Read and write

This section contains the code examples for reading from the input data (data.input) and writing to the output data (data.output).

Read and write for interim data (data.internal) is similar.

For more information on how to add a quotation mark ", backslash \, line break, or tab to the object in the input data, see If you're not familiar with JSON. For more information about escaping in TSV files, see the documentation.

Basic example

Let's say you want to display the question text from the input data and write the response to the output data. Sample input data:

{
  "question": "Would you buy an elephant?"
}
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Example of the question display in the view.text component:

{
  "type": "view.text",
  "label": "Answer the question:",
  "content": {
    "type": "data.input",
    "path": "question"
  }
}
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Example of writing a response using the field.radio-group component:

{
  "type": "field.radio-group",
  "options": [...],
  "data": {
    "type": "data.output",
    "path": "verdict"
  }
}
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When you respond with yes and click Send, the result looks like this:

{
  "output": {
    "verdict": true
  }
}
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Reading JSON input data

If you pass a JSON object in the input data and want to get a value for some nested key, specify the path to it using the dot as a separator.

Let's say you have an input object that describes a residential address.

{
    "name": "Ivan Ivanov",
    "registration_address": {
        "country": "US",
        "city": "Washington, D.C.",
        "address": "83 Goldcliff Circle"
    },
    ...
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To display the value from the city property in the interface, specify the path to this value using the dot separator:

{
  "type": "data.input",
  "path": "registration_address.city"
}
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Writing JSON data

The output data is written similarly. If you enter the path separated by dots, the field with the output data will have the object type in the specification.

Reading data with the "array" type

To get a value from a specific element in an array, use the path to specify its sequence number, starting from zero.

Let's say the input data contains an array of links to images:

{
  "images": [
    "https://cdn.stocksnap.io/img-thumbs/960w/surfer-wave_3DBOYBPB3X.jpg",
    "https://cdn.stocksnap.io/img-thumbs/960w/fisherman-silhouette_UADULRRHEK.jpg",
    "https://cdn.stocksnap.io/img-thumbs/960w/old-photo_GEQ27OWZVV.jpg"
  ]
}
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You can reference a specific array element like this:

"url": {
  "type": "data.input",
  "path": "images.<Element number, starting from zero>"
}
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If the array length is unknown or very large, you can get all the array values using the helper.transform component.

For example, you can convert an array of image links to an array of view.image components to display them in the interface.

Writing the array data

Similarly to reading elements from an array, you can also write the results to an array. For this, use the path property for the path to the array and the element number starting from zero. Example:

{
  "type": "data.output",
  "path": "images.0"
}
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Related information

• Creating specifications
• Clearing the entered values

Last updated: February 10, 2023