Context to JSON Array

Audience: Citizen Developer

Skill Prerequisites: Tokens

The Context to JSON Array action allows you to export all—or a filtered subset—of the current context (tokens available at execution time) into a Name/Value array in JSON format. This is especially useful for debugging, logging, or sending structured data to APIs.

Typical Use Cases

• Debugging and inspecting which values are currently available in context ("Show me all my current tokens and their values").
• Preparing a payload for JSON-based APIs that expects arrays of Name/Value pairs.
• Auditing or logging the entire state of a workflow at a particular moment.
• Revealing "hidden" tokens you might not know are present to uncover context issues.

Related Actions

Action Name	Description
Context to JSON Object	Outputs context as a flat JSON object instead of an array.

Input Parameter Reference

Parameter	Description	Supports Tokens	Default	Required
Store Result	Token name to store the resulting array.	Yes		Yes
Include Prefixes	Enter a list of prefixes (one per line). Only tokens with names starting with these prefixes will be included. Leave empty for all.	Yes	(empty)	No
Exclude Prefixes	Enter a list of prefixes (one per line). Tokens with names starting with these prefixes will be excluded. (eg. _, $, QueryString)	Yes	_ $ QueryString	No

Tip: Both Include and Exclude Prefixes support tokens and multiline values. Exclusion occurs after inclusion filtering.

Output Parameters Reference

Parameter	Description
Store Result	The specified token name will contain the JSON array output.

The output will be an array of objects like:

[
  {"Name": "FirstName", "Value": "John"},
  {"Name": "LastName", "Value": "Doe"},
  ...
]

Security

While primarily a debugging tool, exporting context may expose sensitive tokens. Avoid dumping context in production UIs or logs that end-users can access. Carefully use exclusion prefixes to avoid exposing session-specific, personally identifiable, or privileged tokens.

How It Works

Upon execution, the action examines the form/workflow's context—all tokens and their current values. It applies inclusion/exclusion filters based on provided prefixes, then outputs an array of objects, each representing a token (its name and current value), serialized as JSON. This array is then stored in a token of your choosing.

Examples

1. Debug: Display All Tokens as JSON Array

Display all tokens from the current context after a button click on a form.

• Steps:
  1. Add the Context to JSON Array action to your button.
  2. Store the result in a token, eg: AllTokens.
  3. Add a Display Message action using [AllTokens] to show the raw JSON.

{
  "Title": "Context to JSON Array",
  "ActionType": "ContextToJSONArray",
  "Parameters": {
    "StoreResultName": "AllTokens"
  }
}

The resulting message will show all names and their values as a JSON array.

---

2. Filter: Only Include Specific Fields, Exclude Internal Tokens

Suppose you only care about tokens that start with customer and want to omit tokens used internally.

{
  "Title": "Context to JSON Array",
  "ActionType": "ContextToJSONArray",
  "Parameters": {
    "StoreResultName": "CustomerTokensArray",
    "IncludePrefixes": "customer",
    "ExcludePrefixes": "_\n$"
  }
}

This will return only tokens like customerName, customerEmail, etc., ignoring internal/system tokens.

---

3. Inspect All Available Tokens for Debugging

To see everything in context—even tokens you might not know about—temporarily remove all values from Exclude Prefixes.

{
  "StoreResultName": "AllTokensUnfiltered",
  "ExcludePrefixes": "" // or omit parameter
}

You may find fields like _TimezoneOffset or QueryString variables become visible, revealing internal context structure.

---

Practical Debugging Example

Suppose you add a dropdown field called SendToDepartment to a form. Using this action will show you not only SendToDepartment, but also SendToDepartmentText, SendToDepartmentValue, and SendToDepartmentPath—extra tokens generated by Action Form—but not always obvious or documented.

This helps you:

• Understand what data is available for logic, calculations, or external API calls.
• Quickly discover discrepancies between the tokens you expect and what is actually present.

Comparison: Context to JSON Array vs Context to JSON Object

• JSON Array: Recommended if you want to loop through Name/Value pairs (useful when sending lists or for direct human inspection).
• JSON Object: Simpler for direct field lookups or when sending structured payloads to APIs expecting flat objects.

Choose the one most compatible with your target usage.

Troubleshooting and Tips

• Paste the JSON into an online tool (e.g., https://codebeautify.org/jsonviewer) to view it more clearly.
• Use Include Prefixes and Exclude Prefixes together for fine-grained filtering.
• Standard exclusions (_, $, QueryString) omit internal Action Form tokens and browser-supplied query strings.

