REST Adapter in PI/PO: Enhanced XML/JSON Conversion
Update on 28.01.2016
Recently SCN document PI REST Adapter – JSON to XML conversion (a part of series describing SAP REST adapter functionality and technical capabilities) has been updated and now contains information on enhanced XML/JSON conversion and a demo example on this topic.
SAP Help documentation (currently only found in help materials for release SAP NetWeaver 7.31) now contains description of enhanced XML/JSON conversion – refer to Converting XML/JSON – Advanced Adapter Engine – SAP Library.
Both references have been added to a section “Links” of this blog.
One of features of SAP standard REST adapter, is XML/JSON conversion – that surely makes sense, considering that internal processing in SAP PI/PO is done in XML format on one hand, and JSON format is de-facto format when dealing with REST architectural style on the other hand. Looking into recent SCN forum threads and questions raised about a REST adapter, it can be concluded that generation of JSON output for a processed XML message payload is not always clear and may be misleading. SAP actively enhances functionality of a REST adapter – customization and feature-enrichment of JSON processing being one of actively contributed areas. Many of such features have been documented in SAP Help materials, but one of quite powerful and flexible functionalities – namely, enhanced XML/JSON conversion – was only briefly mentioned in a SAP Note 2175218. In this blog, I would like to demonstrate usage of this functionality and provide details about valid parameterization.
Internally, a REST adapter makes use of 3rd party Jettison library for JSON processing tasks. In standard configuration, REST adapter relies on default conversion logic implemented in Jettison processor, which does not correlate or take into consideration payload elements properties as defined in a corresponding message type, but has its own optimization and type derivation mechanisms that are based on nature of the value of a processed XML document’s element rather than XSD schema of a processed message. As a result, this conversion may sometimes result in unobvious output – here are just few examples which are commonly faced:
- If an XML element was defined as an array, but only contains one item in converted XML payload, Jettison processor will likely convert it to a non-array type;
- If an XML element was defined as a String, but only contains numeric value in converted XML payload, Jettison processor will likely convert it to an integer type.
In some use cases, this kind of improper type conversion may be unacceptable – and this is where enhanced XML/JSON conversion parameterization helps solving a faced problem.
An idea behind enhanced XML/JSON conversion functionality introduced with the SAP Note 2175218, is explicit instruction of JSON processor on how to treat particular XML elements. Let us examine this functionality based on a practical example.
Below is definition of a message type used for a response message in a synchronous scenario, where we make use of a REST sender communication channel. As seen, it contains elements of various types, including an array:
A sample response message in XML format looks like:
Using standard configuration of a REST sender channel, JSON formatted response message produced from an XML formatted message given above, is:
It can be noticed that some elements’ types were interpreted incorrectly – for example:
- Element “ID” wasn’t recognized as a String, but as a number – Jettison processor treated it as a number, because element value contains only numeric characters;
- Element “Properties” wasn’t recognized as an array – Jettison processor treated it as a non-array object with a nested structure, because an element contains only one child entry of an element “Property” (no other sibling elements “Property”).
Let’s fix this using enhanced XML/JSON conversion. In a REST sender channel, parameterization for enhanced XML/JSON conversion is done in a table “Custom XML/JSON Conversion Rules”. Below is configuration which aims troubleshooting type and conversion mismatches highlighted earlier:
After executing an interface once again and checking JSON formatted response message, it can be observed that now JSON output is produced correctly:
I didn’t find details regarding parameterization in official materials, so let me summarize acceptable and valid values used in enhanced XML/JSON conversion parameters, and explanatory notes regarding their usage, in a table below:
| Field | Description | Valid values |
|---|---|---|
| XML Namespace | XML namespace of an XML element | |
| Prefix | XML namespace prefix of an XML element | |
| Name | XML element name | |
| Type |
XML element type. Following types are currently supported: String, Integer, Decimal, Boolean. It makes no difference which notation for the type value is chosen as long as it is one of those mentioned in a list of valid values. If no value is specified, no specific XML/JSON conversion instructions are applied and default logic of Jettison processor is applied. |
String type string xs:string xsd:string Integer type int integer xs:integer xsd:integer Decimal type decimal numeric float xs:decimal xsd:decimal Boolean type bool boolean xs:boolean xsd:boolean |
| Array Type |
Indicator if an XML element is an array or not. It makes no difference which notation for the array type indicator value is chosen as long as it is one of those mentioned in a list of valid values. If no value is specified, array type indicator is set to “false” by default. |
If element is array 1 true yes If element is not array 0 false no |
| Default Value |
Value that will be assigned to a JSON element in case XML/JSON conversion for a corresponding XML element fails. For example, in a provided demo, value of an element “Quantity” will be processed as an integer. If original value cannot be converted to an integer (for example, it contains not only numeric characters, but its content is alpha-numeric), then JSON output will receive a default value for such an element, which is “0” in this case. It should be noted that default value is not verified against element type specified in a field “Type” – it is treated as a String. In this way, for example, it is possible to specify default value “Invalid value” for an element “Quantity” in a provided demo. An error will not be issued neither during activation of a communication channel, nor at runtime during execution of a message by REST adapter, even though provided default value mismatches with an element type (integer). Having this in mind, attention should be paid to provided default value and its compliance to an element type in sake of consistency. |
Any value. Following values are treated specially: “null” (with quotation marks) – interpreted as String value “null” null (without quotation marks) – interpreted as null “” (just quotation marks) – interpreted as empty String value |
Links
Please also refer to following materials discussing enhanced XML/JSON conversion in SAP REST adapter:
- SCN article PI REST Adapter – JSON to XML conversion,
- SAP Help documentation: Converting XML/JSON – Advanced Adapter Engine – SAP Library.
