JsonToXML Array within Array with Different Parent Names in Apigee

Question

I am trying to build an XML structure for a WSDL call, since there isn't a real proper way to send an arbitary size list of complex objects using the parameter passing method, I decided to use Json to XML. Here is my basic Json

school:{
  teachers : [
    {students :[{name: student1}, {name: student2}], name : teacher1},
    {students :[{name: student3}, {name: student4}], name : teacher2}
  ]
}

and what I want to see as an end result is

<school>
  <teachers>
    <name>teacher1</name>
    <students>
      <name>student1</name>
      <name>student2</name>
    </students>
  </teachers>
  <teachers>
    <name>teacher1</name>
    <students>
      <name>student1</name>
      <name>student2</name>
    </students>
  </teachers>
</school>

Using what Apigee Documentation

<ArrayRootElementName>Teachers</ArrayRootElementName>

It still would handle the Students properly, in fact it changes my Students to Teachers. Can someone help please.

Answer 1

To get the XML you desire out of the JSONToXML Policy, you must shape the input JSON differently. The input to JSONToXML should look like this:

{
  "school": {
    "teachers": [
      {
        "students": {
          "name": [
            "student1",
            "student2"
          ]
        },
        "name": "teacher1"
      },
      {
        "students": {
          "name": [
            "student3",
            "student4"
          ]
        },
        "name": "teacher2"
      }
    ]
  }
}

But your input isn't like that. How do you get it to look like that?

You can do it with a Javascript transform. Use a Javascript to re-map the original JSON to the JSON you want. Here's an example:

var c = context.getVariable('response.content') + '',
    body = JSON.parse(c);

if (body.school) {
  if (body.school.teachers) {
    body.school.teachers.forEach(function(item){
      if (item.students) {
        item.students = fixupStudents(item.students);
      }  
    });
    //body.school.teachers = fixupTeachers(body.school.teachers);
  }
}

the function fixupStudents looks like this:

function fixupArray(obj, propName, accessor) {
  var type = Object.prototype.toString.call(obj), i,
      a = [], rval = {};
  if (null !== obj) {
    if (type === "[object Array]") {
      for (i=0; i<obj.length; i++) {
        a.push(accessor(obj[i])); // string
      }
      rval[propName] = a;
    }
  }
  return rval;
}

function fixupStudents(obj) {
  return fixupArray(obj, 'name', function(o){return o.name;});
}

Here's a gist that will do the trick.

You must run this JS step BEFORE the JSONToXML step.