Parse Nobel Laureates

Note

The file is quite large, so running the script takes some time. You can remove some data to improve performance.

Setup the project

1. Ensure your atlas-settings.json is set up with authentication for Volt MX Marketplace and github.com.
2. Create a folder for the project.
3. Create an atlas.json and complete mandatory elements. Set sourceDir to "src", libsDir to ""libs" and vsesDir to "vses".

4. In the repositories element, add the following repository:

   {
           "id": "hcl-github",
           "type": "github",
           "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/HCL-TECH-SOFTWARE"
       }
   

5. In the dependencies element, add the following dependency:

           {
           "library": "voltscript-testing",
           "version": "latest",
           "module": "VoltScriptTesting.vss",
           "repository": "hcl-github"
       }
   

   1. Save the atlas.json and ensure no validation errors. 1. Run dependency management (Ctrl + Chift + P / Cmd + Shift + P and choose "VoltScript: Install Dependencies"). 1. Ensure libs contains "VoltScriptJsonConverter" and vses contains the JSONVSE extensions.

Download the file

1. Access the JSON data from https://api.nobelprize.org/v1/prize.json.
2. Download the data to a file called nobel.json in the src directory.

Create the Classes

Script Setup

1. Create a VoltScript file in src directory called NobelPrizes.vss.
2. Add Option Declare and Option Public.
3. Add a USE statement to point to your VotScriptJsonConverter.vss library. If you're using this doc repository, then Use "../libs/VoltScriptJsonConverter" should work.

Prize Class

1. Create a class called "Prize".
2. Add a public String variable called "year" (Public year as String).
3. Add a public String variable called "category".
4. Add a public String variable called "overallMotivation.
5. Add a public Variant variable called "laureates".

Warning

All classes need to be public for VoltScript JSON Converter to create an instance. This is because it will run an Execute statement pointing to this script. If the class is private, the Execute statement will fail.

Laureate Class

1. Create a class called "Laureate"
2. Add a public String variable called "id".
3. Add a public String variable called "firstName".
4. Add a public String variable called "surname".
5. Add a public String variable called "motivation".
6. Add a public String variable called "share".
7. Add a getName() function that returns a String. Return Me.firstName & " " & Me.surname.

Loading the JSON file

1. Create a Sub Initialize. This will be triggered automatically by VoltScript when the script runs. Ensure the name is correct, or the code won't be triggered.
2. Add the following code:

   Dim parser as new JsonParser()
   Dim root as JsonObject
   Dim prizes as Variant
   
   Call parser.loadFromFile(CurDir() & "/src/nobel.json")
   Set root = parser.getRootObject
   prizes = root.getChild("prizes").getChildren()
   

   This loads the file and gets the "prizes" JSON object.

Warning

CurDir() returns a RUN-TIME representation of the directory from which the script is BEING RUN; not the COMPILE-TIME directory in which that the script file resides. For Visual Studio Code, this is the folder that is open.

Note

You can test the code by adding Print root.getChild("prizes").shortValue(), to verify it's loaded the file correctly. You can also use a Try...Catch...End Try block to Catch errors.

Converting the JSON

1. Add the following code:

   Dim helper as New JsonConversionHelper
   Dim converter as New JsonBasicObjectArrayConverter("Laureate", "NobelPrizes")
   Dim prizeObj as JsonObject
   Dim prize as Prize
   Dim i as Integer
   Dim prizeList List as Prize
   
   For i = 0 to UBound(prizes)
       Set prizeObj = prizes(i)
       Set prize = helper.withCustomConverter("laureates", converter)._
           toObject(prizeObj, "Prize", "NobelPrizes")._
           fromJson(prizeObj)
       Set prizeList(prize.year & "-" & prize.category) = prize
   Next
   

2. You can then check information based on properties of the VoltScript objects. For example, Print prizeList("2021-economics").laureates(0).getName() will print the name of the first Laureate for the 2021 Economics prize.

Success

The name for the first Laureate for the 2021 Economics Nobel Prize was David Card.

Challenge Yourself

For more advanced VoltScript, Try:

• Iterating and only loading prizes for 2021, exiting after 2021 is completed.
• Navigating directly to the JSON object for prizes for 2021 and only loading those prizes.
• Manually parsing the JSON using JsonLSX to get the same information.