Data types in JSON

We recommend using the Mapping Object to customize the representation and structure of JSON data.

The Mapping Object supports:

• Setting data types in JSON.
• Specifying a list of aggregations available for a field.
• Hiding UI filters for a specific field.
• Formatting a certain date field.
• And many other configs.

Additionally, the mapping allows separating your data from its representation.

For details on setting the mapping, see our guide.

Alternatively, the first object of the input JSON array can be used for these needs.

Here is the list of its supported properties:

• type – String. The data type. Can be:
  • "string" – the field contains string data. The field’s members will be sorted as strings.
  • "number" – the field contains numeric data. You will be able to aggregate it with all available aggregations. It will be sorted as numeric data.
  • "month" – the field contains months. Note that if the field stores month names only (in either short or full form), the field will be recognized by Flexmonster as a field of the "month" type automatically. If the field contains custom month names, specify its type as "month" explicitly.
  • "weekday" – the field contains days of the week.
  • "date" – the field is a date. Such fields will be split into 3 different fields: Year, Month, Day.
  • "year/month/day" – the field is a date. You will see such dates as hierarchies: Year > Month > Day.
  • "year/quarter/month/day" – the field is a date. You will see such dates as hierarchies: Year > Quarter > Month > Day.
  • "date string" – the field is a date. Such fields will be formatted using a date pattern (default is "dd/MM/yyyy").
  • "datetime" – the field is a date (numeric data). Such fields will be formatted using "dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss" pattern. Min, max, count, and distinctcount aggregations can be applied to it.
  • "time" – the field is a time (numeric data). Such fields will be formatted using "HH:mm:ss" pattern.
  • "id" – the field is an id of the record. Such fields are used for editing data. This field will not be shown in the Field List.
  • "property" – the field for setting member properties. This field will not be shown in the Field List. For example, it can be used to associate a productID with a product. See the example.
• hierarchy – String. The hierarchy’s name. When configuring hierarchies, specify this property to mark the field as a level of a hierarchy or as a member property of a hierarchy (in this case, the type parameter should be set to "property").
• parent – String. The unique name of the parent level. This property is necessary to specify if the field is a level of a hierarchy and has a parent level.
• isMeasure (optional) – Boolean. When set to true, the field can be selected only as a measure. The isMeasure property should be used only with the strictDataTypes option. Default value: false.

For example, you can add the following first object in a JSON array and see how it changes the report:

var jsonData = [
    {
        "Color": {type: "string"},
        "Country": {
            type: "string", 
            hierarchy: "Geography"
        },
        "State": {
            type: "string", 
            hierarchy: "Geography", 
            parent: "Country"
        },
        "City": {
            type: "string", 
            hierarchy: "Geography",
            parent: "State"
        },
        "Price": {type: "number"},
        "Quantity": {type: "number"}
    },
    { 
        "Color" : "green",
        "Country" : "Canada",
        "State" : "Ontario",
        "City" : "Toronto",
        "Price" : 174,
        "Quantity" : 22
    },
    {
        "Color" : "red",
        "Country" : "USA",
        "State" : "California",
        "City" : "Los Angeles",
        "Price" : 166,
        "Quantity" : 19
    }
];

var pivot = new Flexmonster({
    container: "pivotContainer",
    toolbar: true,
    report: { 
        dataSource: { 
            data: jsonData
        },
        slice: {
            rows: [ 
                { uniqueName: "Color" },
                { uniqueName: "[Measures]" }
            ],
            columns: [
                { uniqueName: "Geography" } 
            ], 
            measures: [
                { uniqueName: "Price", aggregation: "sum" } 
            ] 
        }
    }
});

Try it on JSFiddle.

Note: if you use a JSON array of arrays you can also add the first object. In this case, you do not need to specify hierarchies in the first sub-array. Check out a live example.

Automatic type selection in JSON

Flexmonster selects field types automatically. If needed, you can define only necessary types of fields in both mapping and the first JSON object.

In the example below, only the type of "Date" is set explicitly. Types of "Country" and "Price" will be set automatically as "string" and "number", respectively:

var jsonData = [
    {
        "Date": { type: "date string" }
    },
    {
        "Date" : "2021-05-25",
        "Country" : "Canada",
        "Price" : 174
    },
    {
        "Date" : "2021-03-18",
        "Country" : "USA",
        "Price" : 166
    } 
];

var pivot = new Flexmonster({ 
    container: "pivotContainer", 
    toolbar: true,
    report: {
        dataSource: {
            data: jsonData
        }
    }
});

Supported date formats

To make date fields be interpreted as a date, you must define the data type as a date. For example, "type": "date", "type": "date string", "type": "datetime", "type": "year/month/day" or "type": "year/quarter/month/day". Additionally, data from these fields should have a special date format to be understood properly.

Flexmonster supports ISO 8601 as an input date format: 

• "2021-05-25" – Date.
• "2021-05-25T21:30:00" – Date and time.
• "2021-05-25T21:30:00+03:00" – Date and time with a time zone.

Other formats aren’t officially supported and may have unexpected results.