Data Type Declaration

As you have seen, defining the Data Type of an attribute is pretty straight forward.

Simply use the following syntax:

  "AttributeName": "[data type]([constraints])"

where [constraints] is optional.

An example:

  "GivenName": "String"

Supported Data Types

The following Data Types are supported:

Dash data type	.NET	SqlServer
string	String	varchar
unicode	String	nvarchar
int	Int	int
bool	Bool	bit
datetime	DateTime	datetime
guid	Guid	uniqueidentifier

For your convenience, the target data type (.NET and SqlServer) is also included.

Constraints

Dash supports constraints that lets you express the limitations of your Attribute.

Optional/Nullable

In Dash, all attributes are required or Non-Nullable.

Similar to C#, use ? to specify that an attribute is optional or Nullable.

Example:

  "Nickname": "String?"

Maximum Length

To specify that an attribute has a maximum length, use [length].

Example:

  "Nickname": "String[30]"

Default Value

To specify that an attribute has a default value, use (=='default').

Example:

  "Nickname": "String(=='Foo')"

In the above example, we specified that the default value for Nickname is Foo.

Regular Expression

To use a regular expression as a constraint, use :[regex]

Example:

  "Nickname": "String:[a-zA-Z0-9]{5}"

Mixing Constraints

All constraints can be mixed. For instance, you can specify that an attribute is Nullable and has a Maximum Length of 30:

  "Nickname": "String?[30]"

You can put the constraints in any order, except for the Regular Expression constraint, which must always be placed as the final constraint.

  "Nickname": "String(=='Foo')[30]?:[a-zA-Z0-9]"