YAML Processor

Installation

To install from PyPI, run:

python3 -m pip install yamlprocessor

Introduction

This project provides two command line utilities yp-data and yp-schema.

The yp-data utility allows automation of the following in a single command:

• Modularisation of YAML files via a simple include mechanism.
• Variable substitutions in string values.
  • Environment and pre-defined variables.
  • Date-time variables, based on the current time and/or a reference time.
• Validation using JSON schema.

The yp-schema utility is a compliment to the YAML modularisation / include functionality provided by yp-data. It allows users to break up a monolithic JSON schema file into a set of subschema files.

Basic Usages

Command line:

yp-data [options] input-file-name output-file-name

Type -yp-data --help for a list of options, and see below for usage detail.

Python:

from yamlprocessor.dataprocess import DataProcessor
processor = DataProcess()
processor.process_data(in_file_name, out_file_name)

YAML Modularisation / Include

Allow modularisation of YAML files using a controlled include file mechanism, backed by dividing the original JSON schema file into a set of subschema files.

Consider a YAML file hello.yaml:

hello:
  - location: earth
    targets:
      - human
      - cat
      - dog
  - location: mars
    targets:
      - martian
# And so on

And its associated JSON schema file:

{
    "properties": {
        "hello": {
            "items": {
                "properties": {
                    "location": {
                        "type": "string"
                    },
                    "targets": {
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "minItems": 1,
                        "type": "array",
                        "uniqueItems": true
                    }
                },
                "required": ["location", "targets"],
                "type": "object"
            },
            "type": "array"
        }
    },
    "required": ["hello"],
    "type": "object"
}

We want to modularise the YAML file in this way. Let's call this hello-root.yaml:

hello:
  - INCLUDE: earth.yaml
  - INCLUDE: mars.yaml

Where earth.yaml contains:

location: earth
targets:
  - human
  - cat
  - dog

And mars.yaml contains:

location: mars
targets:
  - martian

At runtime, we can run the yp-data INFILE OUTFILE command to process and recombine the YAML files.

To split the schema to support these YAML files, however, we'll use the yp-schema SCHEMA-FILE CONFIG-FILE command. For this command to work, we need to supply it with some settings to tell it where to split up the schema in the syntax:

{
    "OUTPUT-ROOT-SCHEMA-FILENAME": "",
    "OUTPUT-SUB-SCHEMA-FILENAME-1": "JMESPATH-1",
    /* and so on */
}

Obviously, we must have a root schema output file name. The rest of the entries are output file names for the subschemas. The https://jmespath.org/ syntax tells the yp-schema command where to split JSON schema into subschemas. In the example above, we can give use the setting:

{
    "hello.schema.json": "",
    "hello-location.schema.json": "properties.hello.items"
}

The resulting hello.schema.json will look like this, which can be used to validate both hello.yaml and hello-root.yaml:

{
    "properties": {
        "hello": {
            "items": {
                "oneOf": [
                    {"$ref": "hello-location.schema.json"},
                    {
                        "properties": {
                            "INCLUDE": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "QUERY": {
                                "type": "string"
                            }
                        },
                        "required": ["INCLUDE"],
                        "type": "string"
                    }
                ]
            },
            "type": "array"
        }
    },
    "required": ["hello"],
    "type": "object"
}

The resulting hello-location.schema.json will look like this which can be used to validate earth.yaml and mars.yaml:

{
    "properties": {
        "location": {
            "type": "string"
        },
        "targets": {
            "items": {
                "type": "string"
            },
            "minItems": 1,
            "type": "array",
            "uniqueItems": true
        }
    },
    "required": ["location", "targets"],
    "type": "object"
}

YAML Modularisation / Include with Query

Consider an example where we want to include only a subset of the data structure from the include file. We can use a JMESPath query to achieve this.

For example, we may have something like this in hello-root.yaml:

hello:
  INCLUDE: planets.yaml
  QUERY: "[?type=='rocky'].{location: location, targets: targets}"

Where planets.yaml contains:

- location: earth
  type: rocky
  targets:
    - human
    - cat
    - dog
- location: mars
  type: rocky
  targets:
    - martian
- location: jupiter
  type: gaseous
  targets:
    - ...

