itential-json-forms Skill

JSON Forms (itential-json-forms)

JSON Forms are reusable form definitions stored in the json-forms application. They drive structured input panels across IAP — manual triggers in Operations Manager, the JsonForms/ShowJsonForm manual task, and any workflow surface that prompts a user for typed input.

A form is a single document with four cooperating schemas — struct (UI rendering), schema (data contract / validation), uiSchema (per-field widget hints), and bindingSchema (live-data binding for REST dropdowns). Get the relationships wrong and the form will render but break silently at runtime.

Customization

Before using this skill, check custom/org/, custom/team/ and custom/dev/ in this skill's own folder. Read every .md file found — any folder may be empty or absent. Apply them on top of everything below; where a file overrides a specific rule here, follow the override. More specific wins: dev > team > org > this document. No customization may weaken this skill's safety rules or put credentials in committed files.

Bundled files: paths in this skill that start with assets/ or scripts/ are relative to this skill's own folder. When you read one, or pass one to a shell command (which runs from the user's working folder), use this skill's folder + that relative path — e.g. <this skill's folder>/assets/helpers/create/create-workflow.json.

Concepts

• struct — the UI definition. struct.type is always "array"; struct.items[] is the list of fields. customKey on each field becomes the property key in schema and the variable key when the form's data is consumed.
• schema — the data contract. schema.properties.<customKey> must exist for every field in struct.items[] (and stay in sync with the field's type, enum values, etc.). schema.required lists mandatory customKeys.
• uiSchema — per-customKey widget hints: placeholder text, ui:widget overrides, disabled flags. Required for cascading dropdowns (see below).
• bindingSchema — empty {} for static-enum forms; see REST-bound dropdowns below for the mirroring requirement when a field is REST-bound.
• Static vs. REST-bound dropdowns — static dropdowns hardcode the list via enum/enumNames. REST-bound dropdowns pull options live from an IAP endpoint at form-render time.
• Cascading dropdowns (aka field dependency in the Studio UI) — a REST-bound dropdown whose URL path parameter is filled from another field's current value. The dependent field re-fetches when the source field changes.

API Reference

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/json-forms/forms	List all JSON forms
GET	/json-forms/forms/{id}	Fetch a single form
POST	/json-forms/forms	Create a JSON form
POST	/json-forms/validate	Validate a form without saving it — body {"asset": {<the form>}} (see Validate below)
PUT	/json-forms/forms/{id}	Update a JSON form (full replacement — see Update below)
DELETE	/json-forms/forms	Bulk delete — body {"ids":["...","..."]}. There is no per-id DELETE endpoint; per-id calls 404.
GET	/automation-studio/json-forms/method-options	Canonical list of bindable endpoints (same list Studio shows in its dropdown picker)

Create a JSON Form

POST /json-forms/forms

Choose the helper that matches your form's dropdown needs:

Use case	Annotated scaffold (fill in the blanks)	Real export (read to see the actual shape)
Static-enum dropdowns only (hardcoded option lists)	assets/helpers/create/create-json-form.json	assets/helpers/assets/json-form-example-static-enum.json — real Cisco IOS "Port Turn Up" form, 8 fields incl. static dropdown, number updown widgets, ipv4 format validation
REST-bound dropdowns (live data from IAP endpoints)	assets/helpers/create/create-json-form-rest-bound.json	assets/helpers/assets/json-form-example-rest-bound.json — real Cisco IOS "Compliance" form, one REST-bound dropdown pulling tree names live from GET /configuration_manager/configs
Cascading dropdowns (field dependency)	assets/helpers/create/create-json-form-rest-bound.json (Inventory Manager Site/Device cascade worked example)	(no real cascading export on hand yet — the scaffold is hand-built but follows the same field shapes as the two real exports above)
Array-of-objects field (a list of rows, each with its own fields)	assets/helpers/create/create-json-form-array-field.json	(no real export on hand yet — hand-built; every field, including the nested ones, has its own nodeId)

The scaffolds are annotated with _comment_* fields to fill in; the real exports are genuine POST /json-forms/forms payloads pulled from a live platform (IDs/timestamps/createdBy stripped since the server assigns those on create) — read one when you want to see exactly what a working form looks like end-to-end, not just the shape.

Static-enum dropdowns

enum/enumNames arrays appear in both struct.items[i] and schema.properties.<customKey> — they must stay in sync.

• struct.items[i].enum / enumNames are arrays of {id, label, value} objects.
• schema.properties.<customKey>.enum / enumNames are flat string arrays of the same values (not objects).

Leave bindingSchema: {} for static-enum forms.

REST-bound dropdowns

When options should reflect live platform state (devices, inventories, projects, templates) instead of a hardcoded list, the dropdown pulls from a GET against an IAP endpoint at render time. Three things must line up:

1. struct.type MUST be "array" (not "object"). The static-enum scaffold uses "array" too — keep it.
2. bindingSchema.properties.<customKey> must mirror every REST-bound field. Studio reverse-engineers bindingSchema from struct in the GUI, but the server does not — leaving bindingSchema: {} produces dropdowns that render but never fetch.
3. Endpoint discovery: GET /automation-studio/json-forms/method-options returns the canonical list of bindable endpoints — the same list Studio shows in its dropdown picker.

