Hi,

We want to create JSON documents that include empty objects, i.e. "myobject": {} which is allowed by the standard at the level of a JSON document.

Apparently this is not possible with the COBOL JSON GENERATE instruction: if all the child elements of a group are deleted, then the parent element is also deleted...

Sample:

Working-storage section.                           
01  jsonDoc pic U(2048).                           
01  jsonDoc-length pic S9(8) COMP-5.               
01  rootObject.                                    
    05  myObject1.                                 
        10  myData1 pic X(10).                     
    05  myObject2.                                 
        10  myData2 pic X(10).                     
Procedure division.                                
MAIN.                                              
    move 'hello' to myData1                        
    move spaces  to myData2                        
    json generate jsonDoc from rootObject          
         count in jsonDoc-length                   
         suppress myData2 when spaces              
    end-json                                       

Observed result:

{"rootObject":{"myObject1":{"myData1":"hello"}}}

Expected result:

{"rootObject":{"myObject1":{"myData1":"hello"}, "myObject2":{}}}

How to achieve this result?

We should have an option that disables the deletion of the parent object.

Thanks.