Parameters via JSON
Parameters via JSON
Setting the parameters for a complicated process can be long and involved. Often there are few changes to the parameters other than to identify the input and output files, but a complicated process can involve lots of different parameters. AutoXChange supports setting many parameters via a JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) formatted file.
JSON is a popular format for web data files. It is a fairly compact, structured format that allows the easy sharing of structured data.
The JSON can be contained either in a text file passed via the JSON parameter, or as a fully JSON formatted string set by the JSON parameter. It is important to note that:
- All paths must use LINUX syntax for directory separators (i.e. ‘/’ not ‘\’)
- The Windows drive identifier is still used (so “c://” instead of “c:\\”)
- JSON files can be nested to one level (so the JSON file can contain a JSON parameter but any JSON parameters in THAT file will be ignored)
- There can be multiple JSON parameters either on the command line or in the JSON file with any conflicts using the last setting
- Any spaces or special characters in a JSON parameter on the command line must use %nn, so %20 not a space.
- The JSON file or parameter string must begin with ‘[’ and end with ‘]’
The JSON format we use for AutoXChange parameters has four sections:
There must be a comma between each section of the JSON file
{
"Blocks": {
...
}
},
{
"Layers": {
...
}
},