Patching

We designed PATCH to work over multiple resources at the same time (bulk) and be flexible enough for all your needs to minimize round trips to the server. Therefore it might seem a little different to any PATCH you've seen before, but it's not complicated. All three actions that are supported do overwrite by default, but have special behaviour for lists of objects (for example lists of concepts).

Merge

merge action will overwrite a key:value with key:new_value or append to an existing list of values, merging dictionaries that match by a corresponding id field.

In the following examples A is being patched into B to create the Result:

*Merges different key:values*
A = `{"a":[1,2,3]}`
B = `{"blah":true}`
Result = `{"blah":true, "a":[1,2,3]}`

*For id lists, merge will append*
A = `{"a":[{"id": 1}]}`
B = `{"a":[{"id": 2}]}`
Result = `{"a":[{"id": 2}, {"id":1}]}`

*Simple merge of key:values and within a list*
A = `{"a":[{"id": "1", "other":true}], "blah":1}`
B = `{"a":[{"id": "2"},{"id":"1", "other":false}]}`
Result = `{"a":[{"id": "2"},{"id": "1"}], "blah":1}`

*Different types should overwrite fine*
A = `{"a":[{"id": "1"}], "blah":1}`
B = `{"a":[{"id": "2"}], "blah":"string"}`
Result = `{"a":[{"id": "2"},{"id": "1"}], "blah":1}`

*Deep merge, notice the "id":"1" matches, so those dicts are merged in the list*
A = `{"a":[{"id": "1","hey":true}], "blah":1}`
B = `{"a":[{"id": "1","foo":"bar","hey":false},{"id":"2"}], "blah":"string"}`
Result = `{"a":[{"hey":true,"id": "1","foo":"bar"},{"id":"2"}], "blah":1}`

*For non-id lists, merge will append*
A = `{"a":[{"blah": "1"}], "blah":1}`
B = `{"a":[{"blah": "2"}], "blah":"string"}`
Result = `{"a":[{"blah": "2"}, {"blah":"1"}], "blah":1}`

*For non-id lists, merge will append*
A = `{"a":[{"blah": "1"}], "blah":1, "dict":{"a":1,"b":2}}`
B = `{"a":[{"blah": "2"}], "blah":"string"}`
Result = `{"a":[{"blah": "2"}, {"blah":"1"}], "blah":1, "dict":{"a":1,"b":2}}`

*Simple overwrite root element*
A = `{"key1":true}`
B = `{"key1":{"key2":"value2", "key3":"value3"}}`
Result = `{"key1":true}`

*Overwrite a sub element*
A = `{"key1":{"key2":true}}`
B = `{"key1":{"key2":"value2", "key3":"value3"}}`
Result = `{"key1":{"key2":true, "key3":"value3"}}`

*Merge a sub element*
A = `{"key1":{"key2":{"key4":"value4"}}}`
B = `{"key1":{"key2":"value2", "key3":"value3"}}`
Result = `{"key1":{"key2":{"key4":"value4"}, "key3":"value3"}}`

*Merge multiple trees*
A = `{"key1":{"key2":{"key9":"value9"}, "key3":{"key4":"value4", "key10":[1,2,3]}}, "key6":{"key11":"value11"}}`
B = `{"key1":{"key2":"value2", "key3":{"key4":{"key5":"value5"}}}, "key6":{"key7":{"key8":"value8"}}}`
Result = `{"key1":{"key2":{"key9":"value9"}, "key3":{"key4":"value4", "key10":[1,2,3]}}, "key6":{"key7":{"key8":"value8"}, "key11":"value11"}}`

*Merge {} element will replace*
A = `{"key1":{"key2":{}}}`
B = `{"key1":{"key2":"value2", "key3":"value3"}}`
Result = `{"key1":{"key2":{}, "key3":"value3"}}`

*Merge a null element does nothing*
A = `{"key1":{"key2":null}}`
B = `{"key1":{"key2":"value2", "key3":"value3"}}`
Result = `{"key1":{"key2":"value2", "key3":"value3"}}`

*Merge a blank list [] will replace root element*
A = `{"key1":[]}`
B = `{"key1":{"key2":"value2", "key3":"value3"}}`
Result = `{"key1":[]}`

*Merge a blank list [] will replace single element*
A = `{"key1":{"key2":[]}}`
B = `{"key1":{"key2":"value2", "key3":"value3"}}`
Result = `{"key1":{"key2":[], "key3":"value3"}}`

*Merge a blank list [] will remove nested objects*
A = `{"key1":{"key2":[{"key3":"value3"}]}}`
B = `{"key1":{"key2":{"key3":"value3"}}}`
Result = `{"key1":{"key2":[{"key3":"value3"}]}}`

*Merge an existing list with some other struct*
A = `{"key1":{"key2":{"key3":[{"key4":"value4"}]}}}`
B = `{"key1":{"key2":[]}}`
Result = `{"key1":{"key2":{"key3":[{"key4":"value4"}]}}}`

Remove

remove action will overwrite a key:value with key:new_value or delete anything in a list that matches the provided values' ids.

In the following examples A is being patched into B to create the Result:

Overwrite

The overwrite action will overwrite the old object with the new object. If you want to change a field or sub-object with the overwrite action, it is suggested to first call Get to obtain the original object. Then you can change the field or sub-object you would like to overwrite, followed by assembling the overwrite request with the entire object.

In the following examples A is being patched into B to create the Result:

Patch inputs with overwrite action will overwrite data object

Patch models with overwrite action will overwrite output_info and name

Last updated

Was this helpful?