Export "Variables" as json about docassemble HOT 4 CLOSED

I added a function variables_as_json() that causes an HTTP response to be returned that contains the interview variables in JSON format. This is not a perfect representation of the interview variables because the interview variables can contain objects that are not JSON serializable, like Python sets, datetime.datetime objects, and docassemble objects. The variables_as_json() function does the best it can, which should be good enough for most simple API applications.

It is probably better to be selective about which variables to make available through an API, though. The documentation for response() contains an example that uses json.dumps() to return a JSON representation of particular variables.

I have not created a general-purpose "answer file" system because there are so many things that could go wrong if users could upload arbitrary data into an interview. There are better solutions to the problem of sharing variables between interviews.

For example, if you have a suite of family law interviews, you can package them as a single interview with up-front questions that determine which interview to run. The include feature facilitates the incorporation of sub-interviews.

Another way to transfer variables from one interview to another is through the interview_url() and url_args features. Interview 1 can contain a question with a hyperlink to Interview 2 (using the i parameter to interview_url()), where relevant variables are passed as URL parameters to Interview 2. Then both interviews will share the same session key.

Another way for interviews to interact with one another is through the use of write_record() and read_record(). Authors can create keys based on the user's e-mail, which can be retrieved with user_info(). Each interview, when it starts, could use read_record() to query whether any global information already exists. The advantage of this method is that the data are Python-serialized rather than JSON-serialized, so Python objects can be shared.

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I also added a function all_variables() that returns the variables as a Python dictionary in a format suitable for JSON serializing.

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Thanks I will try these

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I believe this issue has been addressed, so I am closing it.

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