Extend Partial Resolution

[iwanfrancis]

I may have be missing something which is already possible, so apologies if this is case.

I'd like to be able to have a reference to a specific part of the 'parent' file become an internal reference when the 'child' file is resolved.

Minimal Example Spec

root/parent.yaml

Child: 
    $ref: './subfolder/child.yaml'
Parent:
    ...

root/subfolder/child.yaml

something:
    $ref: '../parent.yaml#/Parent

Would resolve to:
compiled.yaml

Child: 
    something: 
        $ref '#/Parent'
Parent: 
    ...

Actual Behaviour

I've tried to produce this effect with the partial resolution option, but have not been able to get it to work. Applying only RESOLVE_FILES will result in a crash, as the references isn't actually an internal reference. Running without RESOLVE_FILES will fully resolve the reference.

@jfinkhaeuser

[jfinkhaeuser]

Sorry I did not immediately respond! Github emails sometimes seem to get lost for me.

This isn't something that's currently supported, but I do like the idea. Let me have a think about it. I have a feeling it's actually going to be easy...

The problem with a lot of these requests people have is that they require context that the resolver doesn't currently have. I think though in this case everything is there to make it work.

[jfinkhaeuser]

I took a look at #77 first, because it seemed easier, and I have an approach to adding that functionality. It's eerily similar, but not the same.

The solution I proposed there would require you not to set the RESOLVE_INTERNAL flag (and use a handler of sorts) - but I wonder, would that be too wide-ranging for you? Would you want references from parent.yml to #/foo/bar to resolve, or should they also stay untouched? If the latter, then I think a similar approach to #77 would work.

[iwanfrancis]

Apologies, I've been away from my work computer for the last week and didn't see this.

I think it would be fine for internal references within a parent to remain untouched, yes

[jfinkhaeuser]

Ok, thank you - no need to apologize, I also have a ton of other things on my mind. The break was good :) I'll get back to this as soon as I can.

[jfinkhaeuser]

This will take me a while longer, mostly due to time constraints. The issue is the recursive nature of your references here. As it currently stands, the resolver for the parent file will start a resolver for the child file, which will look up in the parent file how to resolve a reference. The key point here is the parent file - not the current parent resolver.

It would need some kind of back channel to the parent resolver to achieve this kind of thing. Which, to be fair, would be a powerful feature, but it's not really something I'll have much time for in the near future.

[Glutexo]

This too, just as #77 will be resolved by the new Translating Parser. It does not support all the configuration options of the ResolvingParser, but the a viable prototype lives now in Glutexo/prance-translating-parser and I’ll create pull request to add it to the upstream.

[Glutexo]

This test should cover this issue. Please challenge if you feel there is a need for more tests.