Hi Vadim,
Wow! Brilliant effort in unearthing such a hidden gem! Thanks for taking the effort to document down this feature (especially the parameter table) and sharing it!
Regards,
Eng Swee
PS: I can't view the first two images - not sure if something is missing there.
Hi Eng Swee,
Thank you for your positive feedback! I'm glad if provided information will be helpful to others.
You are right, for some reason, first two screenshots got corrupted. I re-inserted them, they should look better now.
Regards,
Vadim
Hi Vadim
Thanks for updating the images. It looks fine now and gives a clearer picture of the example.
This will definitely be useful to a lot of developers. It is blogs like this that really help bridge the gaps that are sorely missing in SAP's documentation, and thus make life much easier for those of us working on PI 😉
Kudos again for this!
Regards
Eng Swee
Hi Vadim,
Excellent blog! I am actually facing the same error as described in this Array and object issue in JSON, REST
I am on PO 7.4 SP 12. I don't have the table “Custom XML/JSON Conversion Rules” in my REST communication channel. So I need to do a patch upgrade according to the Note. I checked the note that you have referred in this, Note 2175218.
It doesn't have a patch level for SP12. The note provides patch only for SP 11 and SP 13.
My necessity is to make a node an array even when it has only one record. So should I do a patch upgrade to 13 and then apply the patch mentioned in the Note 2175218.
Regards
Harish
Hi Harish,
If you have a sandbox system, you may try applying most recent patches for installed SP12 and see if enhanced XML/JSON conversion functionality is contained in them and gets introduced to a system, or you may raise a request to SAP asking them if / which patches for SP12 contain this enhancement (maybe it turns out respective patch level was just missed in a list of relevant patches in a SAP Note).
Regards,
Vadim
Hi Vadmin,
Are the custom conversion rules available for PI REST Receiver channel as well?
Currently our system are updated till SP11 and i dont see such options for receiver channel
thanks
Ramesh
Hi Ramesh,
Yes, enhanced XML/JSON conversion functionality is available in both REST sender and REST receiver. If you already applied corresponding patch for SP11, which contains this feature (it shall be at least PL20 for SP11 for release 7.4), then please also ensure that adapter metadata has been updated, too (updated XI Content for software component SAP Basis has been imported in ESR). Refer to SAP Notes 1536986 and 1637955 for more details.
Regards,
Vadim
Hi Vadim,
I need to pass a string value without quotes in the receiver json payload.
Example: I need to pass "name" = robert
but it is automatically converted to 'name' = "robert" in the receiver json payload. Is it possible to convert it without quotes.
Regards,
Robert
Hi Robert,
JSON element "name": robert will lead to non well formed JSON document, so I don't think it will be a valid way of using REST adapter, as it is supposed to produce well formed JSON documents - and in that way, the JSON element shall become "name": "robert". If your requirement is to produce payload as per your description, I would treat it as plain text payload, rather than a JSON document, and make use of another adapters - for example, HTTP - where you will not be limited with constraints of compliance to JSON validations.
Regards,
Vadim
Wonderful effort in unearthing behavior of JSON/XML via REST adapter .
Thanks Vadim for sharing. I am able to use this feature after SP upgrade to 12.
is there any was to log json data in the adapter audit logs? it will be handy for troubleshooting. we can take the same payload and test it from outside PI.
Regards,
Muni
Hi Muni,
It is possible to log JSON message in case XML/JSON conversion is used. In REST communication channels, there is a configuration option for this (checkbox "Log JSON message" - it becomes available when XML/JSON conversion is enabled), which was introduced by new feature development described in SAP Note 2175263. JSON message logging functionality was introduced earlier by new feature development described in SAP Note 2079486. When this kind of logging activated, JSON message will be logged and visible in Message Monitor, in message versions. This will not log JSON message to an audit log, but will create a message version. I'm not aware of any SAP standard functionality of REST adapter that would enable logging JSON content into message audit log. But hopefully a logged JSON message in Message Monitor will fulfil your needs.
