xml list to json array apigee x

[rgsoftware]

I am using apigee x, I have an XML request I want to convert.

I am using extract variables to get the userid and ordernumbers, I am then attempting to reformat the request to JSON to call my new backend server with its new format.

<orderrequest>
    <userid>1238123abc</userid>
    <ordernumbers>
        <ordernumber>1234568690</ordernumber>
        <ordernumber>1234568690</ordernumber>
    </ordernumbers>
</orderrequest>

I am extracting the order numbers as {orderrequest.ordernumbers} using an xpath selector

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<ExtractVariables continueOnError="false" enabled="true" name="EV-XML-REQUEST">
    <DisplayName>EV-XML-REQUEST</DisplayName>
    <Source clearPayload="false">request</Source>
    <VariablePrefix>orderrequest</VariablePrefix>
    <XMLPayload stopPayloadProcessing="false">
        <Namespaces/>
        <Variable name="ordernumbers" type="string">
            <XPath>/orderrequest/ordernumbers</XPath>
        </Variable>
    </XMLPayload>
</ExtractVariables>

I am then trying to output this as json with a assign message set override

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<AssignMessage continueOnError="false" enabled="true" name="Assign-Message-1">
    <DisplayName>Assign Message-1</DisplayName>
    <Set>
        <Payload>
            { "orders": "{orderrequest.ordernumbers}" }
        </Payload>
        <Headers>
            <Header name="content-type">
            application/json    
            </Header>
            <Header name="accept">
            application/json  
            </Header>
        </Headers>
    </Set>
    <IgnoreUnresolvedVariables>true</IgnoreUnresolvedVariables>
    <AssignTo createNew="true" transport="http" type="request"/>
</AssignMessage>

however the {orderrequest.ordernumbers} is not what I expect at all and returns the following string:

{
    "orders": "
        1234568690
        1234568690
    " }

how I do make this as intended an array of strings? e.g

{
	"orders": [
		"1234568690",
		"1234568690"
	]
}

[dchiesa1 · Accepted solution]

You don't need to use the ExtractVariables policy. There is a better way to convert XML payloads into JSON, in Apigee: Use the XMLToJSON policy.

For example, with this input payload

<orderrequest>
    <userid>1238123abc</userid>
    <ordernumbers>
        <ordernumber>1234568690</ordernumber>
        <ordernumber>2345686901</ordernumber>
    </ordernumbers>
</orderrequest>

...this policy configuration

<XMLToJSON name='X2J-1'>
  <Source>message</Source>
  <OutputVariable>message.content</OutputVariable>
  <Options>
    <TreatAsArray>
      <!-- unwrap='true' means omit the inner element -->
      <Path unwrap='true'>orderrequest/ordernumbers/ordernumber</Path>
    </TreatAsArray>
  </Options>
</XMLToJSON>

results in converting the message to json, of this form: 

{
  "orderrequest": {
    "userid": "1238123abc",
    "ordernumbers": [
      "1234568690",
      "2345686901"
    ]
  }
}

...which is I think what you want. If you want to omit the orderrequest.userid ... and just get the ordernumbers array in json  , you will need to use JavaScript or ... jsonPath within an AssignMessage.