---

Audience: Citizen Developer

Skill Prerequisites: Tokens

The Context to JSON Array action allows you to export all—or a filtered subset—of the current context (tokens available at execution time) into a Name/Value array in JSON format. This is especially useful for debugging, logging, or sending structured data to APIs.

Typical Use Cases

• Debugging and inspecting which values are currently available in context ("Show me all my current tokens and their values").
• Preparing a payload for JSON-based APIs that expects arrays of Name/Value pairs.
• Auditing or logging the entire state of a workflow at a particular moment.
• Revealing "hidden" tokens you might not know are present to uncover context issues.

Related Actions

Action Name	Description
Context to JSON Object	Outputs context as a flat JSON object instead of an array.

Input Parameter Reference

Parameter	Description	Supports Tokens	Default	Required
Include Prefixes	Enter a list of prefixes (one per line). Only tokens with names starting with these prefixes will be included. Leave empty for all.	Yes	(empty)	No
Exclude Prefixes	Enter a list of prefixes (one per line). Tokens with names starting with these prefixes will be excluded. (eg. _, $, QueryString)	Yes	_ $ QueryString	No

Tip: Both Include and Exclude Prefixes support tokens and multiline values. Exclusion occurs after inclusion filtering.

Output Parameters Reference

Parameter	Description
Store Result	The specified token name will contain the JSON array output.

The output will be an array of objects like:

[
  {"Name": "FirstName", "Value": "John"},
  {"Name": "LastName", "Value": "Doe"},
  ...
]

Security

While primarily a debugging tool, exporting context may expose sensitive tokens. Avoid dumping context in production UIs or logs that end-users can access. Carefully use exclusion prefixes to avoid exposing session-specific, personally identifiable, or privileged tokens.

How It Works

Upon execution, the action examines the form/workflow's context—all tokens and their current values. It applies inclusion/exclusion filters based on provided prefixes, then outputs an array of objects, each representing a token (its name and current value), serialized as JSON. This array is then stored in a token of your choosing.

Examples

The following examples can be imported anywhere action Import is available.

1. Debug: Display All Tokens as JSON Array

Display all tokens from the current context after a button click on a form.

• Steps:
  1. Add the Context to JSON Array action to your button.
  2. Store the result in a token, eg: AllTokens.
  3. Add a Display Message action using [AllTokens] to show the raw JSON.

{
  "Title": "Context to JSON Array",
  "ActionType": "ContextToJSONArray",
  "Parameters": {
    "StoreResultName": "AllTokens"
  }
}

The resulting message will show all names and their values as a JSON array.

2. Filter: Only Include Specific Fields, Exclude Internal Tokens

Suppose you only care about tokens that start with customer and want to omit tokens used internally.

{
  "Title": "Context to JSON Array",
  "ActionType": "ContextToJSONArray",
  "Parameters": {
    "StoreResultName": "CustomerTokensArray",
    "IncludePrefixes": "customer",
    "ExcludePrefixes": "_\n$"
  }
}

This will return only tokens like customerName, customerEmail, etc., ignoring internal/system tokens.

3. Inspect All Available Tokens for Debugging

To see everything in context—even tokens you might not know about—temporarily remove all values from Exclude Prefixes.

{
  "StoreResultName": "AllTokensUnfiltered",
  "ExcludePrefixes": "" // or omit parameter
}

You may find fields like _TimezoneOffset or QueryString variables become visible, revealing internal context structure.

Practical Debugging Example

Suppose you add a dropdown field called SendToDepartment to a form. Using this action will show you not only SendToDepartment, but also SendToDepartment:Text, SendToDepartment:Value, and SendToDepartment:Path—extra tokens generated by Action Form—but not always obvious or visible.

This helps you:

• Understand what data is available for logic, calculations, or external API calls.
• Quickly discover discrepancies between the tokens you expect and what is actually present.

Comparison: Context to JSON Array vs Context to JSON Object

• JSON Array: Recommended if you want to loop through Name/Value pairs (useful when sending lists or for direct human inspection).
• JSON Object: Simpler for direct field lookups or when sending structured payloads to APIs expecting flat objects.

Choose the one most compatible with your target usage.

Troubleshooting and Tips

• Paste the JSON into an online tool (e.g., https://codebeautify.org/jsonviewer) to view it more clearly.
• Use Include Prefixes and Exclude Prefixes together for fine-grained filtering.
• Standard exclusions (_, $, QueryString) omit internal Action Form tokens and browser-supplied query strings.

For questions or advanced uses, contact Plant an App Support.