Creating schema definitions

Schemas provide developers with information about the request they should make, or the response they should expect to receive, when calling an API operation. You can create schemas in various places in your API definition.

Before you begin

Note: Schemas are compiled before they are used for validation. Because the compilation process is longer than the validation process, the compiled schema artifacts are stored in a cache. The limited capacity of the cache can cause older entries to be evicted from the cache when newer entries are added. Schemas whose artifacts have been evicted from the cache must be recompiled, which can cause significant delays in validation.

For details of the areas in your API definition from where you can create a schema, see the following topics:

About this task

Note: This task relates to configuring an OpenAPI 2.0 API definition. For details on how to configure an OpenAPI 3.0 API definition, see Editing an OpenAPI 3.0 API definition.

You can complete this task either by using the API Designer UI application, or by using the browser-based API Manager UI.

At any time, you can switch directly to the underlying OpenAPI YAML source by clicking the Source icon OpenAPI Source icon . To return to the design form, click the Form icon Form icon .

Procedure

To create a schema definition, click the add icon alongside Definitions.
The Add object wizard for a schema is displayed.
Provide the following information:
- Schema Name: This name defines a key that enables this schema to be referenced from elsewhere in the API definition; the reference has the following format:
```
#/definitions/Name
```
- Title: The schema title.
- Type: The schema data type; select one of the following:
  - array
  - boolean
  - integer
  - number
  - object
  - string
Click Create.
The schema definitions details are displayed for further editing; see Editing schema definitions.