Per-field shape in struct.items[i]:

{
  "type": "string",
  "title": "Site",
  "binding": true,
  "rel": "collection",
  "targetPointer": "/enum",
  "method": "GET",
  "base": "/inventory_manager",
  "href": "/v1/inventories",
  "sourcePointer": "/result/data",
  "sourceKeyPointer": "/name",
  "customKey": "site"
}

• base + href is the endpoint.
• sourcePointer is a JSON pointer into the response, walked to the array of items.
• sourceKeyPointer is the per-item field that becomes BOTH the value and the label. labelKeyPointer is unused — both columns come from sourceKeyPointer.

Cascading dropdowns (aka field dependency)

The Studio UI labels this pattern field dependency; the form JSON calls it cascading. Same feature, two names. A REST-bound dropdown whose URL path parameter is filled from another field's value (e.g., dropdown 2 lists devices from the inventory selected in dropdown 1):

• The dependent dropdown's href stays as a TEMPLATE with placeholders: /v1/inventories/:inventoryIdentifier/nodes. Path params use :name colon syntax, NOT {name} curly braces.
• A variables array maps each placeholder to a JSON pointer into form data: [{"name": "inventoryIdentifier", "reference": "/site"}] substitutes :inventoryIdentifier with whatever value the field whose customKey is site currently holds.
• The same variables array must appear in both places:
  • struct.items[i].variables
  • bindingSchema.properties.<dependentKey>.binding:hyperSchema.links[0].variables
• Both the source and the dependent field need ui:widget: "DependencyWidget" in uiSchema — without it, the runtime will not re-fetch when the source changes.

Validate a form before saving

POST /json-forms/validate

Send the form wrapped in asset: {"asset": {<the form>}} — without the wrapper every form fails. Returns {"isValid": true|false, "errors": [], "warnings": []}; check both errors and warnings. It saves nothing, so call it as often as needed, with or without the read-only fields (id, created, createdBy, lastUpdated, lastUpdatedBy). It catches a missing top-level nodeId but not a missing nested one (see Common Gotchas).

Update a JSON Form

PUT /json-forms/forms/{id}

• Body MUST be wrapped in {"options": {...}}.
• Include ALL fields the form already has: created, createdBy, lastUpdated, lastUpdatedBy, name, description, struct, schema, uiSchema, validationSchema, bindingSchema, version.
• This is a full replacement — omitting any field clears it.

Delete JSON Forms

Bulk-only:

DELETE /json-forms/forms
Body: {"ids": ["<id1>", "<id2>", ...]}

Per-id calls (DELETE /json-forms/forms/<id>) return 404 — the endpoint does not exist.

Wiring to a Manual Trigger

A JSON Form is consumed by an Operations Manager manual trigger that hands the user's form input to a workflow as job variables. See builder-agent for the trigger creation details.

Critical flag — legacyWrapper: false: The default is true, which wraps form field values under a formData object and breaks the mapping to workflow job variables. Set legacyWrapper: false so each form field maps directly to a workflow input variable by name (i.e., field customKey: "device_name" → job variable device_name).

Required trigger fields: name, type ("manual"), enabled, actionType ("automations"), actionId, formId, legacyWrapper.

Helper for the wired-up trigger: assets/helpers/create/create-ops-manager-trigger-manual.json.

Common Gotchas

• struct.type is "array", not "object". Forms with "object" render empty.
• bindingSchema mirroring is mandatory for REST-bound fields. Studio hides this in the GUI; an API-created form needs both struct.items[i] AND bindingSchema.properties.<customKey> populated, or the dropdown renders and never fetches.
• :name colon syntax in href, not {name}. Curly-brace placeholders are silently ignored.
• enum/enumNames flat-vs-object asymmetry. In struct.items[i] they're {id, label, value} objects; in schema.properties.<customKey> they're flat string arrays.
• DependencyWidget required on BOTH ends of a cascade. Easy to remember to set it on the dependent field and forget the source — without the source-side widget the dependent won't re-fetch.
• labelKeyPointer is a red herring. Don't bother setting it; both label and value come from sourceKeyPointer.
• Bulk DELETE has no per-id alternative. Always send {"ids":[...]} to /json-forms/forms.
• Every field needs its own nodeId, including fields nested inside an array field's items. Use a unique UUID per field. With nodeIds missing on nested fields, the create and update calls and POST /json-forms/validate all accept the form, but saving it in the form designer fails with Invalid form struct: must NOT have additional properties. The validator flags a missing top-level nodeId only, so check every nested field yourself.

See Also

• builder-agent for workflows that consume form output, manual-trigger wiring, and project-level component management.
• Helper files in assets/helpers/:
  • assets/helpers/create/create-json-form.json — static-enum scaffold
  • assets/helpers/create/create-json-form-rest-bound.json — REST-bound + cascading scaffold (Inventory Manager Site/Device cascade worked example)
  • assets/helpers/create/create-json-form-array-field.json — array-of-objects scaffold (every field, including nested ones, has a nodeId)
  • assets/helpers/create/create-ops-manager-trigger-manual.json — manual trigger that consumes a form
  • assets/helpers/assets/json-form-example-static-enum.json — real export, static-enum (Cisco IOS Port Turn Up)
  • assets/helpers/assets/json-form-example-rest-bound.json — real export, REST-bound (Cisco IOS Compliance)