Introduction

Dash uses the JSON format to describe the domain models. Each JSON file is called a (Dash) Model File.

Model Files are written according to Dash's own JSON specification which, throughout this documentation, is referred to as Dash JSON.

Basic Rules of Dash JSON

• In Dash JSON, key/value pairs are used to define:
  1. Sections
  2. Entities
  3. Attributes
  4. Relationships
  5. Actions
• The order in which the key/value pairs are defined in the Model File do not matter.
• Always use singular nouns for naming Entities.
• Dash uses Convention Over Configuration.
• Dash is case-insensitive.

Sections

At its root level, Dash JSON requires sections to be defined.

Only two sections are supported: the optional Configuration and the required Model object:

{
    "Configuration": {
    },

    "Model": {
    }
}

The Configuration object contains key/value pairs that allows you to configure the code generation.

The Model object contains the key/value pairs that represent Entities.

Entities

Entities are defined using key/value pairs directly under the Model object, like this:

{
    "Model": {
        "Person": {
        }
    }
}

In the above example, we defined the entity Person with 0 attributes.

Attributes

An attribute consists of a Name and a Data Type Declaration, and is defined using a key/value pair placed directly under an Entity object, like this:

{
    "Model": {
        "Person": {
            "Name": "string",
            "Age": "int"
        }
    }
}

In the above example, we have added the 2 attributes to the Person entity:

1. Name of the data type string
2. Age of the data type int

Relationships

Dash supports 3 types of relationships:

Relationship type	Dash Key/Value Pair
1 to 1	@@Has
1 to Many	@@Has Many
Many to Many	@@Has Many And Belongs To

1 to 1

To define a 1:1 relationship, simply add a @@Has object to your Entity.

Reference the Entity using an Array of Strings

This is the most concise way of defining a relationship. However, its limitation is that you cannot have multiple references to the same Entity.

{
    "Model": {
        "Person": {
            "@@Has": ["Address"]
        },

        "Address": {
        },
    }
}

Reference the Entity using an Object and Key/Value pairs.

This is a bit more verbose but lets you define multiple relationships with the same Entity, and also naming the relationship.

{
    "Model": {
        "Person": {
            "@@Has": {
                "BillingAddress": "Address",
                "ShippingAddress": "Address"
            }
        },

        "Address": {
        }
    }
}

1 to Many

To define a 1 to Many relationship, add a @@Has Many object to your Entity.

Reference the Entity using an Array of Strings

{
    "Model": {
        "Person": {
            "@@Has Many": ["Address"]
        },

        "Address": {
        }        
    }
}

Reference the Entity using an Object and Key/Value pairs.

{
    "Model": {
        "Person": {
            "@@Has Many": {
                "Address": "Address"
            }
        },

        "Address": {
        }
    }
}

Many to Many

To define a Many to Many relationship, add a @@Has Many And Belongs To object to your Entity.

Reference the Entity using an Array of Strings

{
    "Model": {
        "Person": {
            "@@Has Many And Belongs To": {
                "Address": "Address"
            }
        },

        "Address": {
        }
    }
}

Reference the Entity using an Object and Key/Value pairs.

{
    "Model": {
        "Person": {
            "@@Has Many And Belongs To": {
                "Address": "Address"
            }
        },

        "Address": {
        }
    }
}

Actions