How to handle generic JSON nodes with XCO?

[martinc_mb]

We are calling a service where where we can get get varying JSON payload responses, and then processing the response with the XCO library (xco_cp_json=>data->from_string).

The outer part is common, but the inside can be different. For example:

{
  "data": {
    "items": [ 
      {
       // At this level, there are different fields depending on the call
      }
    ]
  }
}

I would like to get access to the list/table of entities inside the "items" element and forward that to a method that will handle the specific data depending on the situation.

So I would like to define a structure type to handle this, e.g.

    TYPES: BEGIN OF json_payload,
             BEGIN OF data,
               items TYPE ???, "<- what to use here?
               [ OR ]
               items TYPE TABLE OF ???, "<- what to use here?
             END OF data,
           END OF json_payload.

I am sure that one of the previous JSON libraries I used (perhaps it was my own) allowed me to specify a TYPE REF to a JSON node (e.g. CL_JSON_NODE) and after the deserialization, that would contain a reference to that portion of the JSON document that could then be processed further.

Any ideas on how to handle this kind of situation with XCO?

[FabienneSchiesser]

Hi, Is there a reasen that you aren't using the class /UI2/CL_JSON? I don't know the class you are using but I think you can assign the returning parameter with the inline declaration? When I am facing such problems I use the classes cl_abap_datadescr, cl_abap_tabledescr... and so on. This allows me to resolve and assign the structures recursively so I can access them. I hope that helps!

[martinc_mb]

Thanks for the hint, I will give it a try. I am working on a BTP ABAP system and was using the XCO libraries because SAP recommends that for ABAP Cloud, as documented here: https://help.sap.com/docs/sap-btp-abap-environment/abap-environment/xco-library. But I will perhaps try use /UI2/CL_JSON instead, seeing as XCO does not seem to support such handling of JSON data.