RE: when is it ok to replace a single value with an array?

On Saturday, June 27, 2015 7:19 AM, Milan Simonovic
> Hi,
> 
> I’m reading the spec and it seems like a value can always either be a single
> item/object or an array. For example:
> 
> http://www.w3.org/TR/json-ld/#sets-and-lists

Yes, that's true. Whether it makes sense from the vocabularies point of view is a different question though. 


> EXAMPLE 43: Using an expanded form to set multiple values
> {
>   "@id": "http://example.org/articles/8",
>   "dc:title": 
>   [
>     {
>       "@value": "Das Kapital",
>       "@language": "de"
>     },
>     {
>       "@value": "Capital",
>       "@language": "en"
>     }
>   ]
> }
> and it’s also valid to use a single value:
> 
> {
>   "@id": "http://example.org/articles/8",
>   "dc:title": “Capital”;
> }
> 
> So a client should always handle both cases?

Yes. Even if it weren't allowed by the vocabulary (it is definitely allowed by JSON-LD) your client should be able to handle it without breaking.

> And also from the
> server’s perspective, when is it ok to replace a single item with an
> array?

Always. It doesn't change the meaning of the response. Clients can use the various JSON-LD API methods [1] to make bring the document into a specific shape.


Cheers,
Markus


[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/json-ld-api/


--
Markus Lanthaler
@markuslanthaler

Received on Monday, 29 June 2015 19:22:06 UTC