ISO/IEC 20802-2:2016

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 20802-2
First edition
2016-12-15
Information technology — Open data
protocol (OData) v4.0
Part 2:
OData JSON Format
Technologies de l'information — Protocole de données ouvertes
(OData) v4.0 —
Partie 2: Format OData JSON
Reference number
©
ISO/IEC 2016
©  ISO/IEC 2016
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Foreword
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Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are
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described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular the different approval criteria needed for the
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ISO/IEC 20802‐2 was prepared by OASIS and was adopted, under the PAS procedure, by Joint Technical
Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, in parallel with its approval by the national bodies of
ISO and IEC.
© ISO/IEC 2016 – All rights reserved iii

OData JSON Format Version 4.0 Plus
Errata 02
OASIS Standard incorporating Approved Errata 02
30 October 2014
Specification URIs
This version:
http://docs.oasis-open.org/odata/odata-json-format/v4.0/errata02/os/odata-json-format-v4.0-
errata02-os-complete.doc (Authoritative)
http://docs.oasis-open.org/odata/odata-json-format/v4.0/errata02/os/odata-json-format-v4.0-
errata02-os-complete.html
http://docs.oasis-open.org/odata/odata-json-format/v4.0/errata02/os/odata-json-format-v4.0-
errata02-os-complete.pdf
Previous version:
http://docs.oasis-open.org/odata/odata-json-format/v4.0/errata01/os/odata-json-format-v4.0-
errata01-os-complete.doc (Authoritative)
http://docs.oasis-open.org/odata/odata-json-format/v4.0/errata01/os/odata-json-format-v4.0-
errata01-os-complete.html
http://docs.oasis-open.org/odata/odata-json-format/v4.0/errata01/os/odata-json-format-v4.0-
errata01-os-complete.pdf
Latest version:
http://docs.oasis-open.org/odata/odata-json-format/v4.0/odata-json-format-v4.0.doc
(Authoritative)
http://docs.oasis-open.org/odata/odata-json-format/v4.0/odata-json-format-v4.0.html
http://docs.oasis-open.org/odata/odata-json-format/v4.0/odata-json-format-v4.0.pdf
Technical Committee:
OASIS Open Data Protocol (OData) TC
Chairs:
Ralf Handl (ralf.handl@sap.com), SAP AG
Ram Jeyaraman (Ram.Jeyaraman@microsoft.com), Microsoft
Editors:
Ralf Handl (ralf.handl@sap.com), SAP AG
Michael Pizzo (mikep@microsoft.com), Microsoft
Martin Zurmuehl (martin.zurmuehl@sap.com), SAP AG
Mark Biamonte (mark.biamonte@progress.com), Progress Software
Additional artifacts:
This prose specification is one component of a Work Product that also includes:
OData JSON Format Version 4.0 Errata 02. Edited by Ralf Handl, Michael Pizzo, and Martin
Zurmuehl. 30 October 2014. OASIS Approved Errata. http://docs.oasis-open.org/odata/odata-
json-format/v4.0/errata02/os/odata-json-format-v4.0-errata02-os.html.
Change-marked (redlined) version. OData JSON Format Version 4.0 Plus Errata 02
(redlined). Edited by Ralf Handl, Michael Pizzo, Martin Zurmuehl, and Mark Biamonte. 30
October 2014. OASIS Standard incorporating Approved Errata 02. http://docs.oasis-
odata-json-format-v4.0-errata02-os-complete 30 October 2014
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open.org/odata/odata-json-format/v4.0/errata02/os/odata-json-format-v4.0-errata02-os-
redlined.html.
Related work:
This specification is related to:
OData Version 4.0. OASIS Standard. Multi-part Work Product that includes:
o OData Version 4.0 Part 1: Protocol. http://docs.oasis-
open.org/odata/odata/v4.0/os/part1-protocol/odata-v4.0-os-part1-protocol.html.
o OData Version 4.0 Part 2: URL Conventions. http://docs.oasis-
open.org/odata/odata/v4.0/os/part2-url-conventions/odata-v4.0-os-part2-url-
conventions.html.
o OData Version 4.0 Part 3: Common Schema Definition Language (CSDL).
http://docs.oasis-open.org/odata/odata/v4.0/os/part3-csdl/odata-v4.0-os-part3-
csdl.html.
o ABNF components: http://docs.oasis-open.org/odata/odata/v4.0/os/abnf/
o Vocabulary components: http://docs.oasis-
open.org/odata/odata/v4.0/os/vocabularies/
o XML schemas: http://docs.oasis-open.org/odata/odata/v4.0/os/schemas/
o OData Metadata Service Entity Model: http://docs.oasis-
open.org/odata/odata/v4.0/os/models/MetadataService.edmx.
