Data models for REST APIs - Amazon API Gateway
Creating more complex modelsUsing output data modelsNext steps

Data models for REST APIs

In API Gateway, a model defines the data structure of a payload. In API Gateway, models are defined using the JSON schema draft 4. The following JSON object is sample data in the Pet Store example.

{
    "id": 1,
    "type": "dog",
    "price": 249.99
}

The data contains the id, type, and price of the pet. A model of this data allows you to:

  • Use basic request validation.

  • Create mapping templates for data transformation.

  • Create a user-defined data type (UDT) when you generate an SDK.

Example JSON data model for PetStore API.

In this model:

  1. The $schema object represents a valid JSON Schema version identifier. This schema is the JSON Schema draft v4.

  2. The title object is a human-readable identifier for the model. This title is PetStoreModel.

  3. The required validation keyword requires type, and price for basic request validation.

  4. The properties of the model are id, type, and price. Each object has properties that are described in the model.

  5. The object type can have only the values dog, cat, or fish.

  6. The object price is a number and is constrained with a minimum of 25 and a maximum of 500.

1 {
2 "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#",
3  "title": "PetStoreModel",
4  "type" : "object",
5  "required" : [ "price", "type" ],
6  "properties" : {
7    "id" : {
8      "type" : "integer"
9    },
10    "type" : {
11      "type" : "string",
12      "enum" : [ "dog", "cat", "fish" ]
13    },
14    "price" : {
15      "type" : "number",
16      "minimum" : 25.0,
17      "maximum" : 500.0
18    }
19  }
20 }

In this model:

  1. On line 2, the $schema object represents a valid JSON Schema version identifier. This schema is the JSON Schema draft v4.

  2. On line 3, the title object is a human-readable identifier for the model. This title is PetStoreModel.

  3. On line 5, the required validation keyword requires type, and price for basic request validation.

  4. On lines 6 -- 17, the properties of the model are id, type, and price. Each object has properties that are described in the model.

  5. On line 12, the object type can have only the values dog, cat, or fish.

  6. On lines 14 -- 17, the object price is a number and is constrained with a minimum of 25 and a maximum of 500.

Creating more complex models

You can use the $ref primitive to create reusable definitions for longer models. For example, you can create a definition called Price in the definitions section describing the price object. The value of $ref is the Price definition. 

{
  "$schema" : "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#",
  "title" : "PetStoreModelReUsableRef",
  "required" : ["price", "type" ],
  "type" : "object",
  "properties" : {
    "id" : {
      "type" : "integer"
    },
    "type" : {
      "type" : "string",
      "enum" : [ "dog", "cat", "fish" ]
    },
    "price" : {
        "$ref": "#/definitions/Price"
    }
  },
  "definitions" : {
      "Price": {
        "type" : "number",
        "minimum" : 25.0,
        "maximum" : 500.0
            }
      }
}

You can also reference another model schema defined in an external model file. Set the value of the $ref property to the location of the model. In the following example, the Price model is defined in the PetStorePrice model in API a1234.

{
  "$schema" : "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#",
  "title" : "PetStorePrice",
  "type": "number",
  "minimum": 25,
  "maximum": 500
}

The longer model can reference the PetStorePrice model.

{
  "$schema" : "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#",
  "title" : "PetStoreModelReusableRefAPI",
  "required" : [ "price", "type" ],
  "type" : "object",
  "properties" : {
    "id" : {
      "type" : "integer"
    },
    "type" : {
      "type" : "string",
      "enum" : [ "dog", "cat", "fish" ]
    },
    "price" : {
        "$ref": "https://apigateway.amazonaws.com/restapis/a1234/models/PetStorePrice"
    }
  }
}

Using output data models

If you transform your data, you can define a payload model in the integration response. A payload model can be used when you generate an SDK. For strongly typed languages, such as Java, Objective-C, or Swift, the object corresponds to a user-defined data type (UDT). API Gateway creates a UDT if you provide it with a data model when you generate an SDK. For more information about data transformations, see Mapping template transformations for REST APIs in API Gateway.

The following example is output data from an integration response.

{
[
  {
    "description" : "Item 1 is a dog.",
    "askingPrice" : 249.99
  },
  {
    "description" : "Item 2 is a cat.",
    "askingPrice" : 124.99
  },
  {
    "description" : "Item 3 is a fish.",
    "askingPrice" : 0.99
  }
]
}

The following example is a payload model that describes the output data.

{
"$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#",
  "title": "PetStoreOutputModel",
  "type" : "object",
  "required" : [ "description", "askingPrice" ],
  "properties" : {
    "description" : {
      "type" : "string"
    },
    "askingPrice" : {
      "type" : "number",
      "minimum" : 25.0,
      "maximum" : 500.0
    }
  }
}

With this model, you can call an SDK to retrieve the description and askingPrice property values by reading the PetStoreOutputModel[i].description and PetStoreOutputModel[i].askingPrice properties. If no model is provided, API Gateway uses the empty model to create a default UDT.

Next steps