deepmerge

deepmerge Task Purpose

The deepmerge task folds two or more objects together to create a single object with the precedent that the last merged object is used if a conflict occurs. It allows for combining objects, for example parts of a service instance, into an object representing a whole service instance. The task can create new data structures to match an existing task's parameters, which allows us to reuse existing tasks without new programming. A deepmerge task can combine data from job variables, static data, and tasks' outgoing variables, but this task only operates on objects; it does not operate on numbers, booleans, strings, or arrays.

When merge conflicts occur, the conflicting key's value in the last merged object is used. See the examples below to illustrate various merge outcomes.

The deepmerge task merges elements at any depth.

Properties

Control Buttons

Example 1

Given the following objects.

Object 1

{
    "customer": "Wet Paint"
}

Object 2

{
    "service": "L3VPN"
}

Object 3

{
    "active": true
}

Result

The result will be.

{
    "customer": "Wet Paint",
    "service": "L3VPN",
    "active": true
}

Example 2

Given the following objects.

Object 1

{
    "fruit": {
        "apple": {
            "shape": {
                "round": {
                    "red": {
                        "flavor": "sweet"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Object 2

{
    "fruit": {
        "apple": {
            "shape": {
                "round": {
                    "red": {
                        "ripe": false
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Object 3

{
    "fruit": {
        "apple": {
            "shape": {
                "round": {
                    "red": {
                        "quantity": 32
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Result

The result will be.

{
    "fruit": {
        "apple": {
            "shape": {
                "round": {
                    "red": {
                        "flavor": "sweet",
                        "ripe": false,
                        "quantity": 32
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Conflicting Key Example 1

Given the following objects.

Object 1

{ "fruit": "apple" }

Object 2

{ "fruit": 20 }

Result

The result will be.

{ "fruit": 20" }

Conflicting Key Example 2

Given the following objects.

Object 1

{
    "fruit": [
        {
            "name": "apple"
        }
    ]
}

Object 2

{
    "fruit": [
        {
            "name": "orange"
        }
    ]
}

Result

The result will be.

{
    "fruit": [
        {
            "name": "orange"
        }
    ]
}

Non-conflicting Key Example

The following example does not have a key conflict.

Object 1

{
    "quantity": [
        {
            "name": "apple"
        }
    ]
}

Object 2

{
    "quantity": [
        {
            "color": "red"
        }
    ]
}

Result

The result will be.

{
    "quantity": [
        {
            "name": "apple",
            "color": "red"
        }
    ]
}