How to describe a model in Swagger for an array with simple objects?

Question

I have a REST services to document, some of them accepts simple array like:

[
  { \"name\":\"a\" },
  { \"name\":\"b\" },
  { \"name\":\"c\" }
]

Answer 1

Paste this to http://editor.swagger.io/#/ and click on "try this operation"

{
  "swagger": "2.0",
  "info": {
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "title": "Privacy-Service API"
  },
  "paths": {
    "/allNames": {
      "post": {
        "consumes": [
          "application/json",
          "application/xml"
        ],
        "produces": [
          "application/json",
          "application/xml"
        ],
        "parameters": [
          {
            "name": "request",
            "in": "body",
            "schema": {
              "$ref": "#/definitions/ArrayOfNames"
            }
          }
        ],
        "responses": {
          "200": {
            "description": "List of names",
            "schema": {
              "type": "array",
              "items": {
                "type": "string"
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "definitions": {
    "ArrayOfNames": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "minItems": 1,
        "type": "object",
        "required": [
          "name"
        ],
        "properties": {
          "name": {
            "type": "string"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Answer 2

  parameters:
  - name: "items"
    in: "formData"
    description: "description"
    required: "true"
    type: "array"
    items:
      type: "object"
      additionalProperties:
        properties:
          name:
            type: "string"

According to their docs https://swagger.io/docs/specification/data-models/dictionaries/, this should result in an array with objects that have a property called name and datatype is string.
It can be accessed over the requests body, something like request.body.items

Update:

it seems like it is enough to do (without the additionalproperties):

items:
  type: object
  properties:
    name:
      type: string

Now you got the items where each has a key called name and a corresponding value.

If it is this, what the TO was asking for....

Answer 3

I tried the follwoing in the editor.swagger.io, it satisfies the request of this question and works. The POST request body expects an array. The array is composed of 'stackoverflow' items. Each item is an object, that has name property.

paths:
  /test:
    post:
      summary: test 123
      description: test 123
      parameters:
        - name: param1
          in: body
          required: true
          description: test param1
          schema:
            type: array
            items:
              $ref: '#/definitions/stackoverflow'
      responses:
        200:
          description: OK
definitions:
  stackoverflow:
    type: object
    properties:
      name:
        type: string
        description: name of the object

Answer 4

If my understanding is correct, I think the following may what you want.

As you mentioned,

some of them accepts simple array

Then it would be passed through a parameter.

"parameters" : [{
  "name" : "param_name",
  "type" : "array",
  "items" : {
    "$ref" : "M"
  }
  ...
}]
...

For model section:

"models" : {
  "M": {
    "id" : "M",
    "properties": {
       "name" : {
         "type" : "string"
       }
    }
  }

Answer 5

Considering the format of the array you mentioned

[
  { "name":"a" },
  { "name":"b" },
  { "name":"c" }
]

I guess the following format can be used:

paths:
  /test:
    post:
      description: Test request
      operationId: test
      parameters:
        - in: body
          name: requestParameter
          required: true
          schema:
            type: array
            items:
              properties:
                name:
                  type: string
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Success response

Answer 6

Tony YUEN was close, but no cigar. This is the proper definition using YAML in OpenAPI/Swagger:

  /test:
post:
  summary: test 123
  description: test 123
  parameters:
    - name: param1
      in: body
      required: true
      description: test param1
      schema:
          $ref: '#/definitions/stackoverflow'
  responses:
    200:
      description: OK

This produces:

stackoverflow2[
  {
     name: string
  }
]

Tony's example produces:

[
  stackoverflow { 
                 name: string
  }
]

Complete Swagger/OpenAPI as YAML (copy & paste)

    swagger: '2.0'

################################################################################
#                              API Information                                 #
################################################################################
info:
  version: "Two-point-Oh!"
  title: Simple objects in array test
  description: |
    Simple objects in array test

################################################################################
#                                   Parameters                                 #
################################################################################

paths:
  /test:
    post:
      summary: Array with named objects
      description: Array with named objects
      parameters:
        - name: param1
          in: body
          required: true
          description: test param1
          schema:
            type: array
            items:
              $ref: '#/definitions/stackoverflow'
      responses:
        200:
          description: OK
  /test2:
    post:
      summary: Array with simpel (nameless) objects
      description: Array with simpel (nameless)  objects
      parameters:
        - name: param1
          in: body
          required: true
          description: test param1
          schema:
              $ref: '#/definitions/stackoverflow2'
      responses:
        200:
          description: OK
definitions:
  stackoverflow:
    type: object
    properties:
      name:
        type: string
        description: name of the object
  stackoverflow2:
    type: array
    items:
      type: object
      properties:
        name:
          type: string
          description: name of the object

Here's a JSON-version of Swagger/OpenAPI

    {
  "swagger" : "2.0",
  "info" : {
    "description" : "Simple objects in array test\n",
    "version" : "Two-point-Oh!",
    "title" : "Simple objects in array test"
  },
  "paths" : {
    "/test" : {
      "post" : {
        "summary" : "Array with named objects",
        "description" : "Array with named objects",
        "parameters" : [ {
          "in" : "body",
          "name" : "param1",
          "description" : "test param1",
          "required" : true,
          "schema" : {
            "type" : "array",
            "items" : {
              "$ref" : "#/definitions/stackoverflow"
            }
          }
        } ],
        "responses" : {
          "200" : {
            "description" : "OK"
          }
        }
      }
    },
    "/test2" : {
      "post" : {
        "summary" : "Array with simpel (nameless) objects",
        "description" : "Array with simpel (nameless)  objects",
        "parameters" : [ {
          "in" : "body",
          "name" : "param1",
          "description" : "test param1",
          "required" : true,
          "schema" : {
            "$ref" : "#/definitions/stackoverflow2"
          }
        } ],
        "responses" : {
          "200" : {
            "description" : "OK"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "definitions" : {
    "stackoverflow" : {
      "type" : "object",
      "properties" : {
        "name" : {
          "type" : "string",
          "description" : "name of the object"
        }
      }
    },
    "stackoverflow2" : {
      "type" : "array",
      "items" : {
        "$ref" : "#/definitions/stackoverflow2_inner"
      }
    },
    "stackoverflow2_inner" : {
      "properties" : {
        "name" : {
          "type" : "string",
          "description" : "name of the object"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}