diff --git a/src/linkahead/high_level_api.py b/src/linkahead/high_level_api.py
index 45839d9b21295964175f9baebaab17d3bfc16f1e..092215295e252a80e0e5f711877acfe600cdce9a 100644
--- a/src/linkahead/high_level_api.py
+++ b/src/linkahead/high_level_api.py
@@ -686,24 +686,24 @@ class CaosDBPythonEntity(object):
visited: dict = None) -> dict:
"""Serialize necessary information into a dict.
- Parameters
- ----------
+Parameters
+----------
- without_metadata: bool, optional
- If True don't set the metadata field in order to increase
- readability. Not recommended if deserialization is needed.
+without_metadata: bool, optional
+ If True don't set the metadata field in order to increase
+ readability. Not recommended if deserialization is needed.
- plain_json: bool, optional
- If True, serialize to a plain dict without any additional information besides the property values,
- name and id. This should conform to the format as specified by the json schema generated by the
- advanced user tools. It also sets all properties as top level items of the resulting dict. This
- implies ``without_metadata = True
+plain_json: bool, optional
+ If True, serialize to a plain dict without any additional information besides the property values,
+ name and id. This should conform to the format as specified by the json schema generated by the
+ advanced user tools. It also sets all properties as top level items of the resulting dict. This
+ implies ``without_metadata = True``.
- Returns
- -------
+Returns
+-------
- out: dict
- A dict corresponding to this entity.
+out: dict
+ A dict corresponding to this entity.
``.
"""
if plain_json:
@@ -1086,3 +1086,74 @@ def query(query: str,
objects = convert_to_python_object(res, references=references,
resolve_references=resolve_references)
return objects
+
+
+def clean_json(data: Union[dict, list], no_remove_id: bool = False, no_id_name: bool = False,
+ no_remove_none: bool = False,
+ ) -> Union[dict, list]:
+ """Clean up a json object.
+
+This function does the following on each child element (each step can be switched off by given the
+corresponding ``no_<step>`` option):
+
+- Turn id-name dicts into simple name strings: ``{"id": 123, "name": "foo"} -> "foo"``. This only
+ happens if there are no other keys except for id and name.
+- Remove "id" keys from dicts.
+- Remove none-valued entries from dicts.
+
+Parameters
+----------
+data : Union[dict, list]
+ The data to be cleaned up.
+
+no_remove_id: bool = False
+ Do not remove ``id`` keys.
+
+no_id_name: bool = False
+ Do not turn id-name dicts into simple name strings.
+
+no_remove_none: bool = False
+ Do not remove ``None`` entries from dicts.
+
+Returns
+-------
+out : Union[dict, list]
+ The input object, but cleaned. This function works in place.
+
+ """
+
+ if not isinstance(data, dict) and not isinstance(data, list):
+ raise ValueError(f"Data must be a dict or list, is: {type(data)}")
+
+ # Id-name 2-dict replacement
+ def _is_id_name(element):
+ """Return True if ``element`` is an id-name dict."""
