Network Working Group                                        B. Muschett
Internet-Draft                                                   R. Salz
Expires: November 3, 2011                                    M. Schenker
                                                                     IBM
                                                             May 2, 2011


                    JSONx, an XML Encoding for JSON
                        draft-rsalz-jsonx-00.txt

Abstract

   This document specifies a mapping between JSON (RFC 4627) and XML.
   The mapping maintains a high degree of fidelity.  It is used by
   several IBM products.

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
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   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 November 3, 2011.

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
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   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.




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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   2.  Conversion Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     2.1.  root element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     2.2.  object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     2.3.  array  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     2.4.  boolean  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
     2.5.  string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
     2.6.  number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
     2.7.  null . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   3.  Extended Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   4.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   Appendix A.  Schema (not normative)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   Appendix B.  JSONx to JSON Stylesheet (not normative)  . . . . . . 11
   Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13



































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1.  Introduction

   This document specifies a mapping between JSON [RFC4627] and XML,
   known as JSONx.  The mapping maintains a high degree of fidelity.  It
   is used by several IBM products.

   JSONx is specified using the terms from the XML Infoset
   [REC-xml-infoset], serialized as XML 1.0 [REC-xml].  The Infoset
   terms "Element Information Item," "Attribute Information Item," and
   "Character Information Item," are shortened to "element,"
   "attribute," and "characters" respectively.  For example, when this
   specification uses the term "element," it is referring to an Element
   Information Item, and when it uses the term "attribute," it is
   referring to an Attribute Information Item.





































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2.  Conversion Rules

   JSON identifiers are represented by the string contents of the "name"
   attribute.  Most Unicode characters other than backspace (Unicode
   code point U+0008) and form feed (U+000C) are valid within
   identifiers, as long as they are properly escaped (for example,
   \unnnn).  When JSONx is serialized as XML documents, character and/or
   entity references may need to be used for special characters.
   Examples of this include ampersand (U+0026), less-then sign (U+003C),
   and any characters not representable in the document's encoding.

   Use of backspace, formfeed, or NUL (U+0000) is undefined.

2.1.  root element

   The root element is either a <json:object> or a <json:array> element
   with the following namespace declaration:

           +--------+------------------------------------------+
           | Prefix | Namespace URI                            |
           +--------+------------------------------------------+
           | json   | http://www.ibm.com/xmlns/prod/2009/jsonx |
           +--------+------------------------------------------+

   All elements defined in this document are in that namespace.

2.2.  object

   A JSON object becomes a <json:object> element.  If the object denotes
   a property within a JSON object, JSONx encodes a name attribute whose
   value is assigned the property name.  The child elements depend on
   the properties of the JSON object.  To improve readability,
   whitespace characters may be added between child elements.  Object
   elements are ordered according to their document order.

   { "Ticker" : "IBM" }

   <json:object>
       <json:string name="Ticker">IBM</json:string>
   </json:object>

2.3.  array

   A JSON array becomes a <json:array> element.  If the array denotes a
   property within a JSON object, JSONx encodes a name attribute whose
   value is assigned the property name.  The child elements depend on
   the values in the array.  To improve readability, whitespace
   characters may be added between child elements.



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   "phoneNumbers": [
       "212 555-1111",
       "212 555-2222"
   ]

   <json:array name="phoneNumbers">
       <json:string>212 555-1111</json:string>
       <json:string>212 555-2222</json:string>
   </json:array>

2.4.  boolean

   A JSON boolean becomes a <json:boolean> element.  If the boolean
   denotes a property within a JSON object, JSONx encodes a name
   attribute whose value is assigned the property name.  The boolean
   value is character data as either true or false.

   "remote": false

   <json:boolean name="remote">false</json:boolean>

2.5.  string

   A JSON string becomes a <json:string> element.  If the string denotes
   a property within a JSON object, JSONx encodes a name attribute whose
   value is assigned the property name.  The string value is character
   data.

