14.17.7 JSON Schema Validation Functions

Beginning with MySQL 8.0.17, MySQL supports validation of JSON documents against JSON schemas conforming to Draft 4 of the JSON Schema specification. This can be done using either of the functions detailed in this section, both of which take two arguments, a JSON schema, and a JSON document which is validated against the schema. JSON_SCHEMA_VALID() returns true if the document validates against the schema, and false if it does not; JSON_SCHEMA_VALIDATION_REPORT() provides a report in JSON format on the validation.

Both functions handle null or invalid input as follows:

If at least one of the arguments is NULL, the function returns NULL.
If at least one of the arguments is not valid JSON, the function raises an error (ER_INVALID_TYPE_FOR_JSON)
In addition, if the schema is not a valid JSON object, the function returns ER_INVALID_JSON_TYPE.

MySQL supports the required attribute in JSON schemas to enforce the inclusion of required properties (see the examples in the function descriptions).

MySQL supports the id, $schema, description, and type attributes in JSON schemas but does not require any of these.

MySQL does not support external resources in JSON schemas; using the $ref keyword causes JSON_SCHEMA_VALID() to fail with ER_NOT_SUPPORTED_YET.

Note

MySQL supports regular expression patterns in JSON schema, which supports but silently ignores invalid patterns (see the description of JSON_SCHEMA_VALID() for an example).

These functions are described in detail in the following list:

JSON_SCHEMA_VALID(schema,document)

Validates a JSON document against a JSON schema. Both schema and document are required. The schema must be a valid JSON object; the document must be a valid JSON document. Provided that these conditions are met: If the document validates against the schema, the function returns true (1); otherwise, it returns false (0).

In this example, we set a user variable @schema to the value of a JSON schema for geographical coordinates, and another one @document to the value of a JSON document containing one such coordinate. We then verify that @document validates according to @schema by using them as the arguments to JSON_SCHEMA_VALID():

mysql> SET @schema = '{
    '>  "id": "http://json-schema.org/geo",
    '> "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#",
    '> "description": "A geographical coordinate",
    '> "type": "object",
    '> "properties": {
    '>   "latitude": {
    '>     "type": "number",
    '>     "minimum": -90,
    '>     "maximum": 90
    '>   },
    '>   "longitude": {
    '>     "type": "number",
    '>     "minimum": -180,
    '>     "maximum": 180
    '>   }
    '> },
    '> "required": ["latitude", "longitude"]
    '>}';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

mysql> SET @document = '{
    '> "latitude": 63.444697,
    '> "longitude": 10.445118
    '>}';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT JSON_SCHEMA_VALID(@schema, @document);
+---------------------------------------+
| JSON_SCHEMA_VALID(@schema, @document) |
+---------------------------------------+
|                                     1 |
+---------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Since @schema contains the required attribute, we can set @document to a value that is otherwise valid but does not contain the required properties, then test it against @schema, like this:

mysql> SET @document = '{}';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT JSON_SCHEMA_VALID(@schema, @document);
+---------------------------------------+
| JSON_SCHEMA_VALID(@schema, @document) |
+---------------------------------------+
|                                     0 |
+---------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

If we now set the value of @schema to the same JSON schema but without the required attribute, @document validates because it is a valid JSON object, even though it contains no properties, as shown here:

mysql> SET @schema = '{
    '> "id": "http://json-schema.org/geo",
    '> "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#",
    '> "description": "A geographical coordinate",
    '> "type": "object",
    '> "properties": {
    '>   "latitude": {
    '>     "type": "number",
    '>     "minimum": -90,
    '>     "maximum": 90
    '>   },
    '>   "longitude": {
    '>     "type": "number",
    '>     "minimum": -180,
    '>     "maximum": 180
    '>   }
    '> }
    '>}';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)


mysql> SELECT JSON_SCHEMA_VALID(@schema, @document);
+---------------------------------------+
| JSON_SCHEMA_VALID(@schema, @document) |
+---------------------------------------+
|                                     1 |
+---------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

JSON_SCHEMA_VALID() and CHECK constraints. JSON_SCHEMA_VALID() can also be used to enforce CHECK constraints.

