The ej module makes it easier to work with Erlang terms representing JSON in the format returned by jiffy, mochijson2, or ejson. You can use ej:get/2 to walk an object and return a particular value, ej:set/3 to update a value within an object, or ej:delete/2 to remove a value from an object.

In ej, paths into JSON objects are expressed using a tuple of keys like so:

To get started using ej, see ej by example below.

ej also provides a means of validating a JSON object according to a specification you provide. This feature is useful if you need to process JSON request bodies. As a brief example, here’s a specification for a JSON object describing a person and their favorite foods:

{[
  {<<"name">>, {string_match, regex_for(name)}},
  {{opt, <<"nick_name">>}, {string_match, regex_for(name)}},
  {<<"foods">>, {array_map, string}}
 ]}

ej is independent of the library used for JSON serialization and has no dependencies.

ej is best explained by example. Consider the following JSON data (borrowed from https://www.json.org/example.html):

{"menu": {
  "id": "file",
  "value": "File",
  "popup": {
    "menuitem": [
      {"value": "New", "onclick": "CreateNewDoc()"},
      {"value": "Open", "onclick": "OpenDoc()"},
      {"value": "Close", "onclick": "CloseDoc()"}
    ]
  }
}}

mochijson2:decode/1 translates the JSON into Erlang terms like this:

{struct,
 [{<<"menu">>,
   {struct,
    [{<<"id">>,<<"file">>},
     {<<"value">>,<<"File">>},
     {<<"popup">>,
      {struct,
       [{<<"menuitem">>,
         [{struct,[{<<"value">>,<<"New">>},
                   {<<"onclick">>,<<"CreateNewDoc()">>}]},
          {struct,[{<<"value">>,<<"Open">>},
                   {<<"onclick">>,<<"OpenDoc()">>}]},
          {struct,[{<<"value">>,<<"Close">>},
                   {<<"onclick">>,<<"CloseDoc()">>}]}]}]}}]}}]}

And here’s ej in action:

% specify the path you want to access as a tuple of keys (you can use
% strings or binaries)
4> ej:get({"menu", "value"}, Obj).
<<"File">>

% you can access list elements by index
> ej:get({"menu", "popup", "menuitem", 2, "onclick"}, Obj).
<<"OpenDoc()">>

% The atoms 'first' and 'last' can be used for lists as well
> ej:get({"menu", "popup", "menuitem", first, "value"}, Obj).  
<<"New">>

% you can filter a list of objects by specifying a property (key/value
% pair) to match on:
ej:get({"menu", "popup", "menuitem", {select, {"value", "New"}}}, Obj).

% set a value
Obj2 = ej:set({"menu", "id"}, Obj, <<"abc123">>).

% add a value
Obj3 = ej:set({"menu", "new_key"}, Obj, <<"something">>).

% add a value to a list
NewItem = {struct,[{<<"value">>,<<"Save">>}, {<<"onclick">>,<<"SaveDoc()">>}]}.
Obj4 = ej:set({"menu", "popup", "menuitem", new}, Obj, NewItem).

The idea for this helper module was inspired by this thread on the Erlang Questions mailing list and, in particular, by the reply from Richard O’Keefe. Additional motivation from the very similar helper module struct included in the sticky notes example application from the folks at BeeBole.

• Christopher Brown
• Christopher Maier
• John Keiser
• Sebastian Probst Eide

ej is available under the Apache License, Version 2.0.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

    https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.