OData Atom Format Version 4.0. Edited by Martin Zurmuehl, Michael Pizzo, and Ralf Handl.
Latest version: http://docs.oasis-open.org/odata/odata-atom-format/v4.0/odata-atom-format-
v4.0.html.
Abstract:
The Open Data Protocol (OData) for representing and interacting with structured content is
comprised of a set of specifications. The core specification for the protocol is in OData Version
4.0 Part 1: Protocol; this document extends the former by defining representations for OData
requests and responses using a JSON format.
Status:
This document was last revised or approved by the OASIS Open Data Protocol (OData) TC on
the above date. The level of approval is also listed above. Check the “Latest version” location
noted above for possible later revisions of this document. Any other numbered Versions and
other technical work produced by the Technical Committee (TC) are listed at https://www.oasis-
open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=odata#technical.
TC members should send comments on this specification to the TC’s email list. Others should
send comments to the TC’s public comment list, after subscribing to it by following the
instructions at the “Send A Comment” button on the TC’s web page at https://www.oasis-
open.org/committees/odata/.
For information on whether any patents have been disclosed that may be essential to
implementing this specification, and any offers of patent licensing terms, please refer to the
Intellectual Property Rights section of the Technical Committee web page (https://www.oasis-
open.org/committees/odata/ipr.php).
Citation format:
When referencing this specification the following citation format should be used:
[OData-JSON-Format-v4.0-plus-Errata02]
OData JSON Format Version 4.0 Plus Errata 02. Edited by Ralf Handl, Michael Pizzo, Martin
Zurmuehl, and Mark Biamonte. 30 October 2014. OASIS Standard incorporating Approved Errata
02. http://docs.oasis-open.org/odata/odata-json-format/v4.0/errata02/os/odata-json-format-v4.0-
errata02-os-complete.html. Latest version: http://docs.oasis-open.org/odata/odata-json-
format/v4.0/odata-json-format-v4.0.html.
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Notices
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Table of Contents
1 Introduction . 6
1.1 Terminology . 6
1.2 Normative References . 6
1.3 Typographical Conventions . 7
2 JSON Format Design . 8
3 Requesting the JSON Format . 9
3.1 Controlling the Amount of Control Information in Responses . 9
3.1.1 odata.metadata=minimal . 9
3.1.2 odata.metadata=full . 10
3.1.3 odata.metadata=none . 10
3.2 Controlling the Representation of Numbers . 10
4 Common Characteristics . 11
4.1 Header Content-Type . 11
4.2 Message Body . 11
4.3 Relative URLs . 11
4.4 Payload Ordering Constraints. 12
4.5 Control Information . 12
4.5.1 Annotation odata.context . 13
4.5.2 Annotation odata.metadataEtag . 13
4.5.3 Annotation odata.type . 13
4.5.4 Annotation odata.count . 14
4.5.5 Annotation odata.nextLink . 14
4.5.6 Annotation odata.deltaLink . 14
4.5.7 Annotation odata.id . 14
4.5.8 Annotation odata.editLink and odata.readLink . 15
4.5.9 Annotation odata.etag . 15
4.5.10 Annotation odata.navigationLink and odata.associationLink . 16
4.5.11 Annotation odata.media* . 16
5 Service Document . 17
6 Entity . 19
7 Structural Property. 20
7.1 Primitive Value . 20
7.2 Complex Value . 21
7.3 Collection of Primitive Values . 21
7.4 Collection of Complex Values . 21
8 Navigation Property . 23
8.1 Navigation Link . 23
8.2 Association Link . 23
8.3 Expanded Navigation Property . 23
8.4 Deep Insert . 24
8.5 Bind Operation . 24
9 Stream Property . 25
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10 Media Entity . 26
11 Individual Property or Operation Response . 27
12 Collection of Entities . 28
13 Entity Reference . 29
14 Delta Response . 30
14.1 Added/Changed Entity . 31
14.2 Deleted Entity . 31
14.3 Added Link . 31
14.4 Deleted Link . 32
15 Bound Function . 33
16 Bound Action . 34
17 Action Invocation . 35
18 Instance Annotations . 36
18.1 Annotate a JSON Object . 36
18.2 Annotate a JSON Array or Primitive . 36
19 Error Response . 37
20 Extensibility . 38
21 Security Considerations . 39
22 Conformance . 40
Appendix A. Acknowledgments . 41
Appendix B. Revision History . 42

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1 Introduction
The OData protocol is comprised of a set of specifications for representing and interacting with structured
content. The core specification for the protocol is in [OData-Protocol]; this document is an extension of
the core protocol. This document defines representations for the OData requests and responses using
the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), see [RFC7159].