Consider the table geo created as shown here, with a JSON column coordinate representing a point of latitude and longitude on a map, governed by the JSON schema used as an argument in a JSON_SCHEMA_VALID() call which is passed as the expression for a CHECK constraint on this table:

mysql> CREATE TABLE geo (
    ->     coordinate JSON,
    ->     CHECK(
    ->         JSON_SCHEMA_VALID(
    ->             '{
    '>                 "type":"object",
    '>                 "properties":{
    '>                       "latitude":{"type":"number", "minimum":-90, "maximum":90},
    '>                       "longitude":{"type":"number", "minimum":-180, "maximum":180}
    '>                 },
    '>                 "required": ["latitude", "longitude"]
    '>             }',
    ->             coordinate
    ->         )
    ->     )
    -> );
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.45 sec)

Note

Because a MySQL CHECK constraint cannot contain references to variables, you must pass the JSON schema to JSON_SCHEMA_VALID() inline when using it to specify such a constraint for a table.

We assign JSON values representing coordinates to three variables, as shown here:

mysql> SET @point1 = '{"latitude":59, "longitude":18}';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> SET @point2 = '{"latitude":91, "longitude":0}';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> SET @point3 = '{"longitude":120}';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

The first of these values is valid, as can be seen in the following INSERT statement:

mysql> INSERT INTO geo VALUES(@point1);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.05 sec)

The second JSON value is invalid and so fails the constraint, as shown here:

mysql> INSERT INTO geo VALUES(@point2);
ERROR 3819 (HY000): Check constraint 'geo_chk_1' is violated.

In MySQL 8.0.19 and later, you can obtain precise information about the nature of the failure—in this case, that the latitude value exceeds the maximum defined in the schema—by issuing a SHOW WARNINGS statement:

mysql> SHOW WARNINGS\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
  Level: Error
   Code: 3934
Message: The JSON document location '#/latitude' failed requirement 'maximum' at
JSON Schema location '#/properties/latitude'.
*************************** 2. row ***************************
  Level: Error
   Code: 3819
Message: Check constraint 'geo_chk_1' is violated.
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

The third coordinate value defined above is also invalid, since it is missing the required latitude property. As before, you can see this by attempting to insert the value into the geo table, then issuing SHOW WARNINGS afterwards:

mysql> INSERT INTO geo VALUES(@point3);
ERROR 3819 (HY000): Check constraint 'geo_chk_1' is violated.
mysql> SHOW WARNINGS\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
  Level: Error
   Code: 3934
Message: The JSON document location '#' failed requirement 'required' at JSON
Schema location '#'.
*************************** 2. row ***************************
  Level: Error
   Code: 3819
Message: Check constraint 'geo_chk_1' is violated.
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

See Section 15.1.20.6, “CHECK Constraints”, for more information.

JSON Schema has support for specifying regular expression patterns for strings, but the implementation used by MySQL silently ignores invalid patterns. This means that JSON_SCHEMA_VALID() can return true even when a regular expression pattern is invalid, as shown here:

mysql> SELECT JSON_SCHEMA_VALID('{"type":"string","pattern":"("}', '"abc"');
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| JSON_SCHEMA_VALID('{"type":"string","pattern":"("}', '"abc"') |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                             1 |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.04 sec)

JSON_SCHEMA_VALIDATION_REPORT(schema,document)

Validates a JSON document against a JSON schema. Both schema and document are required. As with JSON_VALID_SCHEMA(), the schema must be a valid JSON object, and the document must be a valid JSON document. Provided that these conditions are met, the function returns a report, as a JSON document, on the outcome of the validation. If the JSON document is considered valid according to the JSON Schema, the function returns a JSON object with one property valid having the value "true". If the JSON document fails validation, the function returns a JSON object which includes the properties listed here:

valid: Always "false" for a failed schema validation
reason: A human-readable string containing the reason for the failure
schema-location: A JSON pointer URI fragment identifier indicating where in the JSON schema the validation failed (see Note following this list)
document-location: A JSON pointer URI fragment identifier indicating where in the JSON document the validation failed (see Note following this list)
schema-failed-keyword: A string containing the name of the keyword or property in the JSON schema that was violated