Regards,
Vadim
Thank you Vadim. i am able to view the json message. It is very useful for troubleshooting especially when exceptions thrown from rest service.
Regards,
Muni
Hi Vadim,
Can you take a quick look at this thread?
http://scn.sap.com/thread/3740024
Regards
Harish
Hello Harish,
The feature described in this blog, fulfils requirement which was raised in the referred thread. The thread is relatively old and has not been active for already a long time.
Regards,
Vadim
Hi Vadim,
Is there a provision on the configuration where I can instruct the JSON to XML parser to skip certain JSON elements.
In my JSON response I am getting a comments element which contains characters which are not permitted in XML, I wanted to skip this element completely.
Below is the error I see in the REST receiver adapter:
Information Server returned code: 200
MP: exception caught with cause java.lang.RuntimeException:
com.ctc.wstx.exc.WstxIOException: Invalid white space character (0x8) in text to output (in xml 1.1, could output as a character entity)
Exception caught by adapter framework: com.ctc.wstx.exc.WstxIOException: Invalid white space character (0x8) in text to output (in xml 1.1, could output as a character entity)
Thx in advance
Ravijeet
Hello Ravijeet,
The provided JSON does not look like well formed - no escaping for some characters contained in the value of the element 'comments', as well as it seems incomplete.
As for your question, I'm not aware of any functionality / parameterization in REST adapter, where you can explicitly define ignored JSON elements. Instead, when the returned JSON is well formed document, can you test its processing once again and see if implicit escaping takes place.
Regards,
Vadim
Hi Vadim,
The JSON to XML parsing works good when I have no data in json element "comments". When I was doing end to end testing in DEV with no data in comments the JSON to XML thing works good. Now in UAT I see data coming in comments field and this is all raw HTML data which they capture in this comments field. Now when I get the data in "comments" field, the JSON to XML fails in the REST receiver adapter.
Ravijeet,
First of all, this kind of long extracts of the failed message for the particular scenario are not very appropriate for blog comments - this is a use case for a new forum thread.
Regarding the error... As I wrote above, I don't think you can explicitly ignore any specific JSON element when processing the response message in REST adapter by standard means. Can you check with the called system responsibles, if they can encode symbols so that they can be parsed further?
Regards,
Vadim
Hi Vadim,
Nice blog. In my scenario REST adapter is configured as receiver channel. since my case a synchronous process from ECC(Proxy)–>Request–>PI–>REST SERVICE–>Response–>PI –>ECC. Please help out with the XML/JSON conversion in the receiver channel. Looking forward for your reply.
This is the request body which must be passed to my REST Service.
Hello Yamini,
The message you provided as an example, corresponds to OData, but not pure generic RESTful. Hence, please check OData version used by the called service and based on that, verify if you can use OData adapter instead of REST adapter on PI side in your scenario.
Regards,
Vadim
Thanks Vadim ,for the clarifications. I am new to SAP PI. As a result of my findings i could add oData adapter by installing this add-on(SAP Process Integration, connectivity add-on 1.0) to the PI 7.4 System. Can you help me out with basic links to configure a oData receiver channel with the mapping structure.
Yamini, please check official SAP documentation for configuration of OData receiver channels as well as materials on SAP Community such as blogs - there are already examples on how to use OData adapter in receiver flow scenarios. If after following them you will have any specific question, I would suggest you creating a separate question in Questions & Answers section - comments to the blog is not very appropriate place for having discussion on the topic that is not directly related to the subject of the blog.
Regards,
Vadim
Okay got your point. Thanks Vadim.
Hi Vadim,
Thanks for providing such valuable information for us.
While tring to convert the message from json to XML format using rest adapter i am not able to get the attributes into XML structure from json(attributes are declare with '@'). Is there any option available for me to get it into XML.
Thanks,
Avinash
Hello Avinash,
I don't think current implementation of REST adapter supports XML attributes during JSON to XML conversion, have never seen any evidence of this.
Workaround here could be either avoidance of XML attributes in the message type and their replacement with XML elements, or usage of intermediate message type. In the latter case, intermediate message type only has XML elements and not attributes and is used when converting incoming JSON document into XML document. Afterwards, you shall be able to make use of the generated XML document (containing only XML elements) and convert it to required final target message (containing XML elements and attributes) from within the mapping - precisely, making conversion of required XML elements into their counterparts / XML attributes.
Regards,
Vadim
Hi,
Has this ever happened to you?
https://answers.sap.com/questions/125962/error-rest-receiver-adapter-content-is-not-allowed.html
Any help would be grateful
Regards.
Hi Vadim,
In my scenario, we have a REST sender where I need to convert from JSON to XML.