An OData JSON payload may represent:
a single primitive value
a collection of primitive values
a single complex type value
a collection of complex type values
a single entity or entity reference
a collection of entities or entity references
a collection of changes
a service document describing the top-level resources exposed by the service
an error.
1.1 Terminology
The key words “MUST”, “MUST NOT”, “REQUIRED”, “SHALL”, “SHALL NOT”, “SHOULD”, “SHOULD
NOT”, “RECOMMENDED”, “MAY”, and “OPTIONAL” in this document are to be interpreted as described
in [RFC2119].
1.2 Normative References
[GeoJSON] Howard Butler, Martin Daly, Alan Doyle, Sean Gillies, Tim Schaub and Stefan
Drees, "The GeoJSON Format" draft-butler-geojson-02, 15 March 2014.
http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-butler-geojson-02.
[I-JSON] Bray, T., Ed., "The I-JSON Message Format" draft-bray-i-json-01, 06 January
2014. http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-bray-i-json-01
[OData-ABNF] OData ABNF Construction Rules Version 4.0.
See link in “Related work” section on cover page.
[OData-CSDL] OData Version 4.0 Part 3: Common Schema Definition Language (CSDL).
See link in “Related work” section on cover page.
[OData-Protocol] OData Version 4.0 Part 1: Protocol.
See link in “Related work” section on cover page.
[OData-URL] OData Version 4.0 Part 2: URL Conventions.
See link in "Related work" section on cover page.
[OData-VocCap] OData Capabilities Vocabulary.
See link in "Related work" section on cover page.
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., “Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels”, BCP
14, RFC 2119, March 1997. http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt.
[RFC3986] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, “Uniform Resource Identifier (URI):
Generic Syntax”, IETF RFC3986, January 2005.
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3986.txt.
[RFC3987] Duerst, M. and, M. Suignard, “Internationalized Resource Identifiers (IRIs)”, RFC
3987, January 2005. http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3987.txt.
[RFC7159] Bray, T., Ed., “The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Data Interchange Format”,
RFC 7159, March 2014. http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7159.
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[RFC5646] Phillips, A., Ed., and M. Davis, Ed., “Tags for Identifying Languages”, BCP 47,
RFC 5646, September 2009. http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5646.
[ECMAScript] ECMAScript Language Specification Edition 5,1. June 2011. Standard ECMA-
262. http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-262.htm.
1.3 Typographical Conventions
Keywords defined by this specification use this monospaced font.
Normative source code uses this paragraph style.
Some sections of this specification are illustrated with non-normative examples.
Example 1: text describing an example uses this paragraph style
Non-normative examples use this paragraph style.
All examples in this document are non-normative and informative only.
All other text is normative unless otherwise labeled.
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2 JSON Format Design
JSON, as described in [RFC7159], defines a text format for serializing structured data. Objects are
serialized as an unordered collection of name-value pairs.
JSON does not define any semantics around the name/value pairs that make up an object, nor does it
define an extensibility mechanism for adding control information to a payload.
