jsonref

jsonref is a library for automatic dereferencing of JSON Reference objects for Python (supporting Python 3.3+).

This library lets you use a data structure with JSON reference objects, as if the references had been replaced with the referent data.

>>> from pprint import pprint
>>> import jsonref

>>> # An example json document
>>> json_str = """{"real": [1, 2, 3, 4], "ref": {"$ref": "#/real"}}"""
>>> data = jsonref.loads(json_str)
>>> pprint(data)  # Reference is not evaluated until here
{'real': [1, 2, 3, 4], 'ref': [1, 2, 3, 4]}

Features

References are evaluated lazily. Nothing is dereferenced until it is used.
Recursive references are supported, and create recursive python data structures.

References objects are actually replaced by lazy lookup proxy objects which are almost completely transparent.

>>> data = jsonref.loads('{"real": [1, 2, 3, 4], "ref": {"$ref": "#/real"}}')
>>> # You can tell it is a proxy by using the type function
>>> type(data["real"]), type(data["ref"])
(<class 'list'>, <class 'jsonref.JsonRef'>)
>>> # You have direct access to the referent data with the __subject__
>>> # attribute
>>> type(data["ref"].__subject__)
<class 'list'>
>>> # If you need to get at the reference object
>>> data["ref"].__reference__
{'$ref': '#/real'}
>>> # Other than that you can use the proxy just like the underlying object
>>> ref = data["ref"]
>>> isinstance(ref, list)
True
>>> data["real"] == ref
True
>>> ref.append(5)
>>> del ref[0]
>>> # Actions on the reference affect the real data (if it is mutable)
>>> pprint(data)
{'real': [2, 3, 4, 5], 'ref': [2, 3, 4, 5]}