Comments in JSON / RESJSON

Question

Hi, 
 we try to figure out the way of introducing comments in JSON files that would be recognized as such by the parser and thus put in the "Comments" column in Passolo (2015). We have tried to apply the solutions presented here: producthelp.sdl.com/.../JSONAddin.htm But we have encountered the following issues: (1) Adding comments using double slashes works great, but as explained in the article, this results in having an invalid JSON file for the source content. We are thinking of creating JSON files with comments, and then saving two copies of them: one containing comments - for translation purposes and another one with comments being automatically deleted for use as a regular JSON file with English content. The problem is that it would just add some more complexity to a project that is already very complex. 
 (2) Converting the files to the resjson format works great as well, but it does not allow to have any nested elements. 
 Does someone know if there is some other way to put comments in JSON files, for them to go in the "Comments" column in Passolo while keeping valid JSON format of the source file? Or to process resjson files containing nested elements? 
 Thanks. Piotr

Achim Herrmann · Accepted Answer

Hello Piotr, 
 
I will log an enhancement request regarding an additional option to support the RESJSON commenting syntax in standard JSON file. I think this a much better approach than the actual very invasive option with the C-Style comments, making the JSON files invalid. 
 
Using the text file parser for JSON is quite challenging and can only be successful if you except limitations in the way how JSON is used. I don’t think that a JSON file that uses the complete syntax defined can be parsed without issues with the text file parser. The text file parser itself doesn’t support nested resource levels and I don’t think that this is an enhancement that will be implemented in the future. There are already existing parsers for structured file formats like JSON or XML which are supporting nested resource levels.

Achim Herrmann · Answer

Hello Piotr, 
 
With the selection of JSON as the resource file format your developers have chosen a standard ( http://www.json.org) , that doesn’t support comments. Our solution described in producthelp.sdl.com/.../JSONAddin.htm is just a small work-around for those users that do not get problems in their own framework with commented JSON files that do not comply 100% with the standard. 
 
Your post already contain one solution which is maintaining 2 copies. Yes, this makes it more complex but this can't be prevented. I can think of other solutions but all have its complexity like 
•	Maintaining and importing comments from a different (non JSON) file using a customization while keeping the original valid JSON file 
•	Enhancing your resource framework to support commented JSON files 
In the end it would also be possible to use another resource file format (like XML) where you can easily embed and handle comments. 
 
I would not suggest to use the second (2) method if you need support of nested elements. Microsoft has introduced a special syntax into RESJSON that support comments but it doesn’t work support nested elements. 
 
The basic problem is that developers usually don’t care about the localization process while localization manager need as much context information for translators as possible. If the selected resource file format is not able to store and handle this context information your organization has to conciliate between the development requirements and the localization requirements. This should be easy as the success of a company is usually based on selling a product in many countries. So developers should create translation-friendly resources.

Achim Herrmann · Answer

As far as I know all these customer wishes are now implemented in Passolo 2018. For more information please read: https://docs.sdl.com/785448/507835/sdl-passolo-help/add-in-for-javascript-object-notation--json--file-format-types

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Comments in JSON / RESJSON