   Use of the Unicode code points U+0000, U+0008, and U+000C is
   undefined.

   "name": "John Smith"

   <json:string name="name">John Smith</json:string>

2.6.  number

   A JSON number becomes a <json:number> element.  If the number denotes
   a property within a JSON object, JSONx encodes a name attribute whose
   value is assigned the property name.  The number value is character
   data.

   "height": 62.4

   <json:number name="height">62.4</json:number>






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2.7.  null

   JSON value of null becomes a <json:null> element.  If the null value
   denotes a property within a JSON object, JSONx encodes a name
   attribute whose value is assigned the property name.  This element
   has no content.

   "additionalInfo": null

   <json:null name="additionalInfo" />









































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3.  Extended Example

   The following example document is a sample of the JSON structure.

   {
       "name": "John Smith"
       "address": {
           "streetAddress": "21 2nd Street",
           "city": "New York",
           "state": "NY",
           "postalCode": 10021,
       },
       "phoneNumbers": [
           "212 555-1111",
           "212 555-2222"
       ],
       "additionalInfo": null,
       "remote": false,
       "height": 62.4,
       "ficoScore": "> 640"
   }

   The following output is the result of the transformed document as
   JSONx.

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <json:object xmlns:json="http://www.ibm.com/xmlns/prod/2009/jsonx">
       <json:string name="name">John Smith</json:string>
       <json:object name="address">
           <json:string name="streetAddress">21 2nd Street</json:string>
           <json:string name="city">New York</json:string>
           <json:string name="state">NY</json:string>
           <json:number name="postalCode">10021</json:number>
       </json:object>
       <json:array name="phoneNumbers">
           <json:string>212 555-1111</json:string>
           <json:string>212 555-2222</json:string>
       </json:array>
       <json:null name="additionalInfo" />
       <json:boolean name="remote">false</json:boolean>
       <json:number name="height">62.4</json:number>
       <json:string name="ficoScore">&gt; 640</json:string>
   </json:object>








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4.  Normative References

   [RFC4627]  Crockford, D., "The application/json Media Type for
              JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)", RFC 4627, July 2006.

   [REC-xml]  Yergeau, F., Paoli, J., Bray, T., Sperberg-McQueen, C.,
              and E. Maler, "Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0
              (Fourth Edition)", World Wide Web Consortium
              Recommendation REC-xml-20060816, August 2006,
              <http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/REC-xml-20060816>.

   [REC-xml-infoset]
              Cowan, J. and R. Tobin, "XML Information Set (Second
              Edition)", World Wide Web Consortium Recommendation REC-
              xml-infoset-20040204, February 2004,
              <http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-xml-infoset-20040204>.



































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Appendix A.  Schema (not normative)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsd:schema targetNamespace="http://www.ibm.com/xmlns/prod/2009/jsonx"
    elementFormDefault="qualified" attributeFormDefault="unqualified"
    xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
    xmlns:tns="http://www.ibm.com/xmlns/prod/2009/jsonx">

    <xsd:simpleType name="jsonnumbertype">
        <xsd:restriction base="xsd:token">
            <xsd:pattern value="[-]?(0|[1-9][0-9]*)(\.[0-9]+)?([eE][-+]?[0-9]+)?" />
        </xsd:restriction>
    </xsd:simpleType>

    <xsd:element name="object" type="tns:anyElement" />
    <xsd:element name="array" type="tns:anyElement" />
    <xsd:element name="string" type="tns:stringElement" />
    <xsd:element name="number" type="tns:numberElement" />
    <xsd:element name="boolean" type="tns:booleanElement" />
    <xsd:element name="null" type="tns:emptyElement" />

    <xsd:complexType name="anyElement">
        <xsd:sequence>
            <xsd:any minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"
                    namespace="##targetNamespace" processContents="strict" />
        </xsd:sequence>
        <xsd:attribute name="name" type="xsd:string" />
    </xsd:complexType>

