How to describe a model in Swagger for an array with simple objects?

Question

I have a REST services to document, some of them accepts simple array like:

[
  { "name":"a" },
  { "name":"b" },
  { "name":"c" }
]

How do I describe this in Swagger model section ? I can only create 'named array' like

model {
properties: { "arr": { "type":"array", ......

but it describes data like this:

"arr": [
  { "name":"a" },
  { "name":"b" },
  { "name":"c" }
]

Solution 1

Tony YUEN was close, but no cigar. This is the proper definition using YAML in OpenAPI/Swagger:

  /test:
post:
  summary: test 123
  description: test 123
  parameters:
    - name: param1
      in: body
      required: true
      description: test param1
      schema:
          $ref: '#/definitions/stackoverflow'
  responses:
    200:
      description: OK

This produces:

stackoverflow2[
  {
     name: string
  }
]

Tony's example produces:

[
  stackoverflow { 
                 name: string
  }
]

Complete Swagger/OpenAPI as YAML (copy & paste)

    swagger: '2.0'

################################################################################
#                              API Information                                 #
################################################################################
info:
  version: "Two-point-Oh!"
  title: Simple objects in array test
  description: |
    Simple objects in array test

################################################################################
#                                   Parameters                                 #
################################################################################

paths:
  /test:
    post:
      summary: Array with named objects
      description: Array with named objects
      parameters:
        - name: param1
          in: body
          required: true
          description: test param1
          schema:
            type: array
            items:
              $ref: '#/definitions/stackoverflow'
      responses:
        200:
          description: OK
  /test2:
    post:
      summary: Array with simpel (nameless) objects
      description: Array with simpel (nameless)  objects
      parameters:
        - name: param1
          in: body
          required: true
          description: test param1
          schema:
              $ref: '#/definitions/stackoverflow2'
      responses:
        200:
          description: OK
definitions:
  stackoverflow:
    type: object
    properties:
      name:
        type: string
        description: name of the object
  stackoverflow2:
    type: array
    items:
      type: object
      properties:
        name:
          type: string
          description: name of the object

Here's a JSON-version of Swagger/OpenAPI

    {
  "swagger" : "2.0",
  "info" : {
    "description" : "Simple objects in array test\n",
    "version" : "Two-point-Oh!",
    "title" : "Simple objects in array test"
  },
  "paths" : {
    "/test" : {
      "post" : {
        "summary" : "Array with named objects",
        "description" : "Array with named objects",
        "parameters" : [ {
          "in" : "body",
          "name" : "param1",
          "description" : "test param1",
          "required" : true,
          "schema" : {
            "type" : "array",
            "items" : {
              "$ref" : "#/definitions/stackoverflow"
            }
          }
        } ],
        "responses" : {
          "200" : {
            "description" : "OK"
          }
        }
      }
    },
    "/test2" : {
      "post" : {
        "summary" : "Array with simpel (nameless) objects",
        "description" : "Array with simpel (nameless)  objects",
        "parameters" : [ {
          "in" : "body",
          "name" : "param1",
          "description" : "test param1",
          "required" : true,
          "schema" : {
            "$ref" : "#/definitions/stackoverflow2"
          }
        } ],
        "responses" : {
          "200" : {
            "description" : "OK"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "definitions" : {
    "stackoverflow" : {
      "type" : "object",
      "properties" : {
        "name" : {
          "type" : "string",
          "description" : "name of the object"
        }
      }
    },
    "stackoverflow2" : {
      "type" : "array",
      "items" : {
        "$ref" : "#/definitions/stackoverflow2_inner"
      }
    },
    "stackoverflow2_inner" : {
      "properties" : {
        "name" : {
          "type" : "string",
          "description" : "name of the object"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Solution 2

Paste this to http://editor.swagger.io/#/ and click on "try this operation"

{
  "swagger": "2.0",
  "info": {
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "title": "Privacy-Service API"
  },
  "paths": {
    "/allNames": {
      "post": {
        "consumes": [
          "application/json",
          "application/xml"
        ],
        "produces": [
          "application/json",
          "application/xml"
        ],
        "parameters": [
          {
            "name": "request",
            "in": "body",
            "schema": {
              "$ref": "#/definitions/ArrayOfNames"
            }
          }
        ],
        "responses": {
          "200": {
            "description": "List of names",
            "schema": {
              "type": "array",
              "items": {
                "type": "string"
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "definitions": {
    "ArrayOfNames": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "minItems": 1,
        "type": "object",
        "required": [
          "name"
        ],
        "properties": {
          "name": {
            "type": "string"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Solution 3

Considering the format of the array you mentioned

[
  { "name":"a" },
  { "name":"b" },
  { "name":"c" }
]

I guess the following format can be used:

paths:
  /test:
    post:
      description: Test request
      operationId: test
      parameters:
        - in: body
          name: requestParameter
          required: true
          schema:
            type: array
            items:
              properties:
                name:
                  type: string
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Success response

Solution 4

It probably looks like this:

    ...
    "parameters" : [{
      "name" : "whatEverThatArrayCalled",
      "type" : "array",
      "items" : {
        "$ref" : "whatEverThatArrayCalled"
      }
      ...
    }],
    "models" : {
   {
    "id" : "whatEverThatArrayCalled",
    "properties": 
        {
       "whatEverThatArrayCalled" :
            {
         "type" : "array",
         "items":{"name":"a",
                  "name":"b",
                  "name":"c"
                  },

             }
         }
    }
 }        

...

Solution 5

  parameters:
  - name: "items"
    in: "formData"
    description: "description"
    required: "true"
    type: "array"
    items:
      type: "object"
      additionalProperties:
        properties:
          name:
            type: "string"

According to their docs https://swagger.io/docs/specification/data-models/dictionaries/, this should result in an array with objects that have a property called name and datatype is string.
It can be accessed over the requests body, something like request.body.items

Update:

it seems like it is enough to do (without the additionalproperties):

items:
  type: object
  properties:
    name:
      type: string

Now you got the items where each has a key called name and a corresponding value.

If it is this, what the TO was asking for....

View more solutions

Comments

[razor]

I was askking how to describe: [ { "name":"a" }, { "name":"b" }, { "name":"c" } ]

[jrc]

This is the correct answer. The key is in: body. According to the Swagger spec: "Since there can only be one payload, there can only be one body parameter. The name of the body parameter has no effect on the parameter itself and is used for documentation purposes only."

[Gobliins]

is this possible without application/json ?

[iBug]

Thank you for this code snippet, which might provide some limited, immediate help. A proper explanation would greatly improve its long-term value by showing why this is a good solution to the problem, and would make it more useful to future readers with other, similar questions. Please edit your answer to add some explanation, including the assumptions you've made.

[user1778602]

application/json is the default. You can remove it completely or even add xml as an alternative

[emery]

Good answer. The key here is "type: array" with the "items:" under that, to express items inside the [ ] brackets