Support for pretty format in Saved Object import and export

[tylersmalley]

Within the kbnClient used for functional tests, we have a helper to facilitate importing and exporting saved objects. Currently, we are using a custom format to make it easier to diff these objects and the raw ndjson format makes that difficult. It would be most ideal if the saved objects export/import supported a ?pretty flag or similar. That way developers wouldn't need to use the scripts/kbn_archiver CLI to export objects.

Example object: https://github.com/elastic/kibana/blob/master/test/functional/fixtures/kbn_archiver/visualize.json

[elasticmachine]

Pinging @elastic/kibana-core (Team:Core)

[pgayvallet]

Currently, we are using a custom format to make it easier to diff these objects and the raw ndjson format makes that difficult

Given the spec of the ndjson format

1. Line Separator is '\n'
This means '\r\n' is also supported because trailing white space is ignored when parsing JSON values.

2. Each Line is a Valid JSON Value
The most common values will be objects or arrays, but any JSON value is permitted. See json.org for more information about JSON values.

and the fact that a pretty format relies on new lines to indent the json content, I'm not sure the file you linked (https://github.com/elastic/kibana/blob/master/test/functional/fixtures/kbn_archiver/visualize.json) is actually a valid ndjson file?

Can we really prettify the content of a ndjson file without violating the spec?

[tylersmalley]

@pgayvallet, is there a reason that the flag would need to produce an ndjson valid spec? The endgoal is to produce a multi-line readable format.

[pgayvallet]

is there a reason that the flag would need to produce an ndjson valid spec?

I get that this would be only for testing purposes. However, the fact that this flag would (AFAIK will have to, as FTR runs in prod mode) be enabled in production, while producing an invalid, non-reimportable file when used, from a public API, bothers me a bit, yea.

Also,

It would be most ideal if the saved objects export/import supported a ?pretty flag or similar

Is the need only for export, or would you expect to also be able to import the file using the same flag during the import?

[pgayvallet]

Not needed anymore - closing