JSON:
{
"ReqType" : "C",
"AmendNo" : "0",
"RequestDate" : "20.01.2017",
"RequestTime" : "25",
DriverCode" : "3165",
"FirstName": "XXX",
"LastName": "XXX",
}
Converted XML:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
-<ns1:MT_Driver_C_Req xmlns:ns1="urn:ZZZZ.com:DriverMaster">
<ReqType>C</ReqType>
<AmendNo>0</AmendNo>
<RequestDate>20.01.2017</RequestDate>
<RequestTime>25</RequestTime>
<DriverCode>3165</OOMCO_DriverCode>
<FirstName>XXX</FirstName>
<LastName>XXX</LastName>
</ns1:MT_Driver_C_Req>
The problem is I have an array of driver values where I wrapped the XML with a recordset which occurs 0-unbounded. How do i get this array type in request XML? I'm using Add wrapper Element in channel to add Message Type root node in the converted XML to make mapping work.
Thank you Vadim!!! This Work Fine
Congratulations.
Regards,
Thank You Vadim for this wonderful blog. We run SAP PO 7.5 SP06 and I was working on a REST Receiver Scenario. I am unable to find the Custom XML/JSON conversion rules or the Enable Namespace mapping checkbox. Is it because we are running on a lower SP ?
I have to add the namespace details to the outgoing JSON for it to be accepted at the Receiver. I had also posted a question for this specific scenario but I guess this would be the right forum to raise my query.
Hi Krishna,
I replied in the question thread that you raised. Summarizing that answer, please check that REST adapter metadata is refreshed (refer to SAP Note 2276231).
Regards,
Vadim
Hi Vadim,
Thanks for explaining the concept, it solved my critical requirement and made me aware of one of the trickiest part of REST receiver adapter.
Great Work I say 🙂
Regards,
Ashutosh
Hi there,
I have a problem with conversion on REST Receiver adapter, method GET. The communication channel is not converting the json payload to html, so the payload that returns to S4Hana is empty.
The interface is sycronous: SAP S4Hana (Proxy) -> SAP PO (REST) -> External System (GET method).
Here is the json returned from external system.
[{“id”:9946,”name”:”KRUPS SOLUCOES EM TI”,”enabled”:true,”chain”:{“id”:25933,”name”:”KRUPS”,”chainGroup”:{“id”:25690,”name”:”KRUPS”,”chainCode”:null}},”pointOfSaleChannel”:null,”code”:”900000000″,”companyRegistrationNumber”:”66508649299″,”companyName”:”KRUPS”,”shoppingCenter”:null,”address”:{“id”:10253,”neighborhood”:”GUARARAPES”,”address”:”RUA NOVA”,”number”:”677″,”zipCode”:”66811-320″},”region”:{“id”:14088,”name”:”KEY ACCOUNT”,”macroRegion”:{“id”:14089,”name”:”Macro Regional KEY ACCOUNT”}},”pointOfSaleType”:null,”pointOfSaleProfile”:null,”customFields”:null,”deleted”:null,”productLineMixMini”:null}]
I had configured conversion rules on communication channel, but did not work.
Bellow are the images.
Testing on sproxy.
I would appreciate some advices.
Hello Karla,
When configuring custom XML/JSON conversion rules in the communication channel, please fill in namespace, prefix and name of XML element (and type / array type - where relevant) - I see that for few occurrences, they are missing.
Can you check trace of the communication channel for the processed request (response message), or see what XML message is generated for the response message after it gets converted from JSON to XML, and before response message mapping?
Regards,
Vadim
Hi,
How can a proper null value be achieved in the JSON format?
I would like to put a null without quotation marks into the message.
If I simply type the null into 'Default Value' column of the "Custom XML/JSON Conversation Rules" table, the result will be
{
"Field": "null"
}
but I want to have this:
{
"Field": null
}
Thanks for helping.
Hello Gergõ,
In REST channel configuration, when you configure data format settings, deactivate checkbox 'Treat null As String' - by default, it is activated, and any field's value 'null' in the message payload will be put in the JSON output as "null", whereas if deactivated, it will be put as null (with no quotation marks).
Regards,
Vadim
Hi,
I have a problem with conversion on REST Receiver adapter, method GET. The communication channel is not converting the json payload to html, so the payload that returns to S4Hana is empty.
The interface is sycronous: SAP S4Hana (Proxy) -> SAP PO (REST) -> External System (GET method).
Here is the json returned from external system.
{"Details":{"OrderDetails":[{"OrderID":"0","OrderNo":"00010" }],"CustomerID":"00001","UserID":"","Name":"","PCode":"","Status":"Sucess","Message":"Record Inserted Successfully"}}
Here is the error message from PO system.
MP: exception caught with cause com.sap.aii.adapter.rest.ejb.parse.InvalidJSonContent: Invalid JSON message content used; Message: "JSONArray text must end with ] at character 28 of
Bellow are the images.
Channel
Error Message
Please suggest me to resolve this error.
