JTutor: JSON Schema Validation Explained

Lyes Attouche, Mohamed Amine Baazizi, Dario Colazzo, Giorgio Ghelli, Kachimsirikwuo Caleb Imo, Stefan Klessinger, Carlo Sartiani, Stefanie Scherzinger

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

JSON Schema validators are essential tools in the JSON ecosystem. However, today’s validators are primarily designed to be used pro-grammatically. Even web-based tools are not didactic in their feedback regarding the oftentimes subtle interactions between schemas and JSON instances. We present JTutor, a validation framework specifically designed with humans in mind, that lets users explore the mutual dependencies between a schema and a candidate instance in JSON Schema validation: Users explore schemas and candidate instances interactively, by navigating between subschemas and the JSON instance based on a detailed proof tree that is generated by a well-principled and rule-based validator. JTutor comes with a “Smart Format” feature that generates a focused view of the proof tree. “Smart Format” highlights branches that are relevant for understanding why an instance is valid or invalid, while deemphasizing others. This focused view can serve as an explanation of the validation. Although JTutor is designed to be educational, it can also help developers debug schemas. In this paper, we explain the internals of JTutor and demonstrate the tool itself.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 19th International Symposium on Database Programming Languages, DBPL 2025
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery, Inc
ISBN (Electronic)9798400719196
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Jun 2025
Externally publishedYes
Event19th International Symposium on Database Programming Languages, co-located with the ACM SIGMOD 2025 - Berlin, Germany
Duration: 22 Jun 202527 Jun 2025

Publication series

NameProceedings of the 19th International Symposium on Database Programming Languages, DBPL 2025

Conference

Conference19th International Symposium on Database Programming Languages, co-located with the ACM SIGMOD 2025
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityBerlin
Period22/06/2527/06/25

Keywords

  • JSON
  • JSON Schema
  • Schema Validation

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