+ if not isinstance(element, dict):
+ return False
+ return set(element.keys()) == {"id", "name"}
+
+ if not no_id_name:
+ for idx, element in data.items() if isinstance(data, dict) else enumerate(data):
+ if _is_id_name(element):
+ data[idx] = element["name"]
+
+ # Remove "id" from dicts
+ if not no_remove_id:
+ for element in data.values() if isinstance(data, dict) else data:
+ if isinstance(element, dict):
+ element.pop("id", None)
+
+ # Remove None from dicts
+ if (not no_remove_none) and isinstance(data, dict):
+ to_remove = [key for key, value in data.items() if value is None]
+ for key in to_remove:
+ data.pop(key)
+
+ # Recurse for all elements
+ for element in data.values() if isinstance(data, dict) else data:
+ if isinstance(element, dict) or isinstance(element, list):
+ clean_json(element,
+ no_remove_id=no_remove_id, no_id_name=no_id_name,
+ no_remove_none=no_remove_none)
+
+ return data
diff --git a/unittests/test_high_level_api.py b/unittests/test_high_level_api.py
index e35dc678f7d0f44d1bb8fa763cf8dfc8225e3aee..fed87205a7ea7d87430d3720e5c2c32908f8ed5c 100644
--- a/unittests/test_high_level_api.py
+++ b/unittests/test_high_level_api.py
@@ -25,7 +25,9 @@
import linkahead as db
from linkahead.high_level_api import (convert_to_entity, convert_to_python_object,
- new_high_level_entity)
+ new_high_level_entity,
+ clean_json,
+ )
from linkahead.high_level_api import (CaosDBPythonUnresolvedParent,
CaosDBPythonUnresolvedReference,
CaosDBPythonRecord, CaosDBPythonFile,
@@ -681,3 +683,86 @@ def test_cyclic_references():
# This would have lead to a recursion error before adding the detection for
# cyclic references:
r = convert_to_python_object(r1)
+
+
+def test_clean_json():
+ """For the json cleaner function."""
+
+ # Sample objects
+ obj1 = db.Record()
+
+ # Basic tests with empty content
+ data = []
+ data = clean_json(data)
+ assert data == []
+
+ data = {}
+ data = clean_json(data)
+ assert data == {}
+
+ data = [{}]
+ data = clean_json(data)
+ assert data == [{}]
+
+ data = {1: []}
+ data = clean_json(data)
+ assert data == {1: []}
+
+ data = {"id": 123, "name": "foo"}
+ result = clean_json(data)
+ assert result == {"id": 123, "name": "foo"}
+
+ # Simple removal and options test
+ data = [{"id": 123, "name": "foo"}]
+ result = clean_json(data)
+ assert result == ["foo"]
+
+ data = [{"id": 123, "name": obj1}] # Strictly speaking, this is no json any more.
+ result = clean_json(data, no_id_name=True)
+ assert result == [{"name": obj1}]
+
+ data = [{"id": 123, "other_key": "value"}]
+ result = clean_json(data)
+ assert result == [{"other_key": "value"}]
+
+ data = [{"id": 123, "other_key": "value"}]
+ result = clean_json(data, no_remove_id=True)
+ assert result == [{"id": 123, "other_key": "value"}]
+
+ data = [{"key": None, "other_key": "value"}]
+ result = clean_json(data)
+ assert result == [{"other_key": "value"}]
+
+ data = [{"key": None, "other_key": "value"}]
+ result = clean_json(data, no_remove_none=True)
+ assert result == [{"key": None, "other_key": "value"}]
+
+ # Additional keys.
+ data = [{"id": 123, "name": "foo", "not-a-name": "something"}]
+ result = clean_json(data)
+ assert result == [{"name": "foo", "not-a-name": "something"}]
+
+ # Recursion
+ data = [{"id": 123, "nested": {"id": 456, "name": "bar"}}]
+ result = clean_json(data)
+ assert result == [{"nested": "bar"}]
+
+ data = [{"id": 123, "name": "foo"}, {"id": 456, "name": "bar"}]
+ result = clean_json(data)
+ assert result == ["foo", "bar"]
+
+ data = [{"id": 123, "name": "foo"}, {"id": 456, "name": "bar"}]
+ result = clean_json(data, no_id_name=True)
+ assert result == [{"name": "foo"}, {"name": "bar"}]
+
+ data = [{"id": 123, "name": "foo"}, {"id": 456, "name": "bar"},
+ {"id": 789, "name": "bar", "not-a-name": "something"}]
+ result = clean_json(data, no_remove_id=True)
+ assert result == ["foo", "bar",
+ {"id": 789, "name": "bar", "not-a-name": "something"}]
+
+ # with pytest.raises(RecursionError): # No recursion detection implemented.
+ # data = []
+ # data.append(data)
+ # sys.setrecursionlimit(300) # Default would be slow, 150 works, so take 300
+ # clean_json(data)