Regards
Surender
Hi Vadim,
Could you please look at the below thread and suggest.
https://answers.sap.com/questions/398216/
Regards,
P
Hi Team,
Can someone address the issue in the below link please. Appreciate your help. Its a Receiver Adapter with PUT method.
https://answers.sap.com/questions/416775/rest-receiver-adapter-xml-to-json-issue-http-error.html
Thanks,
Varun
Hi Varun,
I have replied in your forum thread: please check SAP Note 2465948 and the module parameter 'setIgnoredElements' that it introduces in REST adapter to remove specific defined fields of XML message in the generated JSON message.
Regards,
Vadim
Hi Vadim,
This would mean that I'm able to convert from
to
[
{ "cui": 3234, "data":"2018-02-24" },
{ "cui": 1212121, "data":"2018-01-17" }
]
by
Correct?
thanks Martin
Hi Martin,
Yes, you are correct: enable 'Strip Outer Element' feature to remove root element 'ANAF_Request', and add module parameter 'setIgnoredElements' with value 'RequestData' to remove element 'RequestData' from the output.
Regards,
Vadim
Thanks a lot!
So I start patching to have this feature available!
kr Martin
Vadim Klimov, thanks for sharing this excellent material.
I have a question: in my PI 7.31 SP21 I have a JDBC-->REST scenario and I'm sending a URL field.
The "/" characters of this URL are being escapade and as result the URL reaches the target API as http:\/\/google.com\/flights (that's a standard behavior of Jettison processor).
I saw some other past discussions around similar issues but the solution for most of them was a Java mapping.
I'm wondering if I can have this resolved w/o Java mapping (or custom adapter modules) but rather in this Custom XML/JSON Conversion Rules section.
Would you know how to achieve this or if that's even possible?
Thanks,
Rafael.
Hello Rafael,
Do you have any update on this other than Java mapping.
Please let me know if there's one other than Java mapping.
Regards,
Sushant
Hi Vadim,
Thanks for sharing this excellent article.
I am facing problem converting JSON to XML using REST adapter.
my JSON payload is like ["10xxx","19xxxx","Kerry",.....] in this payload we don't have field names as general JSON [{ "field1": value, "field2": "value"}}].
but we are able to convert JSON to XML as attached image
.
Issue is for every value wrapped into <root> tag in XML. How we can replace <root> tag with filed names. Kindly help me to resolve this issue.
Thanks in advance for all your help.
Best Regards,
Hello Karunakar,
For the JSON message sample that you provided - precisely, JSON message that contains unnamed JSON array - this is fixed behaviour of REST adapter's JSON to XML conversion logic that creates XML elements for array values of unnamed JSON array, using the defaulted XML elements' name 'root', this cannot be customized in the REST communication channel.
Regards,
Vadim
Hi Vadim / all,
is this limitation still the case? I have a scenario with a synchronous rest receiver where the respone is in JSON and looks like this
This will then be (automatically) converted to
I could not find any note for that behavior nor if this is nowadays something that can be changed (seems rediculous if it weren't)
Cheers
Jens
Hi Vadim,
Thanks for your response and clarification.
Best Regards,
Karunakar A
Hi Vadim,
How to send a query to SFDC rest api using Rest adapter.
Ex :- Below query is working fine in Soap UI but when i am using in Rest adapter Fatal error is receiving in Rest adapter. Please guide me to resolve this issue.
Hi, does anyone know how to handle a sync JSON response containing "null" (as a string)? While processing our REST receiver adapter throws the error
"java.lang.NullPointerException: while trying to invoke the method java.lang.Object.toString() of a null object returned from com.sap.aii.adapter.rest.ejb.json.CustomMappedNamespaceConvention.convertType(java.lang.String, com.sap.aii.adapter.rest.ejb.json.CustomMappedNamespaceConvention$JSONType, java.lang.String)"
Seems according to RFC 7159, “null” (as well as “true” and “false”) becomes a valid JSON text
Thanks in advance
Hi,
This fixed the issue when the array has one element but I don't think it works if the array is empty.
I am expexting:
"LIST": {
"item": []
}
but i get "LIST": " "
Is there a way to make the output an array even if its empty?
Thanks.
Hi Rami,
DID YOU MANAGE TO MAKE THE CHANGE? I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM TOO.
Best Regards
Umberto
Hi Rami Bleibel,
Could you let me know how do you fix this issue? i face the same problem and want to return empty array also.
REST Adapter in PI/PO: Enhanced XML/JSON Conversion, the SAP Note 2175218 is applied in my system but not view Custom Conversion XML/JSON Rules in SAP NWDS, my SAP PO version 7.4 SP 18. can I come?
Hi Stefano,
Did you update adapter metadata in ESR (see SAP Notes 2276231 and 2469328)?
Regards,
Vadim
Hi Vadim/all
I'm working with PI 730 version, and i need to convert xml to json and vice-versa, is there some
article or could you share some way that can i do this interface?
