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keywords only exhibit the behaviors they're defined with #1577

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70 changes: 52 additions & 18 deletions specs/jsonschema-core.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -415,20 +415,43 @@ keywords MUST NOT begin with this prefix.
Implementations MUST refuse to evaluate schemas which contain keywords which
they do not know how to process or explicitly choose not to process.

## Keyword Behaviors
## Keyword Behaviors {#keyword-behaviors}

JSON Schema keywords fall into several general behavior categories. Assertions
validate that an instance satisfies constraints, producing a boolean result.
Annotations attach information that applications may use in any way they see
fit. Applicators apply subschemas to parts of the instance and combine their
results.
JSON Schema keywords may exhibit one or more behaviors. This specification
defines three such behaviors[^7]:

- Assertions validate that an instance satisfies constraints, producing a
boolean result: `true` if the constraints are satisfied; `false` otherwise.
- Annotations attach information that applications may use in any way they see
fit.
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Suggested change
- Annotations attach information that applications may use in any way they see
fit.
- Annotations attach information to instance locations that applications may use in any way they see
fit.

- Applicators apply subschemas to parts of the instance and combine their
results.

[^7]: This specification also defines several operational directive keywords,
such as `$id` and `$schema`. As such, these keywords do not exhibit these
behaviors. However, it is recommended that extensions avoid defining additional
directive keywords as they could interfere with schema processing and produce
unexpected or undesirable results.
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I don't understand what you mean by "interfering with schema processing".

The way I see it, people should avoid creating these kinds of keywords because it's unlikely that an implementation will be able to support them using typical extension mechanisms. At least my implementation wouldn't.


Extension keywords SHOULD stay within these categories, keeping in mind that
Extension keywords SHOULD be defined using these behaviors, keeping in mind that
annotations in particular are extremely flexible. Complex behavior is usually
better delegated to applications on the basis of annotation data than
implemented directly as schema keywords. However, extension keywords MAY define
other behaviors for specialized purposes.

Keywords which are not defined to exhibit a particular behavior MUST NOT affect
that aspect of evaluation. For example, a keyword which does not act as an
assertion MUST NOT affect the validation result.
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I'm not sure what this means. It sounds like it's saying that if you say it doesn't have an assertion behavior, then it shouldn't have an assertion behavior. Is there some nuance that I'm missing?


For the purposes of this document, an instance "validating against a keyword"
means that the keyword produces an assertion result of `true` if the instance
satisfies the given constraint; otherwise an assertion result of `false` is
produced.

<!-- The next two paragraphs and the following section seem to have more to
do with schema evaluation than keywords specifically. I'd like to move them out
of the "keyword behaviors" h2, but will do so separately. [TODO: GD] -->

Evaluating an instance against a schema involves processing all of the keywords
in the schema against the appropriate locations within the instance. Typically,
applicator keywords are processed until a schema object with no applicators (and
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -569,11 +592,17 @@ the keyword's value. Alternatively, an applicator may refer to a schema
elsewhere in the same schema document, or in a different one. The mechanism for
identifying such referenced schemas is defined by the keyword.

Applicator keywords also define how subschema or referenced schema boolean
[assertion](#assertions) results are modified and/or combined to produce the
boolean result of the applicator. Applicators may apply any boolean logic
operation to the assertion results of subschemas, but MUST NOT introduce new
assertion conditions of their own.
Applicator keywords also behave as assertions by defining how subschema or
referenced schema boolean [assertion](#assertions) results are modified and/or
combined to produce the boolean result of the applicator. Applicators may apply
any boolean logic operation to the assertion results of subschemas, but SHOULD
NOT introduce new assertion conditions of their own.[^2]

[^2]: It is recommended that keywords have a single resposibility. An example of
this in action is the separation between `properties`, which verifies object
property values have the right data _if_ they exist, and `required`, which
verifies that object properties exist. Separating these concerns allows for more
reusable components.

[Annotation](#annotations) results from subschemas are preserved in accordance
with {{collect}} so that applications can decide how to interpret multiple
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -1001,11 +1030,16 @@ identified schema. Its results are the results of the referenced schema.[^5]
[^5]: Note that this definition of how the results are determined means that
other keywords can appear alongside of `$ref` in the same schema object.

The value of the `$ref` keyword MUST be a string which is an IRI reference.
The value of the `$ref` keyword MUST be a string which is an IRI reference.
Resolved against the current IRI base, it produces the IRI of the schema to
apply. This resolution is safe to perform on schema load, as the process of
evaluating an instance cannot change how the reference resolves.

The resolved IRI produced by `$ref` is not necessarily a network locator, only
an identifier. A schema need not be downloadable from the address if it is a
network-addressable URL. Implementations which can access the network SHOULD
default to operating offline.
The resolved IRI produced by `$ref` is not necessarily a network locator, only
an identifier. A schema need not be downloadable from the address if it is a
network-addressable URL. Implementations which can access the network SHOULD
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -1476,8 +1510,8 @@ operators can contact the owner of a potentially misbehaving script.

## Keywords for Applying Subschemas

This section defines a set of keywords that enable schema combinations and
composition.
This section defines a set of applicator keywords that enable schema
combinations and composition.

### Keywords for Applying Subschemas in Place {#in-place}

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -1737,8 +1771,8 @@ The value of this keyword MUST be a non-negative integer.
This keyword modifies the behavior of `contains` within the same schema object,
as described below in the section for that keyword.

Validation MUST always succeed against this keyword. The value of this keyword
is used as its annotation result.
This keyword produces no assertion result. The value of this keyword is used as
its annotation result.

##### `minContains`

Expand All @@ -1747,8 +1781,8 @@ The value of this keyword MUST be a non-negative integer.
This keyword modifies the behavior of `contains` within the same schema object,
as described below in the section for that keyword.

Validation MUST always succeed against this keyword. The value of this keyword
is used as its annotation result.
This keyword produces no assertion result. The value of this keyword is used as
its annotation result.

Per {{default-behaviors}}, omitted keywords MUST NOT produce annotation results.
However, as described in {{contains}}, the absence of this keyword's annotation
Expand Down
17 changes: 16 additions & 1 deletion specs/jsonschema-validation.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -62,6 +62,21 @@ information. The {{format}} keyword is intended primarily as an annotation, but
can optionally be used as an assertion. The {{content}} keywords are annotations
for working with documents embedded as JSON strings.

## Keyword Behaviors

The keywords defined by this document exhibit one or more behaviors as defined by
the [JSON Schema Core Specification](./jsonschema-core.md#keyword-behaviors).

Keywords which are not defined to exhibit a particular behavior MUST NOT affect
that aspect of the evaluation outcome. In particular, the keywords defined in
{{annotations}} produce no assertion result and therefore are not considered
during validation.

For the purposes of this document, an instance "validating against a keyword"
means that the keyword produces an assertion result of `true` if the instance
satisfies the given constraint; otherwise an assertion result of `false` is
produced.

## Interoperability Considerations

### Validation of String Instances
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -642,7 +657,7 @@ structures: first the header, and then the payload. Since the JWT media type
ensures that the JWT can be represented in a JSON string, there is no need for
further encoding or decoding.

## Keywords for Basic Meta-Data Annotations
## Keywords for Basic Meta-Data Annotations {#annotations}

These general-purpose annotation keywords provide commonly used information for
documentation and user interface display purposes. They are not intended to form
Expand Down