OData’s JSON format extends JSON by defining general conventions for name-value pairs that annotate
a JSON object, property or array. OData defines a set of canonical annotations for control information
such as ids, types, and links, and custom annotations MAY be used to add domain-specific information to
the payload.
A key feature of OData’s JSON format is to allow omitting predictable parts of the wire format from the
actual payload. To reconstitute this data on the receiving end, expressions are used to compute missing
links, type information, and other control data. These expressions (together with the data on the wire) can
be used by the client to compute predictable payload pieces as if they had been included on the wire
directly.
Annotations are used in JSON to capture control information that cannot be predicted (e.g., the next link
of a collection) as well as a mechanism to provide values where a computed value would be wrong (e.g.,
if the media read link of one particular entity does not follow the standard URL conventions). Computing
values from metadata expressions is compute intensive and some clients might opt for a larger payload
size to avoid computational complexity; to accommodate for this the Accept header allows the client to
control the amount of control information added to the response.
To optimize streaming scenarios, there are a few restrictions that MAY be imposed on the sequence in
which name/value pairs appear within JSON objects. For details on the ordering requirements see
Payload Ordering Constraints.
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3 Requesting the JSON Format
The OData JSON format can be requested using the $format query option in the request URL with the
MIME type application/json, optionally followed by format parameters, or the case-insensitive
abbreviation json which MUST NOT be followed by format parameters.
Alternatively, this format can be requested using the Accept header with the MIME type
application/json, optionally followed by format parameters.
If specified, $format overrides any value specified in the Accept header.
Possible format parameters are:
odata.metadata
IEEE754Compatible
odata.streaming
Services SHOULD advertise the supported MIME types by annotating the entity container with the term
Capabilities.SupportedFormats defined in [OData-VocCap], listing all available formats and
combinations of supported format parameters.
3.1 Controlling the Amount of Control Information in Responses
The amount of control information needed (or desired) in the payload depends on the client application
and device. The odata.metadata parameter can be applied to the Accept header of an OData request
to influence how much control information will be included in the response.
Other Accept header parameters (e.g., odata.streaming) are orthogonal to the odata.metadata
parameter and are therefore not mentioned in this section.
If a client prefers a very small wire size and is intelligent enough to compute data using metadata
expressions, the Accept header should include odata.metadata=minimal. If computation is more
critical than wire size or the client is incapable of computing control information, odata.metadata=full
directs the service to inline the control information that normally would be computed from metadata
expressions in the payload. odata.metadata=none is an option for clients that have out-of-band
knowledge or don't require control information.
3.1.1 odata.metadata=minimal
The odata.metadata=minimal format parameter indicates that the service SHOULD remove
computable control information from the payload wherever possible. This is the default value for the
odata.metadata parameter and will be assumed if no other value is specified in the Accept header or
$format query option. The response payload MUST contain at least the following common annotations:
odata.context: the root context URL of the payload and the context URL for any deleted
entries or added or deleted links in a delta response, or for entities or entity collections whose set
cannot be determined from the root context URL
odata.metadataEtag: the ETag of the metadata document as applicable
odata.etag: the ETag of the entity, as appropriate
odata.count: the total count of a collection of entities or collection of entity references, if
requested
odata.nextLink: the next link of a collection with partial results
odata.deltaLink: the delta link for obtaining changes to the result, if requested
In addition, odata annotations MUST appear in the payload for cases where actual values are not the
same as the computed values and MAY appear otherwise. When odata annotations appear in the
payload, they are treated as exceptions to the computed values.
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Media entities and stream properties MAY in addition contain the following annotations:
odata.mediaEtag: the ETag of the stream, as appropriate
odata.mediaContentType: the content type of the stream
3.1.2 odata.metadata=full
The odata.metadata=full format parameter indicates that the service MUST include all control
information explicitly in the payload.
