The application/json-merge-patch Media Type
draft-ietf-appsawg-json-merge-patch-01
Applications Area Working Group J. Snell
Internet-Draft
Intended status: Standards Track September 17, 2013
Expires: March 21, 2014
The application/json-merge-patch Media Type
draft-ietf-appsawg-json-merge-patch-01
Abstract
This specification defines the application/json-merge-patch media
type and its intended use with the HTTP PATCH method defined by RFC
5789.
Status of This Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
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This Internet-Draft will expire on March 21, 2014.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. The "application/json-merge-patch" Media Type . . . . . . . . 3
3. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Appendix A. Example Test Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Appendix B. Example JavaScript Implementation . . . . . . . . . 9
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1. Introduction
This specification defines the JSON "Merge Patch" document format,
processing rules, and associated MIME media type identifier. The
Merge Patch format is primarily intended for use with the HTTP PATCH
method [RFC5789] as a means of describing a set of modifications to a
subset of target resource's content.
For example, given the following original JSON document:
{
"a": "b",
"c": {
"d": "e"
}
}
A change to the value of the "a" member can be described simply as:
PATCH /target HTTP/1.1
Host: example.org
Content-Type: application/json-merge-patch
{"a": "z"}
When applied to the target resource, only the value of the "a" member
will be modified, leaving the remaining content untouched.
The Merge Patch format generally supports two types of changes:
removing and setting JSON object members. JSON arrays are
essentially treated the same as JSON primitives: the existing value
is replaced, but not partially modified. The JSON null value is
given a special meaning to indicate the removal of an existing value.
These constraints allow Merge Patch to use a format that closely
mimics the document being modified. The constraints mean Merge Patch
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is suitable for patching JSON documents that primarily use objects
for their structure, and do not make use of explicit null values.
The Merge Patch format is not appropriate for all JSON syntaxes.
In this document, the key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED",
"SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY",
and "OPTIONAL" are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].
2. The "application/json-merge-patch" Media Type
The "application/json-merge-patch" Media Type is used to identify
JSON documents that describe, by example, a set of changes that are
to be made to a target resource. When used within an HTTP PATCH
request, it is the responsibility of the server receiving and
processing the request to inspect the payload entity and determine
the specific set of operations that are to be performed to modify the
target resource.
For example, given the following example JSON document:
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