open Reified
open Reified.Refinements
open Reified.Result
open Reified.Schema.Json

Using Data with the rest of Reified

Reified.Data stands alone, but it is also the input half of Reified's schema story: every schema parse takes a Data value, and every source that can become Data can therefore feed a schema.

Feeding a schema

open Reified
open Reified.DataDSL

let input =
    data [
        "email" => "ada@example.com"
        "age" => 42
    ]

let parsed = Schema.parse signupSchema input

One schema serves every source: Data.ofJsonDocument for a request body, Data.ofNameValues for a form post, Data.ofCliArgs for a command line, Data.ofConfiguration for settings. The schema never learns which one it was.

What each adapter hands over is not identical, though, because the sources are not. JSON carries typed Booleans and numbers, while form, CLI, and configuration leaves are all text that the schema still has to parse. Repeated names build a list in ofNameValues but overwrite in ofConfiguration, where lists come from indexed key segments instead. CLI flags arrive as the text "true" or "false". So the same schema will accept input from any of them, but two sources have to agree on the resulting tree, not just on the logical content — see the adapter rules for what each one produces.

This is also why the builder syntax matters in tests: a fixture written with data [ ... ] exercises the identical parse path as production JSON, with no serializer in the loop.

Redisplay and error reporting

Schema.parseRetainingInput keeps the original Data alongside the parse result, so a failed form round-trip can re-show exactly what the user typed next to each field error. The paths in schema diagnostics (address.city, lines[2].quantity) address back into the input tree — Data.redisplayPath (string form) or Data.redisplayAt (DataPath form) recovers the raw fragment at any of them.

See redisplay and field errors for the full pattern.

Boundary adapters

An adapter builds Data from a source such as route values, query strings, headers, or a JSON body before any schema is involved. Supporting another source means producing Data; every schema and interpreter downstream stays unchanged.