Hi Marcos,
This functionality hasn't been downported to release 7.30 - it is available in 7.31+ releases.
There is an alternative solution for this requirement: Eng Swee Yeoh developed adapter module that is kind of a Swiss Army knife for format conversions between various formats and XML - and it is also capable of making conversions from XML to JSON and vice versa. You can read more about that module and how different converters can be configured, in his blog - https://blogs.sap.com/2015/03/25/formatconversionbean-one-bean-to-rule-them-all/. You will also find a link to download the module in there.
Regards,
Vadim
Hi Vadim,
We have an element that occurs at two levels in the payload one at the parent level and another one under a different parent node.
Node A
Node B
Element A
We need to define Node 'A' as array, but when we do that Element 'A' in Node 'B' also becomes an array. Is this something that could be fixed?
Custom XML/JSON conversion rules is this option available in CPI?
Hi Nitin,
In CPI, there is no such an explicit configurable functionality as custom XML/JSON conversion rules in the adapter or in XML to JSON converter, but you can achieve that using a custom script step (such as Groovy or JavaScript) and composing a required JSON document with specific handling of JSON elements within that script.
Regards,
Vadim
Hi Vadim,
I want to convert a json object into a json array like the below. Please give suggestions how to do it in a REST receiver adapter.
Current:
{
"Defective_Part":"BLOWER",
"Product_Segment":"DEFECT_CODES",
"Group":"VRF",
"Code":3,
"Code_Description":"Malfunction of Protection"
}
Expected:
[
{
"Defective_Part":"BLOWER",
"Product_Segment":"DEFECT_CODES",
"Group":"VRF",
"Code":3,
"Code_Description":"Malfunction of Protection"
}
]
The original xml data is as follow:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<ns0:MT_TEST xmlns:ns0="http://test.com/demo/rest">
<Request>
<DEMO_REST>
<Defective_Part>BLOWER</Defective_Part>
<Product_Segment>DEFECT_CODES</Product_Segment>
<Group>VRF</Group>
<Code>3</Code>
<Code_Description>Malfunction of Protection</Code_Description>
</DEMO_REST>
</Request>
</ns0:MT_TEST>
Regards,
Abhishek
Hi Abnishek,
Please consider usage of forced array option for an element 'DEMO_REST'.
Regards,
Vadim
Hi!
Is it possible to move initial structure from XML to JSON as {}?
Dear Vadim Klimov,
Its very good blog 🙂
I am able to see "Custom XML/JSON Conversion Rules" in my Receiver Rest Communication channel. But its not converting ex: <userName>111</employeeID> to JSON expression {"userName": "111" } , instead still my JSON expression is {"userID": 111 }
Below is my REST receiver adapter channel config of ""Custom XML/JSON Conversion Rules"
Below is the input XMl:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<ns0:MT_Emp_Details_Req xmlns:ns0="http://xxxxx/hr/Peakon">
<userName>123</userName>
<name>
<givenName>test</givenName>
<familyName>test</familyName>
</name>
</ns0:MT_Emp_Details_Req>
Below is the converted JSON expression:
{
"userName": 123,
"name": {
"givenName": "test",
"familyName": "test"
}
}
I need userName in json exp as "123". Please let me know where I am going wrong.
Regards,
Santhosh
Hi Santhosh,
The XML document that you provided: am I correct in assumption that it is a message after mapping step - so that it is essentially message payload that arrives to a REST receiver channel and for which XML/JSON conversion is applied? This is to cross-check that attributes such as namespace prefix are exactly as depicted in the payload example you provided. You can run a trace on the receiver channel to see what actual XML document / payload comes to it, and how it gets processed by the channel.
Configuration wise, I cannot see anything missing so far, assuming that namespace, namespace prefix and field name are correct.
Regards,
Vadim
Hi Vadim,
with the help of your blog I forced to replace curly braces with square braces for JSON objects.
Can we remove the square braces and keep only curly braces for JSON object?
{
“Record”: [
{
“Item”: [
{
“Field1”:
“Field2”:
}
]
}
]
}
From the above one can the square braces for Item can be removed?
Thanks,
LM
Hello Leela,
From the JSON document you provided, Item is the array. You can turn it into JSON object, and not an array, by explicitly specifying that and setting Array Type = false in the Custom XML/JSON Conversion Rules section, but that would make sense only if the Item element is truly not an array.
Hi Vadim,
Thanks for your reply. I tried setting the array type to false and it didn't worked.
Actually the item is an array, but the receiver side they need the item field to have only curly braces instead of square braces. For single item it works fine as it treats like not an array and generate only the curly braces. but if we have multiple items, then having th issue as it has both square and curly braces. So I want to remove the square braces. Can we achieve that in PI?
Thanks,
LM
Hi Vadim
Excellent Blog!!
I am facing an Issue related to XML to JSON conversion.