    <xsd:complexType name="emptyElement">
        <xsd:attribute name="name" type="xsd:string" />
    </xsd:complexType>

    <xsd:complexType name="stringElement">
        <xsd:simpleContent>
            <xsd:extension base="xsd:string">
                <xsd:attribute name="name" type="xsd:string" />
            </xsd:extension>
        </xsd:simpleContent>
    </xsd:complexType>

    <xsd:complexType name="numberElement">
        <xsd:simpleContent>
            <xsd:extension base="tns:jsonnumbertype">
                <xsd:attribute name="name" type="xsd:string" />
            </xsd:extension>
        </xsd:simpleContent>
    </xsd:complexType>



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    <xsd:complexType name="booleanElement">
        <xsd:simpleContent>
            <xsd:extension base="xsd:boolean">
                <xsd:attribute name="name" type="xsd:string" />
            </xsd:extension>
        </xsd:simpleContent>
    </xsd:complexType>

</xsd:schema>










































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Appendix B.  JSONx to JSON Stylesheet (not normative)

   The following XSLT stylesheet takes a JSONx document as input and
   generates JSON.  It is intended as a sample implementation, and makes
   no attempt to be well-behaved if the input is not well-defined.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
    xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
    xmlns:json="http://www.ibm.com/xmlns/prod/2009/jsonx">

    <xsl:output method="text" encoding="utf-8" indent="no"
      media-type="application/json"/>

    <xsl:template name="json:doNameAttr">
       <xsl:if test="local-name(..)!='array' and string-length(@name)>0">
          <xsl:value-of select="concat('&quot;', @name, '&quot;', ':')"/>
       </xsl:if>
    </xsl:template>

    <xsl:template match="json:object">
        <xsl:call-template name="json:doNameAttr"/>
        <xsl:text>{ </xsl:text>
        <xsl:for-each select="*">
           <xsl:apply-templates select="."/>
            <xsl:if test="position() != last()">
                <xsl:text>, </xsl:text>
            </xsl:if>
       </xsl:for-each>
       <xsl:text> }</xsl:text>
    </xsl:template>

    <xsl:template match="json:array">
        <xsl:call-template name="json:doNameAttr" />
        <xsl:text>[ </xsl:text>
        <xsl:for-each select="*">
            <xsl:apply-templates select="." />
            <xsl:if test="position() != last()">
                <xsl:text>, </xsl:text>
            </xsl:if>
        </xsl:for-each>
        <xsl:text> ]</xsl:text>
    </xsl:template>

    <xsl:template match="json:string">
        <xsl:call-template name="json:doNameAttr"/>
        <xsl:text>"</xsl:text>
        <!-- XXX Need to replace " with &amp;quot; -->



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        <xsl:value-of select="normalize-space()"/>
        <xsl:text>"</xsl:text>
    </xsl:template>

    <xsl:template match="json:number">
       <xsl:call-template name="json:doNameAttr"/>
       <xsl:value-of select="normalize-space()"/>
    </xsl:template>

    <xsl:template match="json:boolean">
       <xsl:call-template name="json:doNameAttr"/>
       <xsl:value-of select="normalize-space()"/>
    </xsl:template>

    <xsl:template match="json:null">
        <xsl:call-template name="json:doNameAttr"/>
        <xsl:text>null</xsl:text>
    </xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>































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Authors' Addresses

   Brien Muschett
   IBM
   8051 Congress Avenue
   Boca Raton, FL  33487
   USA

   Phone: +1 561-862-2180
   Email: muschett@us.ibm.com


   Rich Salz
   IBM
   550 King Street
   Littleton, MA  01460
   USA

   Phone: +1 978-899-2902
   Email: rsalz@us.ibm.com
   URI:   https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/soma/


   Michael Schenker
   IBM
   555 Bailey Ave.
   San Jose, CA  95141
   USA

   Phone: +1 408-463-3907
   Email: mschenk@us.ibm.com




















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