Path

json.path.Path is a simple class implementing the JSONPath syntax for extracting data out of a JSON tree.

While the semantics of the JSONPath expressions are heavily borrowed by the XPath specification for XML, the syntax follows the ECMAScript origins of JSON.

Once a json.path.Path instance has been created, it has to compile a JSONPath expression using json.path.Path.compile before being able to match it to a JSON tree; the same json.path.Path instance can be used to match multiple JSON trees. It it also possible to compile a new JSONPath expression using the same json.path.Path instance; the previous expression will be discarded only if the compilation of the new expression is successful.

The simple convenience function json.path.Path.query can be used for one-off matching.

Syntax of the JSONPath expressions

A JSONPath expression is composed by path indices and operators. Each path index can either be a member name or an element index inside a JSON tree. A JSONPath expression must start with the $ operator; each path index is separated using either the dot notation or the bracket notation, e.g.:

// dot notation
$.store.book[0].title

// bracket notation
$['store']['book'][0]['title']

The available operators are:

The $ character represents the root node of the JSON tree, and matches the entire document.
Child nodes can either be matched using . or []. For instance, both $.store.book and $['store']['book'] match the contents of the book member of the store object.
Child nodes can be reached without specifying the whole tree structure through the recursive descent operator, or ... For instance, $..author matches all author member in every object.
Child nodes can grouped through the wildcard operator, or *. For instance, $.store.book[*].author matches all author members of any object element contained in the book array of the store object.
Element nodes can be accessed using their index (starting from zero) in the subscript operator []. For instance, $.store.book[0] matches the first element of the book array of the store object.
Subsets of element nodes can be accessed using the set notation operator [i,j,...]. For instance, $.store.book[0,2] matches the elements 0 and 2 (the first and third) of the book array of the store object.
Slices of element nodes can be accessed using the slice notation operation [start:end:step]. If start is omitted, the starting index of the slice is implied to be zero; if end is omitted, the ending index of the slice is implied to be the length of the array; if step is omitted, the step of the slice is implied to be 1. For instance, $.store.book[:2] matches the first two elements of the book array of the store object.

More information about JSONPath is available on Stefan Gössner's JSONPath website.

Example of JSONPath matches

The following example shows some of the results of using json.path.Path on a JSON tree. We use the following JSON description of a bookstore:

{ "store": {
    "book": [
      { "category": "reference", "author": "Nigel Rees",
        "title": "Sayings of the Century", "price": "8.95"  },
      { "category": "fiction", "author": "Evelyn Waugh",
        "title": "Sword of Honour", "price": "12.99" },
      { "category": "fiction", "author": "Herman Melville",
        "title": "Moby Dick", "isbn": "0-553-21311-3",
        "price": "8.99" },
      { "category": "fiction", "author": "J. R. R. Tolkien",
        "title": "The Lord of the Rings", "isbn": "0-395-19395-8",
        "price": "22.99" }
    ],
    "bicycle": { "color": "red", "price": "19.95" }
  }
}

We can parse the JSON using json.parser.Parser:

JsonParser *parser = json_parser_new ();
json_parser_load_from_data (parser, json_data, -1, NULL);

If we run the following code:

JsonNode *result;
JsonPath *path = json_path_new ();
json_path_compile (path, "$.store..author", NULL);
result = json_path_match (path, json_parser_get_root (parser));

The result node will contain an array with all values of the author member of the objects in the JSON tree. If we use a json.generator.Generator to convert the result node to a string and print it:

JsonGenerator *generator = json_generator_new ();
json_generator_set_root (generator, result);
char *str = json_generator_to_data (generator, NULL);
g_print ("Results: %s\n", str);

The output will be:

["Nigel Rees","Evelyn Waugh","Herman Melville","J. R. R. Tolkien"]

class Path : ObjectG {

this();

static json.node.Node query(string expression, json.node.Node root);

bool compile(string expression);

json.node.Node match(json.node.Node root);

}

Constructors

this this(): Creates a new json.path.Path instance.

Members

Functions

compile bool compile(string expression): Validates and decomposes the given expression.
match json.node.Node match(json.node.Node root): Matches the JSON tree pointed by root using the expression compiled into the json.path.Path.

Static functions

query json.node.Node query(string expression, json.node.Node root): Queries a JSON tree using a JSONPath expression.

