Using the Alias
Property
Introduction
Gloop gives developers the ability to rename Gloop model properties during serialization1 using the
Alias
property. With this property, you can name a Gloop model property after a keyword2 or change it to something
else so that it matches the requirements of your API.
The examples
package demonstrates how the Alias
property works via the PrintPerson.gloop
service. Once this service is executed, it will transform the input to XML and JSON (renaming properties with aliases)
and log the result to the console.
Related articles
Please see the following articles for more information:
Running the Service
Under the Coder Navigator, expand the examples
package entry and navigate to the
code
folder. Afterwards, look for the aliasForSerializing
package. This package contains
two files, shown below:
1 2 3 4 5 6 | examples ├── ... └── code └── aliasForSerializing ├── Person.model └── PrintPerson.gloop |
Running the PrintPerson.gloop
service will provide an output similar to that shown below.
Output of PrintPerson.gloop
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 | 24/04/18 13:42:26.340 INFO [Integrate] <?xml version="1.0"?> <input phone number="941-746-6620"> <firstName>John</firstName> <last_name>Doe</last_name> <invalidNames _3mail="john.doe@example.com" %grade="97.0"> <middle-name>Bambi</middle-name> <SSN#>220-90-5004</SSN#> </invalidNames> </input> 24/04/18 13:42:26.384 INFO [Integrate] { "input": { "firstName": "John", "last_name": "Doe", "invalidNames": { "middle-name": "Bambi", "SSN#": "220-90-5004", "_3mail": "john.doe@example.com", "%grade": 97.0 }, "phone number": "941-746-6620" } } |
But what exactly are we looking at and what's so special about this service?
How It Works...
This example revolves around serializing a JSON or XML attribute/element to a name we want.
A Gloop model, when provided with an invalid property name, will attempt to make it a valid name for it
to be valid for Gloop and Groovy. During the serialization to JSON or XML, Gloop will use the
Alias
property. The Alias
will also be used when reading or writing a
property.
The Person.model
Gloop model contains invalid property names, each assigned an alias for when it gets
serialized. After the serialization, instead of the Gloop-assigned property names, the value of the Alias
property
will be used instead to write the output. When a property has an Alias
, it will appear in brackets are the
property itself in Gloop, as shown below:
Generate models from an existing source
You can generate Gloop models from an existing Gloop model, or a JSON or XML string, file, or schema.