JSON schema validation with arbitrary keys

Question

I am using validictory for validating the attached JSON data and schema. Working so far.

However the data dictionary can have arbitrary string keys (others than \'bp

Answer 1

It depends on exactly what you're trying to do.

If you want the same specification, but for a range of properties, you can abstract out the definition:

{
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
        "bp": {"$ref": "#/definitions/categoryList"},
        "foo": {"$ref": "#/definitions/categoryList"},
        "bar": {"$ref": "#/definitions/categoryList"}
    },
    "definitions": {
        "categoryList": {...}
    }
}

If you want any properties to follow that schema, you can use additionalProperties:

{
    "type": "object",
    "additionalProperties": {...}
}

Or a range of properties (matched by a pattern) - for instance, anything lower-case:

{
    "type": "object",
    "patternProperties": {
        "^[a-z]+$": {...}
    }
}

If you want to limit the number of properties that can be defined, then you can use "maxProperties" (v4 of the standard only):

{
    "type": "object",
    "additionalProperties": {...},
    "maxProperties": 1
}

P.S. - in v4 of the standard, "required" is an array. In fact, even in v3, "required" defaults to false, so your example doesn't need it at all