The full list of annotations that may appear in an odata.metadata=full response is as follows:
odata.context: the context URL for a collection, entity, primitive value, or service document.
odata.count: the total count of a collection of entities or collection of entity references, if
requested.
odata.nextLink: the next link of a collection with partial results
odata.deltaLink: the delta link for obtaining changes to the result, if requested
odata.id: the ID of the entity
odata.etag: the ETag of the entity
odata.readLink: the link used to read the entity, if the edit link cannot be used to read the
entity
odata.editLink: the link used to edit/update the entity, if the entity is updatable and the
odata.id does not represent a URL that can be used to edit the entity
odata.navigationLink: the link used to retrieve the values of a navigation property
odata.associationLink: the link used to describe the relationship between this entity and
related entities
odata.type: the type of the containing object or targeted property if the type of the object or
targeted property cannot be heuristically determined
Media entities and stream properties may in addition contain the following annotations:
odata.mediaReadLink: the link used to read the stream
odata.mediaEditLink: the link used to edit/update the stream
odata.mediaEtag: the ETag of the stream, as appropriate
odata.mediaContentType: the content type of the stream
3.1.3 odata.metadata=none
The odata.metadata=none format parameter indicates that the service SHOULD omit control
information other than odata.nextLink and odata.count. These annotations MUST continue to be
included, as applicable, even in the odata.metadata=none case.
It is not valid to specify odata.metadata=none on a delta request.
3.2 Controlling the Representation of Numbers
The IEEE754Compatible=true format parameter indicates that the service MUST serialize
Edm.Int64 and Edm.Decimal numbers (including the odata.count, if requested) as strings. This is in
conformance with [I-JSON].
If not specified, or specified as IEEE754Compatible=false, all numbers MUST be serialized as JSON
numbers.
This enables support for JavaScript numbers that are defined to be 64-bit binary format IEEE 754 values
[ECMAScript] (see section 4.3.1.9) resulting in integers losing precision past 15 digits, and decimals
losing precision due to the conversion from base 10 to base 2.
OData JSON payloads that format Edm.Int64 and Edm.Decimal values as strings MUST specify this
format parameter in the media type returned in the Content-Type header.
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4 Common Characteristics
This section describes common characteristics of the representation for OData values in JSON. A request
or response body consists of several parts. It contains OData values as part of a larger document.
Requests and responses are structured almost identical; the few existing differences will be explicitly
called out in the respective subsections.
4.1 Header Content-Type
Requests and responses with a JSON message body MUST have a Content-Type header value of
application/json.
Requests MAY add the charset parameter to the content type. Allowed values are UTF-8, UTF-16,
and UTF-32. If no charset parameter is present, UTF-8 MUST be assumed.
Responses MUST include the odata.metadata parameter to specify the amount of metadata included
in the response.
Responses MUST include the IEEE754Compatible parameter if Edm.Int64 and Edm.Decimal
numbers are represented as strings.
Requests and responses MAY add the odata.streaming parameter with a value of true or false,
see section Payload Ordering Constraints.
4.2 Message Body
Each message body is represented as a single JSON object. This object is either the representation of an
entity, an entity reference or a complex type instance, or it contains a name/value pair whose name
MUST be value and whose value is the correct representation for a primitive value, a collection of
primitive values, a collection of complex values, a collection of entities, or a collection of objects that
represent changes to a previous result.
Client libraries MUST retain the order of objects within an array in JSON responses.
4.3 Relative URLs
URLs present in a payload (whether request or response) MAY be represented as relative URLs.
Relative URLs, other than those in odata.type, are relative to their base URL, which is
the context URL of the same JSON object, if one exists, otherwise
the context URL of the enclosing object, if one exists, otherwise
the context URL of the next enclosing object, if one exists, etc. until the document root, otherwise
the request URL.
For context URLs these rules apply starting with the second bullet point.
Within the odata.type annotation, relative URLs are relative to the base type URL, which is
the odata.type of the enclosing object, if one exists, otherwise
the odata.type of the next enclosing object, if one exists, etc. until the document root,
otherwise
the context URL of the document root, if one exists, otherwise
the request URL.
Processors expanding the URLs MUST use normal URL expansion rules as defined in RFC3986. This
means that if the base URL is a context URL, the part starting with $metadata# is ignored when
resolving the relative URL.
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Clients that receive relative URLs in response payloads SHOULD use the same relative URLs, where
appropriate, in request payloads (such as bind operations and batch requests) and in system query
options (such as $id).
Example 2:
{
"@odata.context": "http://host/service/$metadata#Customers/$entity",
...
"@odata.editLink": "Customers('ALFKI')",
...
