Apiary: Is it possible to document what JSON response fields are?

Question

I would like to document what the actual JSON fields themselves represent.

I have documented the GET statement, and parameters but this does not make a complete documentation to give to users.

So, in the example below how would I add a comment about "OtherFields". Is this supported? Or do I need to make a companion document somewhere else.

## View Applications [/cat{?sort}{&order}{&page}]
### List all Applications 
### Get List of Applications [GET]
+ Parameters
    + sort (optional, string) ... `sort` parameter is used to specify which criteria to use for sorting. One of the following strings may be used: 
    `"NAME", 
    "RATING", "QUALITY" ,
    "RISKLEVEL", `

    + order (optional, string) ... `order` parameter is used to specify which order to use if sorting is used. One of the following strings may be used: 
    `"ASC", 
    "DESC"`

    + page (optional, int ) ... `page` parameter is used to request subsequent catalog pages.


+ Response 200 (application/json)

                {
            "Catalog" : {
                "Page" : 0,
                "Count" : 6,
                "Applications" : [{
                        "UID" : "6882e96a-5da1-11e3-1111-3f24f45df3ad"
                        "OtherFields: ""
               }]
               }}

Michelmichelangelo

Answer 1

Update: We have just rolled out a beta of attributes description using the MSON syntax.

The original payload could be then described as

### Get List of Applications [GET]

+ Response 200 (application/json)

    + Attributes
        + Catalog (object)
            + Page: 0 (number) - Number of the page
            + Count: 6 (number) - Count of *Lorem Ipsum*
            + Applications (array) - Some array of something
                + (object)
                    + UID: `6882e96a-5da1-11e3-1111-3f24f45df3ad`
                    + OtherFields

    + Body 

            {
                "Catalog" : {
                    "Page" : 0,
                    "Count" : 6,
                    "Applications" : [{
                        "UID" : "6882e96a-5da1-11e3-1111-3f24f45df3ad"
                        "OtherFields": ""
                    }]
                }
            }

Note the explicit JSON in body is redundant and you can skip it completely. See API Blueprint specification – Attributes for additional details

Standard

Defining and array of objects, as you describe it here does not quite work. I have tried with Apiary and aglio, both do not render the objects within the array. – Lundin

@Aichholzer this is the current issue in Apiary and Aglio see github.com/apiaryio/api-blueprint/issues/191 – Standard

Answer 2

I don't think it is supported yet.

I solved this problem in my project by putting a table with the description right above the GET request line. In your case it could look like:

### List all Applications 

| Field                            | Description               |
|----------------------------------|---------------------------|
| Catalog.Applications.OtherFields | Documentation goes here.. |

### Get List of Applications [GET]

To help you create the table in Markdown syntax you can use Markdown Tables generator.

Note that the table generator lets you save the table definition to a file so next time you would need to edit the table you can start from where you left off .

Fistula

Indeed. There is an issue on github with syntax proposal. – Transatlantic