULD include appropriate checks to prevent such structures from resulting in infinite recursion or iteration. 9. Normative References [JSON Pointer] Bryan, P. and K. Zyp, "JSON Pointer", October 2011, . [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997. [RFC3986] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66, RFC 3986, January 2005. [RFC4627] Crockford, D., "The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)", RFC 4627, July 2006. Bryan & Zyp Expires May 27, 2012 [Page 4] Internet-Draft JSON Reference November 2011 Appendix A. Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge the following individuals for their contributed feedback, which influenced this specification: Bob Aman, Francis Galiegue. Appendix B. Examples TBD. Authors' Addresses Paul C. Bryan (editor) ForgeRock US, Inc. 201 NE Park Plaza Drive Suite 196 Vancouver, WA 98684 USA Phone: +1 604 783 1481 Email: paul.bryan@forgerock.com Kris Zyp SitePen (USA) 530 Lytton Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94301 USA Phone: +1 650 968 8787 Email: kris@sitepen.com Bryan & Zyp Expires May 27, 2012 [Page 5]