"Orders@odata.navigationLink": "Customers('ALFKI')/Orders",
...
}
The resulting absolute URLs are http://host/service/Customers('ALFKI') and
http://host/service/Customers('ALFKI')/Orders.
4.4 Payload Ordering Constraints
Ordering constraints MAY be imposed on the JSON payload in order to support streaming scenarios.
These ordering constraints MUST only be assumed if explicitly specified as some clients (and services)
might not be able to control, or might not care about, the order of the JSON properties in the payload.
Clients can request that a JSON response conform to these ordering constraints by specifying a media
type of application/json with the odata.streaming=true parameter in the Accept header or
$format query option. Services MUST return 406 Not Acceptable if the client only requests
streaming and the service does not support it.
Processors MUST only assume streaming support if it is explicitly indicated in the Content-Type header
via the odata.streaming=true parameter.
Example 3: a payload with
Content-Type: application/json;odata.metadata=minimal;odata.streaming=true
can be assumed to support streaming, whereas a payload with
Content-Type: application/json;odata.metadata=minimal
cannot be assumed to support streaming.
JSON producers are encouraged to follow the payload ordering constraints whenever possible (and
include the odata.streaming=true content type parameter) to support the maximum set of client
scenarios.
To support streaming scenarios the following payload ordering constraints have to be met:
If present, the odata.context annotation MUST be the first property in the JSON object.
The odata.type annotation, if present, MUST appear next in the JSON object.
The odata.id and odata.etag annotations MUST appear before any property or property
annotation.
All annotations for a structural or navigation property MUST appear as a group immediately
before the property they annotate. The one exception is the odata.nextLink annotation of an
expanded collection which MAY appear after the navigation property it annotates.
All other odata annotations can appear anywhere in the payload as long as they do not violate
any of the above rules.
Annotations for navigation properties MUST appear after all structural properties.
4.5 Control Information
In addition to the “pure data” a message body MAY contain control information that is represented as
annotations whose names start with odata followed by a dot.
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In some cases control information is required in request payloads; this is called out in the following
subsections.
Receivers that encounter unknown annotations in any namespace, including the odata namespace,
MUST NOT stop processing and MUST NOT signal an error.
4.5.1 Annotation odata.context
The odata.context annotation returns the context URL (see [OData-Protocol]) for the payload. This
URL can be absolute or relative.
The odata.context annotation is not returned if odata.metadata=none is requested. Otherwise it
MUST be the first property of any JSON response.
The odata.context annotation MUST also be included in requests and responses for entities whose
entity set cannot be determined from the context URL of the collection.
For more information on the format of the context URL, see [OData-Protocol].
Request payloads MAY include a context URL as a base URL for relative URLs in the request payload.
Example 4:
{
"@odata.context": "http://host/service/$metadata#Customers/$entity",
"@odata.metadataEtag": "W/\"A1FF3E230954908F\"",
...
}
4.5.2 Annotation odata.metadataEtag
The odata.metadataEtag annotation MAY appear in a response in order to specify the entity tag
(ETag) that can be used to determine the version of the metadata of the response.
For details on how ETags are used, see [OData-Protocol].
4.5.3 Annotation odata.type
The odata.type annotation specifies the type of a JSON object or name/value pair. Its value is a URI
that identifies the type of the property or object. For built-in primitive types the value is the unqualified
name of the primitive type, specified as a URI fragment. For all other types, the URI may be absolute or
relative to the odata.type of the containing object. The root odata.type may be absolute or relative to
the root context URL.
For non-built in primitive types, the URI contains the namespace-qualified or alias-qualified type, specified
as a URI fragment. For properties that represent a collection of values, the fragment is the namespace-
qualified or alias-qualified element type enclosed in parentheses and prefixed with Collection.
The odata.type annotation MUST appear in requests and in responses with minimal or full metadata, if
the type cannot be heuristically determined, as described below, and one of the following is true:
The type is derived from the type specified for the (collection of) entities or (collection of) complex
type instances, or
The type is for a property whose type is not declared in $metadata.
The following heuristics are used to determine the primitive type of a dynamic property in the absence of
the odata.type annotation:
Boolean values have a first-class repr
...