Flow is : SAP(Proxy)–>SAP PO–> REST API Service.
One of the XML field is receiving JSON Array. Example as below
<FSR>[{“name”:”ABC”,”userid”:”1234″},{“name”:”EFG”,”userid”:”5678″}]</FSR>
When converting it in to JSON using REST Adapter,
{
“FSR” : “[{“name”:”ABC”,”userid”:”1234″},{“name”:”EFG”,”userid”:”5678″}]”
}
But expectation is without double quotes as below :
{
“FSR” : [{“name”:”ABC”,”userid”:”1234″},{“name”:”EFG”,”userid”:”5678″}]
}
Is it possible to achieve this using Standard REST adapter .
Note : I am able to achieve it using Advantco REST Adapter using below.
Thanks
Hi,
I cannot think of the way how you can satisfy this requirement with pure standard functionality of XML/JSON conversion, unless you are open to introduce an adjustment to the source structure. Let's take an example of the input you provided:
Is that possible for you to introduce a child element to the element FSR in the message type and define that child element in the way that multiple occurrences of it can appear (occurrence = 0..unbounded, for example), and then split entries contained in the original value of the FSR element into that new element, so that the above example input becomes converted to the one below (note that I introduced a child element Entry for the original element FSR, and split the originally provided value of FSR into corresponding values of multiple Entry occurrences):
With this adjusted structure, it is then possible to achieve your requirement by combination of following configurations in the REST receiver adapter:
With this in place, you shall get JSON output that you are aiming for.
Regards,
Vadim
Hi Vadim,
I have a similar requirement where i am facing an Issue related to XML to JSON conversion.
Flow is : SAP(Proxy)<–>SAP PO<–> REST API Service.
One of the XML field is receiving as below
"UnitPrice":"10:00"
expected is :"UnitPrice": 10:00(without the quotes). i have used to xml/json conversion table as shown below
I also tried with "integer", decimal, it gives the values as 10 instead of 10.00 . with boolean it gives as "10.00".
Can you please suggest how can i get the exact value without the quotes.
and also, if i have "0.0". it is populating only 0. the expected value is 0.0
can you please advice here.
regards
Smith
Hi Smith,
The configuration that you provided with explicit specification of the UnitPrice element as a decimal is the way to go. If submitted number will have decimal part, then it shall get converted correctly - for example, for the input
it shall produce the following output
I guess the concern that you have is, in cases when the number is round and doesn't have any meaningful decimal part (for example, 12.0), the output lacks zeroes in the decimal part (the output becomes 12). Is that something that makes the receiver system confused and it misinterprets such notation of the decimal number? Even if this value is initially treated as an integer, integer can be finely casted to decimal (such as float or double) - or that is not the case for the receiver system and it errors when receiving such input?
I saw that there were several enhancements and fixes to the way how XML/JSON conversion handles decimal values (for example, Notes 2902333 and 2879822), but unfortunately I don't have the relevant patched system now to test if those will fix the issue with omitted decimal part of round numbers of decimal type. If you have possibility to apply those corrections and test behavior with explicitly enforced typing to decimal for that field, that will be nice. Otherwise, you might consider raising this to a wider community (in SAP forums / answers.sap.com) or raising this with SAP.
Regards,
Vadim
Thanks Vadim for the detailed explanation. i passed the same info to the 3rd party and they are OK with it.
Just have another query please, I am testing the post API method and i could see that JSON structure is generated in PO( i can see in the logs). but somehow they are saying they didnt receive it and i am getting response back as "Source file not present".
its sync call. the request is succesfully delivered from PO and response message is received as 'Source file not present".
What could be the issue here? Can you please assist me.
Regards
Smith
Hi Smith,
In case you can evidence the JSON output (after XML to JSON conversion) in message versions, and if the message has been delivered successfully to an endpoint of a receiver system, then if the receiver system responds it didn't get any payload, I would start from tracing an HTTP call from SAP PO to the receiver system and inspecting what data has been sent to the receiver. For example, you can use XPI Inspector with enabled HTTP tracing, send a new test message, and then check XPI Inspector's trace and find an HTTP request for that message that was issued by SAP PO, including request's headers and payload. This shall provide you with relevant information about what actually was sent to the receiver. Pay special attention to the endpoint of the receiver (was the message sent to the correct endpoint?), payload (did it contain expected content - such as JSON document?) and headers (are there any headers that might be required by the receiver and that were missing?).
Regards,
Vadim
Hi Vadim,
I have passed all the “headers” in the channel.
i tested the same in postman. in the tab"body" there is a key and value pair. if its empty then i am getting "no source files present".
if i select file and upload the JSON file(saved in desktop) and test it gets succesful.
How can i achive the same from PO. i need to pass the mapping payload as fileupload to this key value.
Can you please advise here.
