Skip to content
Open
Show file tree
Hide file tree
Changes from all commits
Commits
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension

Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
---
title: "Data Transformers"
url: /refguide/data-transformers/
weight: 50
description: "Describes Data Transformers in Mendix Studio Pro."
---

## Introduction

Data Transformer can be used for transforming data of certain structure into another structure, basically a message-to-message transformation within Mendix Studio Pro. With this feature, you can pre-process an incoming message (for example, from an API response, MQTT message, etc.) before an Import Mapping. Additionally, you can also use it to transform a message before passing it on to a downstream system that expects the data in a certain structure.

{{% alert color="info" %}}
This feature is in beta and at the moment we only support JSON-to-JSON transformation with JSLT, a JSON transformation language.
{{% /alert %}}

### Example

Consider an API that returns customer data with many fields, but you only need a few specific fields for your Mendix app:

**Input JSON from API:**

```json
{
"customer_id": "12345",
"first_name": "John",
"last_name": "Smith",
"email": "john.smith@example.com",
"phone": "+1-555-0123",
"address": "123 Main St",
"city": "New York",
"country": "USA",
"account_status": "active",
"credit_limit": 5000,
"internal_notes": "VIP customer",
"created_date": "2024-01-15"
}
```

**JSLT Transformation:**

```jslt
{
"id": .customer_id,
"fullName": .first_name + " " + .last_name,
"email": .email,
"location": .city + ", " + .country
}
```

**Output JSON:**

```json
{
"id": "12345",
"fullName": "John Smith",
"email": "john.smith@example.com",
"location": "New York, USA"
}
```

In this example, the Data Transformer extracts only the needed fields, combines the first and last name into a single field, and creates a location string from the city and country. This simplified output can then be easily mapped to your Mendix entities.

## Limitations

At the moment we only support JSON-to-JSON transformation with JSLT, a JSON transformation language.

## Prerequisites

* [Studio Pro 11.11](https://marketplace.mendix.com/link/studiopro/11.11.0) and above

## Add the Data Transformer Document

You can add the Data Transformer document to your app, by following these steps:

1. Right-click the module you want to add the Data Transformer document to.
2. Select **Add other** > **Data Transformer**.
Comment thread
aimiliatheologimendix marked this conversation as resolved.
3. Name the data transformer.
Comment thread
aimiliatheologimendix marked this conversation as resolved.

{{< figure src="/attachments/refguide/modeling/integration/data-transformers/add-data-transformer.png" alt="Add Data Transformer dialog" >}}

4. In the **Input JSON** editor you can paste a JSON snippet that you would like to transform.
5. Define the transformation in **JSLT transformation** editor.
6. Click the **Test Transformation** button below the JSLT transformation editor to preview the transformation result in the **Output JSON**.

Comment thread
aimiliatheologimendix marked this conversation as resolved.
{{< figure src="/attachments/refguide/modeling/integration/data-transformers/define-transformation.png" alt="Data Transformer interface showing Input JSON, JSLT transformation, and Output JSON editors" >}}

## Use the Data Transformer in a Microflow

To perform a transformation in a microflow, complete the following steps:

1. Drag the **Transform JSON** activity into a microflow, preferably after a REST call or anything that provides input for the transformation.

{{< figure src="/attachments/refguide/modeling/integration/data-transformers/transform-json-dialog.png" alt="Add Transform JSON activity" >}}

2. Double-click the activity and click **Select** to choose an existing Data Transformer document or create a new one.
3. Click on the dropdown **Variable (String)** and select the input string variable from the list.
4. Specify the name of the output in the **Variable name** text field.
5. Click **OK**.

{{< figure src="/attachments/refguide/modeling/integration/data-transformers/configure-transformer-activity.png" alt="Configure Transform JSON activity dialog" >}}

## Using the output of Data Transformer

You can use your transformed JSON snippet in the following ways:

* Create a new JSON structure for Import Mapping
* Pass the transformed JSON to downstream systems
* Use it as input for further processing in your microflow


## Use Cases

Use the Data Transformer document to do the following:

* [Filtering out unused fields](/refguide/data-transformer-how-tos/#filtering-out-unused-fields)
* [Simplifying nested structures](/refguide/data-transformer-how-tos/#simplifying-nested-structures)
* [Normalising objects to arrays (working with dynamic keys)](/refguide/data-transformer-how-tos/#normalising-objects-to-arrays-working-with-dynamic-keys)
* [Zipping metadata with data](/refguide/data-transformer-how-tos/#zipping-metadata-with-data)
* [Flattening Bill of Materials (BOM)](/refguide/data-transformer-how-tos/#flattening-bill-of-materials-bom)
* [Extracting information from a string](/refguide/data-transformer-how-tos/#extracting-information-from-a-string)
* [Working with SPARQL query results](/refguide/data-transformer-how-tos/#working-with-sparql-query-results)

For detailed examples, see [Data Transformer How-Tos](/refguide/data-transformer-how-tos/).

## JSLT

You can find more information about JSLT below:

* A short [introduction](https://github.com/schibsted/jslt/blob/master/README.md#jslt) and [tutorial](https://github.com/schibsted/jslt/blob/master/tutorial.md#jslt-tutorial) on how to use JSLT
* A complete list of [functions available in JSLT](https://github.com/schibsted/jslt/blob/master/functions.md#jslt-functions)
Loading