Flow designer action step Build JSON turns integer into a string

[Michael Culhan1]

I want to send an integer in JSON but payload builder turns it into a string.  In the action input it is specified as an integer.

[Maik Skoddow]

Hi @Michael C 

this is absolutely correct as for transferring over the internet the JSON has to be converted into a pure String representation. The consumer on the other side has to parse that JSON payload and cast to the target type accordingly.

Kind regards
Maik

[Michael Culhan1]

Thanks, Maik.  I think what I am trying to do can be accomplished in a script:

var myObj = {Description: "this is a test", Enabled: 1};
JSON.stringify(myObj)

which produces

"{"Description":"this is a test","Enabled":1}"

Is it possible to do this same thing in Payload Builder?  PB seems to turn the 1 into a "1". 

Thanks for your help and once again, my apologies for the confusion on the other question.

[Maik Skoddow · Accepted solution]

Hi @Michael C 

unfortunately you have to take the Payload Builder as it is and in most of the cases it doesn't matter as JavaScript is not a type-safe language like Java or C++. That means under the hood, the data in variables is permanently converted to other data types.

But I would like to know what concerns do you have with it? Does the consumer have any issues with the stringified version of the number?

Kind regards
Maik

[Michael Culhan1]

Hi Maik,

The consumer is expecting an integer value.  I checked with support and this is indeed a limitation of Payload Builder -- it stringifies all values.  Building a payload with other data types requires scripting.  Thanks a lot!