Syntax

json-include supports an extended syntax called include syntax in JSON, formatted as:

{
    "...": "include(<json file name>)"
}

or

{
    "<any key>": "include_text(<text file name>)"
}

The include syntax means that this object (the whole {"...": "include(<json file name>")}) in JSON is a reference to the JSON file named in <json file name> notation, and should be included into its place.

The included JSON should always be an object (dict) rather than an array (list), to prevent implicit meaning and make sure we can get a clear view of the structure without looking into the included JSON files.

In case multiple include statements are used, passing key inside makeUnique adds a random string to each included value at the corresponding key:

{
    "...": "include(<json file name>)",
    "makeUnique": "<key>"
}

In a normal JSON when we want to include another JSON on an attribute, it should be written as follows:

{
    "username": "alice",
    "profile": {
        "...": "include(profile_model.json)"
    }
}

In this JSON a profile_model.json is included to present profile attribute, if the content of profile_model.json is like:

{
    "age": 18,
    "gender": "female"
}

then what we mean by the include syntax is that, when this JSON is being used as a normal JSON, it should be seen as:

{
    "username": "alice",
    "profile": {
        "age": 18,
        "gender": "female"
    }
}

To ture JSON with include syntax into a normal JSON, a build process is needed, that’s what the implementation does.

Python Implementation

Implementation could be of any language as long as it can understand the include syntax and output as expected, this repo contains a Python implementation for use.

pip install https://github.com/exabyte-io/json_include/archive/master.zip

import json_include
json_include.build_json(ROOT_DIR, 'example.json')