Regards
Smith
Hi, following examples shown in screenshots, you shall look for multipart/form-data request generation, not JSON. REST adapter supports multipart/form-data when processing messages with attachments (see SAP Note 2365727), and you can also create multipart/form-data messages using some other adapter types - in particular, HTTP_AAE adapter is commonly used for this purpose.
Regards,
Vadim
(RESOLVED - see end of comment)
Thank you Vadim – blogs like uncover many gems and tools hidden in SAP PI.
I am trying to update a region in Workiva. From SOAPUI I am passing the spreadsheet id, sheet id, region and a set of values. I have the URL parameters parsing wonderfully. However, the spreadsheet only blanks the cells, it does not update them.
Workiva API docs say the payload should look like this:
In my data type I have XML structure defined as follows:
<workiva_update> (complex type)
<spreadsheet_id> (xsd:string)
<sheet_id> (xsd:string)
<region> (xsd:string)
<values> (0..unbounded element)
<row_col> (xsd:string, 0..unbounded)
My payload looks like:
But the JSON output looks like this:
And nothing happens in Workiva.
So I have 3 questions:
Thanks!
PS: Well this is awkward. Yesterday I was completely at a loss. Tried a bunch of stuff today and found this blog / comment thread which looked promising. Typed this message and then continued hacking / beating the solution into submission. And guess what - I got it to work!
End result is:
as originally desired.
Thanks again!
I missed that earlier comment - only read it through now with your updated comment. So, it all works well now, right? Or is there anything missing / incorrect?
Yes, we have it working - sorry for the late repsonse.
Hello Experts,
I do have strange issue in Asynchronous Rest sender adapter for integer json type.
When i am posting data using postman for one integer field, if its length is 4 then the request is successful to SAP PO, but if more than 4 digits we are getting 404 error.
Data type for that field is maintained as integer and 0.unbounder occurances in SAP PO.
Can some one help on this scenario please as we are using SAP PO 7.5 single stacks SP09.
That is indeed strange. Can you run an XPI Inspector trace for your REST sender channel for two cases: 1) happy path, when the scenario works, 2) failure, when you get the HTTP 404 error. In particular, in the trace, it shall be visible if the REST adapter found binding for the received request. You shall also be able to see full details of the request (both requests in this case - successful and failing) to see if there is any other difference between them by time they reach the REST adapter.
Hi Vadim,
Need help on below scenario.
as a response from Rest service i am getting Either array for multiple records or for single records only a structure .
I am not able to translate that to XML of a single data type.
BR,
yashpal
It might be more visual if you paste sample responses (you can obfuscate values in them) for your described cases: original JSON response messages with multiple records and a single record, XML messages that are produced after JSON to XML conversion, and expected XML payloads.
I would encourage using SAP Answers to raise this question in the forum section.
Hi Yashpal,
I'm assuming you had a scenario like this
Single record return JSON
Multiple records return JSON
Then you wanted to process those all with a single XML message type that looked like follows
Single
Multi
Is that right? If so, how did you succeed?
Cheers
Jens
Hi Team,
we have requirement to add 2 [[{}]] square brackets in a json file even the record occurs only once or single record.
"GroupList":
[
[
{
"itemNo": "19",
"shipmentNo": "01",
}
]
]
Configured the conversion Rules, Am getting single [ bracket but we need 2 square brackets [[ .
Getting the output as below with the conversion rules.
"GroupList":
[
{
"itemNo": "19",
"shipmentNo": "01",
}
]
Need another square bracket in the json output message.
Expected output:
"GroupList":
[
[
{
"itemNo": "19",
"shipmentNo": "01",
}
]
]
Please help to get another square bracket .
Thanks,
Ravi
On 7.50 SP 13 there seems to be a bug when using namespace mapping in combination with custom xml/json conversion rules. If you have xml value that is 1...unbounded and want to force that to an array, that is not honoured. If you turn of namespace mapping, it seems to start working.
Thank you for this note, Jens. It sounds to me like a bug - so would be worth reporting it via an incident to the SAP team.
Great blog.
I have this same problem - "If an XML element was defined as an array, but only contains one item in converted XML payload, Jettison processor will likely convert it to a non-array type"
I read through the article, and changed the REST receiver channel to designate the array to "true" ( I also tried 1, and yes). But regardless it still puts {} instead of [] around the field/array. it is defined 0...unbounded. What else could I be missing, I have tried several things. Thanks for any ideas/help.
Im facing an issue when covnverting \ from xml to JSON. But its getting added escape character and now its two \\ , This is in advanco kafka adapter. Any solution to handle this? (\u0000 into \\u0000 )
Hi Vadim!
while converting xml to json, how could I make all fields to string, without specify particular fields one by one. because i have complex xml.
is it possible?
thanks
hello,
Module parameter setIgnoredElements in rest receiver channel is returning , (comma) in json payload. How can i remove comma in json payload?
Change the xml structure so that the elements you want to ignore are at the front.