Inherited Members

From ObjectG

setGObject void setGObject(void* cObj, Flag!"Take" take): Set the GObject of a D ObjectG wrapper.
cPtr void* cPtr(Flag!"Dup" dup): Get a pointer to the underlying C object.
ref_ void* ref_(void* gObj): Calls g_object_ref() on a GObject.
unref unref(void* gObj): Calls g_object_unref() on a GObject.
getType GType getType(): Get the GType of an object.
gType GType gType [@property getter]: GObject GType property.
self ObjectG self(): Convenience method to return this cast to a type. For use in D with statements.
getDObject T getDObject(void* cptr, Flag!"Take" take): Template to get the D object from a C GObject and cast it to the given D object type.
connectSignalClosure ulong connectSignalClosure(string signalDetail, DClosure closure, Flag!"After" after): Connect a D closure to an object signal.
setProperty void setProperty(string propertyName, T val): Template for setting a GObject property.
getProperty T getProperty(string propertyName): Template for getting a GObject property.
compatControl size_t compatControl(size_t what, void* data)
bindProperty gobject.binding.Binding bindProperty(string sourceProperty, gobject.object.ObjectG target, string targetProperty, gobject.types.BindingFlags flags): Creates a binding between source_property on source and target_property on target.
bindPropertyFull gobject.binding.Binding bindPropertyFull(string sourceProperty, gobject.object.ObjectG target, string targetProperty, gobject.types.BindingFlags flags, gobject.closure.Closure transformTo, gobject.closure.Closure transformFrom): Creates a binding between source_property on source and target_property on target, allowing you to set the transformation functions to be used by the binding.
forceFloating void forceFloating(): This function is intended for #GObject implementations to re-enforce a floating[floating-ref] object reference. Doing this is seldom required: all #GInitiallyUnowneds are created with a floating reference which usually just needs to be sunken by calling gobject.object.ObjectG.refSink.
freezeNotify void freezeNotify(): Increases the freeze count on object. If the freeze count is non-zero, the emission of "notify" signals on object is stopped. The signals are queued until the freeze count is decreased to zero. Duplicate notifications are squashed so that at most one #GObject::notify signal is emitted for each property modified while the object is frozen.
getData void* getData(string key): Gets a named field from the objects table of associations (see gobject.object.ObjectG.setData).
getProperty void getProperty(string propertyName, gobject.value.Value value): Gets a property of an object.
getQdata void* getQdata(glib.types.Quark quark): This function gets back user data pointers stored via gobject.object.ObjectG.setQdata.
getv void getv(string[] names, gobject.value.Value[] values): Gets n_properties properties for an object. Obtained properties will be set to values. All properties must be valid. Warnings will be emitted and undefined behaviour may result if invalid properties are passed in.
isFloating bool isFloating(): Checks whether object has a floating[floating-ref] reference.
notify void notify(string propertyName): Emits a "notify" signal for the property property_name on object.
notifyByPspec void notifyByPspec(gobject.param_spec.ParamSpec pspec): Emits a "notify" signal for the property specified by pspec on object.
refSink gobject.object.ObjectG refSink(): Increase the reference count of object, and possibly remove the floating[floating-ref] reference, if object has a floating reference.
runDispose void runDispose(): Releases all references to other objects. This can be used to break reference cycles.
setData void setData(string key, void* data): Each object carries around a table of associations from strings to pointers. This function lets you set an association.
setProperty void setProperty(string propertyName, gobject.value.Value value): Sets a property on an object.
stealData void* stealData(string key): Remove a specified datum from the object's data associations, without invoking the association's destroy handler.
stealQdata void* stealQdata(glib.types.Quark quark): This function gets back user data pointers stored via gobject.object.ObjectG.setQdata and removes the data from object without invoking its destroy() function (if any was set). Usually, calling this function is only required to update user data pointers with a destroy notifier, for example:
thawNotify void thawNotify(): Reverts the effect of a previous call to gobject.object.ObjectG.freezeNotify. The freeze count is decreased on object and when it reaches zero, queued "notify" signals are emitted.
watchClosure void watchClosure(gobject.closure.Closure closure): This function essentially limits the life time of the closure to the life time of the object. That is, when the object is finalized, the closure is invalidated by calling gobject.closure.Closure.invalidate on it, in order to prevent invocations of the closure with a finalized (nonexisting) object. Also, gobject.object.ObjectG.ref_ and gobject.object.ObjectG.unref are added as marshal guards to the closure, to ensure that an extra reference count is held on object during invocation of the closure. Usually, this function will be called on closures that use this object as closure data.
connectNotify ulong connectNotify(string detail, T callback, Flag!"After" after): Connect to Notify signal.

json path classes

Path