The DHIS2 formats

The pack contributes three JSON Schema formats. In JSON Schema format is an annotation that asserts nothing on its own; dirigent's engine always hands its validator a checker, so a format written in a schema this instance holds is enforced. Every format an installed pack contributes joins the engine's own in that checker.

Format	A string that is	Examples
dhis2-uid	a DHIS2 UID: one letter, then ten alphanumerics	ImspTQPwCqd, BfMAe6Itzgt
dhis2-period	a DHIS2 ISO period of any period type	2026, 202601, 2026Q1, 2026S1, 2026BiW4
dhis2-code	a DHIS2 code: one to fifty characters, not padded, on one line	DE_359596, OU_222702, ANC 1st visit

A format only ever narrows a string: a value of the wrong type is caught by type, and the checker speaks only once the value is already a string. So a field written {"type": ["string", "null"], "format": "dhis2-uid"} admits null and holds every string to the format, the way the draft's own formats behave.

dhis2-uid

Eleven characters: [A-Za-z][A-Za-z0-9]{10}, matched whole. ImspTQPwCqd passes; a ten-character string, a leading digit, and a UID with a hyphen in it are all refused.

dhis2-period

Every DHIS2 ISO period type, matched whole:

Type	Shape	Example
Yearly	YYYY	2026
Financial year	YYYYFeb, YYYYApril, YYYYJuly, YYYYAug, YYYYSep, YYYYOct, YYYYNov	2026April
Six-monthly	YYYYSn, YYYYAprilSn, YYYYNovSn	2026S1, 2026AprilS2
Quarterly	YYYYQn, YYYYNovQn	2026Q1, 2026NovQ2
Bi-monthly	YYYYMMB, months 01 to 06	202603B
Monthly	YYYYMM	202601
Bi-weekly	YYYYBiWn, 1 to 27	2026BiW4
Weekly	YYYYWn, YYYYWedWn, YYYYThuWn, YYYYSatWn, YYYYSunWn	2026W3, 2026WedW03
Daily	YYYYMMDD	20260115

Week and bi-week numbers are zero-padded or not. The month, day, quarter, half and week numbers are bounded, so 202613, 2026Q5, 2026S3 and 2026BiW28 are refused.

dhis2-code

The code property every identifiable object in DHIS2 carries, and the key idScheme=CODE addresses it by. DHIS2 caps a code at fifty characters and puts no character class on it, so neither does this format: one to fifty characters, with no whitespace at either end and no line break, matched whole. DE_359596, OU-222702 and ANC 1st visit all pass; an empty string, a padded DE_359596, and a fifty-one-character string are refused.

An instance that keeps its codes to a house convention, say upper-case letters, digits and underscores, writes that as a pattern beside the format. The format holds what DHIS2 itself holds; the convention is the schema author's.

Using one in a schema

Write the format beside the type, the way any other format is written:

{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
  "$id": "dhis2-data-value-set",
  "title": "DHIS2 data value set",
  "type": "object",
  "required": ["dataValues"],
  "properties": {
    "dataSet": { "type": "string", "format": "dhis2-uid" },
    "period": { "type": "string", "format": "dhis2-period" },
    "orgUnit": { "type": "string", "format": "dhis2-uid" },
    "dataValues": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "type": "object",
        "required": ["dataElement", "value"],
        "properties": {
          "dataElement": { "type": "string", "format": "dhis2-uid" },
          "period": { "type": "string", "format": "dhis2-period" },
          "value": { "type": "string" }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

That schema is examples/schemas/dhis2-data-value-set.json. Apply it on its own, then gate a step on it by code:

dg schema create examples/schemas/dhis2-data-value-set.json

steps:
  check:
    block: validate.schema
    config:
      schema: dhis2-data-value-set
      input: ${steps.export.output.body}

A schema is also what a pipeline's parameters are declared with, so a parameter written format: dhis2-uid refuses a bad org unit when the run is submitted rather than when the call is made.

Portability

A format no installed pack contributes stays a passing annotation: the value is valid, just unchecked. So the same schema asserts on an instance that has this pack and passes on one that does not, and a schema written against DHIS2 is not a schema only a DHIS2 instance can hold.