Running yp-data hello-root.yaml will return:

hello:
- location: earth
  targets:
    - human
    - cat
    - dog
- location: mars
  targets:
    - martian

YAML Validation with JSON Schema

You can tell yp-data to look for a JSON schema file and validate the current YAML file by adding a #!<SCHEMA-URI> to the beginning of the YAML file. The SCHEMA-URI is a string pointing to the location of a JSON schema file. Some simple assumptions apply:

• If SCHMEA-URI is a normal URI with a leading scheme, e.g. https://, it is used as-is.
• If SCHEMA-URI does not have a leading scheme and exists in the local file system, then it is also used as-is.
• Otherwise, if the YP_SCHEMA_PREFIX environment variable is defined or if --schema-prefix=PREFIX is specified, then the prefix will be added to the value of the SCHEMA-URI.

YAML String Value Variable Substitution

Process variable substitution syntax for string values in YAML files. Consider:

key: ${SWEET_HOME}/sugar.txt

(Note: You can write $SWEET_HOME or ${SWEET_HOME} in here.)

If SWEET_HOME is defined in the environment and has a value /home/sweet, then running yp-data on the above will give:

key: /home/sweet/sugar.txt

You can also use the --define=NAME=VALUE (-D NAME=VALUE) option of yp-data to define and/or override environment variables. E.g., yp-data -D SWEET_HOME=/home/sweet provides another way to specify the value of a variable to use for substitution.

YAML String Value Date-Time Substitution

The yp-data application also supports date-time substitution using a similar syntax, for variables names starting with YP_TIME_NOW (time when yp-data starts running) YP_TIME_REF (reference time, specified using the YP_TIME_REF_VALUE environment variable or the --time-ref=VALUE command line option). If no value is set for the reference time, any reference to the reference time will simply use the current time.

You can use one or more of these trialing suffixes to apply deltas for the date-time:

• _ADD_XXX: adds the duration to the date-time.
• _MINUS_XXX: substracts the duration to the date-time.
• _AT_xxx: sets individual fields of the date-time. E.g. _AT_T0H will set the hour of the day part the date-time to 00 hour.

where xxx is date-time duration-like syntax in the form nYnMnDTnHnMnS, e.g.:

• 12Y is 12 years.
• 1M2D is 1 month and 2 days.
• 1DT12H is 1 day and 12 hours.
• T12H30M is 12 hours and 30 minutes.

Examples, (for argument sake, let's assume the current time is 2022-02-01T10:11:18Z and we have set the reference time to 2024-12-25T00:00:00Z.)

${YP_TIME_NOW}                      # 2022-02-01T10:11:18+0000
${YP_TIME_NOW_AT_0H0M0S}            # 2022-02-01T00:00:00+0000
${YP_TIME_NOW_AT_0H0M0S_PLUS_T12H}  # 2022-02-01T12:00:00+0000
${YP_TIME_REF}                      # 2024-12-25T00:00:00+0000
${YP_TIME_REF_AT_1DT18H}            # 2024-12-01T18:00:00+0000
${YP_TIME_REF_PLUS_T6H30M}          # 2024-12-25T06:30:00+0000
${YP_TIME_REF_MINUS_1D}             # 2024-12-24T00:00:00+0000

You can control date-time output formats using the --time-format=[NAME=]FORMAT option or YP_TIME_FORMAT[_<NAME>] environment variables.

For example, if you set:

• --time-format='%FT%T%z' (default)
• --time-format=CTIME='%a %e %b %T %Z %Y' or export YP_TIME_FORMAT_CTIME='%a %e %b %T %Z %Y'
• --time-format=ABBR='%Y%m%dT%H%M%S%z' or export YP_TIME_FORMAT_ABBR='%Y%m%dT%H%M%S%z'

Then:

${YP_TIME_REF}                        # 2024-12-25T00:00:00+0000
${YP_TIME_REF_FORMAT_CTIME}           # Wed 25 Dec 00:00:00 GMT 2024
${YP_TIME_REF_PLUS_T12H_FORMAT_ABBR}  # 20241225T120000+0000

Finally, if a variable name is already defined in the environment or in a --define=... option, then the defined value takes precedence, so if you have already export YP_TIME_REF=whatever, then you will get the value whatever instead of the reference time.