doubts about ref.json test.

[redmitry]

Hello,

I have a doubt about the particular test in the test suit ref.json#L179 :

    {
        "description": "$ref prevents a sibling $id from changing the base uri",
        "schema": {
            "$id": "http://localhost:1234/sibling_id/base/",
            "definitions": {
                "foo": {
                    "$id": "http://localhost:1234/sibling_id/foo.json",
                    "type": "string"
                },
                "base_foo": {
                    "$comment": "this canonical uri is http://localhost:1234/sibling_id/base/foo.json",
                    "$id": "foo.json",
                    "type": "number"
                }
            },
            "allOf": [
                {
                    "$comment": "$ref resolves to http://localhost:1234/sibling_id/base/foo.json, not http://localhost:1234/sibling_id/foo.json",
                    "$id": "http://localhost:1234/sibling_id/",
                    "$ref": "foo.json"
                }
            ]
        },
        "tests": [
            {
                "description": "$ref resolves to /definitions/base_foo, data does not validate",
                "data": "a",
                "valid": false
            },
            {
                "description": "$ref resolves to /definitions/base_foo, data validates",
                "data": 1,
                "valid": true
            }
        ]
    }

Is the "definitions" keyword is just a convention or is a part of the specification?
I refer to the draft4 section-7.2.3
My point is that should the validator process "definitions" as the "$defs"?
If the "definitions" is just a convention, the validator should dereference it as json pointer an thus the test will FAIL because we do not process it before referencing.

Thank you,

D.

[jdesrosiers]

It's kind of both part of the specification and convention. A reference will evaluate anything you point to as a schema. For example, this should work.

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "aaa": { "$ref": "#/mydefs/foo" }
  },
  "mydefs": {
    "foo": { "type": "string" }
  }
}

However, the validator doesn't know the mydefs keyword and doesn't know that it's values are schemas. This example wouldn't work.

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "aaa": { "$ref": "/foo" }
  },
  "mydefs": {
    "foo": {
      "id": "/foo",
      "type": "string"
    }
  }
}

The id isn't recognized as an identifier because the validator doesn't know that mydefs values should be processed as schemas, so the { "$ref": "/foo" } doesn't know where to find the schema.

However, definitions is defined in the specification, so if definitions is used instead of mydefs, the validator knows to process those values as schemas and the id keywords will be understood and respected.

Note that id was renamed to $id in draft-06 and definitions was renamed to $defs in draft-2019-09. The names have changed, but the concept remains the same.

[redmitry]

Thank you, Jason for clearing it. That was the question - whether I must always parse "definitions" (otherwise no $id(s) or $anchor(s) would be recovered while json pointer may fail).