Note

JSON pointer URI fragment identifiers are defined in RFC 6901 - JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Pointer. (These are not the same as the JSON path notation used by JSON_EXTRACT() and other MySQL JSON functions.) In this notation, # represents the entire document, and #/myprop represents the portion of the document included in the top-level property named myprop. See the specification just cited and the examples shown later in this section for more information.

mysql> SET @schema = '{
    '>  "id": "http://json-schema.org/geo",
    '> "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#",
    '> "description": "A geographical coordinate",
    '> "type": "object",
    '> "properties": {
    '>   "latitude": {
    '>     "type": "number",
    '>     "minimum": -90,
    '>     "maximum": 90
    '>   },
    '>   "longitude": {
    '>     "type": "number",
    '>     "minimum": -180,
    '>     "maximum": 180
    '>   }
    '> },
    '> "required": ["latitude", "longitude"]
    '>}';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

mysql> SET @document = '{
    '> "latitude": 63.444697,
    '> "longitude": 10.445118
    '>}';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT JSON_SCHEMA_VALIDATION_REPORT(@schema, @document);
+---------------------------------------------------+
| JSON_SCHEMA_VALIDATION_REPORT(@schema, @document) |
+---------------------------------------------------+
| {"valid": true}                                   |
+---------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Now we set @document such that it specifies an illegal value for one of its properties, like this:

mysql> SET @document = '{
    '> "latitude": 63.444697,
    '> "longitude": 310.445118
    '> }';

Validation of @document now fails when tested with JSON_SCHEMA_VALIDATION_REPORT(). The output from the function call contains detailed information about the failure (with the function wrapped by JSON_PRETTY() to provide better formatting), as shown here:

mysql> SELECT JSON_PRETTY(JSON_SCHEMA_VALIDATION_REPORT(@schema, @document))\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
JSON_PRETTY(JSON_SCHEMA_VALIDATION_REPORT(@schema, @document)): {
  "valid": false,
  "reason": "The JSON document location '#/longitude' failed requirement 'maximum' at JSON Schema location '#/properties/longitude'",
  "schema-location": "#/properties/longitude",
  "document-location": "#/longitude",
  "schema-failed-keyword": "maximum"
}
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Since @schema contains the required attribute, we can set @document to a value that is otherwise valid but does not contain the required properties, then test it against @schema. The output of JSON_SCHEMA_VALIDATION_REPORT() shows that validation fails due to lack of a required element, like this:

mysql> SET @document = '{}';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT JSON_PRETTY(JSON_SCHEMA_VALIDATION_REPORT(@schema, @document))\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
JSON_PRETTY(JSON_SCHEMA_VALIDATION_REPORT(@schema, @document)): {
  "valid": false,
  "reason": "The JSON document location '#' failed requirement 'required' at JSON Schema location '#'",
  "schema-location": "#",
  "document-location": "#",
  "schema-failed-keyword": "required"
}
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> SET @schema = '{
    '> "id": "http://json-schema.org/geo",
    '> "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#",
    '> "description": "A geographical coordinate",
    '> "type": "object",
    '> "properties": {
    '>   "latitude": {
    '>     "type": "number",
    '>     "minimum": -90,
    '>     "maximum": 90
    '>   },
    '>   "longitude": {
    '>     "type": "number",
    '>     "minimum": -180,
    '>     "maximum": 180
    '>   }
    '> }
    '>}';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT JSON_SCHEMA_VALIDATION_REPORT(@schema, @document);
+---------------------------------------------------+
| JSON_SCHEMA_VALIDATION_REPORT(@schema, @document) |
+---------------------------------------------------+
| {"valid": true}                                   |
+---------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)