The easiest way to instantiate a component is by referencing its defined parameters. Each instance can optionally have an @id, to make it easily referencable and possibly reusable.

Example: Simple parameter values

For example, assuming a component ex:MyModule/MyComponent1 defines the following parameters:

{
  ...
  "@id": "ex:MyModule/MyComponent1",
  "parameters": [
    {
      "@id": "ex:MyModule/MyComponent1#param1"
    },
    {
      "@id": "ex:MyModule/MyComponent1#param2",
      "unique": true
    },
    {
      "@id": "ex:MyModule/MyComponent1#param3",
      "default": "ABC",
      "unique": true
    }
  ],
  ...
}

The following instantiation (i.e. config) can be defined:

{
  ...
  "@type": "ex:MyModule/MyComponent1",
  "ex:MyModule/MyComponent1#param1": [ "A", "B" ],
  "ex:MyModule/MyComponent1#param2": "C"
}

This will lead to an instantiation of ex:MyModule/MyComponent1 with the following parameter mapping:

Parameter	Value
ex:MyModule/MyComponent#param1	[ "A", "B" ]
ex:MyModule/MyComponent#param2	"C"
ex:MyModule/MyComponent#param3	"ABC"

Example: Nested Component Instantiation

Configs can however also be nested, so that component instances can be passed as parameter values to other components.

For example:

{
  ...
  "@type": "ex:MyModule/MyComponent1",
  "ex:MyModule/MyComponent1#param1": [ "A", "B" ],
  "ex:MyModule/MyComponent1#param2": {
    "@type": "ex:MyModule/MyComponent1",
    "ex:MyModule/MyComponent1#param1": "A"
  }
}

This will lead to an instantiation of ex:MyModule/MyComponent1 that has values "A" and "B" for ex:MyModule/MyComponent#param1, but has another instance of ex:MyModule/MyComponent1 as value for ex:MyModule/MyComponent#param2. This other instance can have different parameter assignments, as it is a completely new instance.

Example: Reusable Instances

Using @id, component configurations can be uniquely identified. This allows instances to be defined once, and reused on different locations.

For example:

{
  ...
  "@id": "ex:myRootComponent",
  "@type": "ex:MyModule/MyComponent1",
  "ex:MyModule/MyComponent1#param1": {
    "@id": "ex:myComponent1",
    "@type": "ex:MyModule/MyOtherComponent",
    "ex:MyModule/MyOtherComponent1#param1": "A"
  },
  "ex:MyModule/MyComponent1#param2": {
    "@id": "ex:myComponent1"
  }
}

This will create a component instance with id ex:myRootComponent. For ex:MyModule/MyComponent#param1, it will be assigned a new instance of ex:MyModule/MyOtherComponent with id ex:myComponent1. For ex:MyModule/MyComponent#param2, instead of creating a new instantiation, it will be assigned the previously created instance ex:myComponent1.

Example Source

Example: Passing empty arrays

In some cases, you may want to pass an empty array to a non-unique parameter. Since all parameters support passing RDF lists via the @list keyword, this functionality can be used to pass a strict empty list.

For example, assuming a component ex:MyModule/MyComponent1 defines the following parameter:

{
  ...
  "@id": "ex:MyModule/MyComponent1",
  "parameters": [
    {
      "@id": "ex:MyModule/MyComponent1#param1"
    }
  ],
  ...
}

The following instantiation (i.e. config) can be defined:

{
  ...
  "@type": "ex:MyModule/MyComponent1",
  "ex:MyModule/MyComponent1#param1": {
    "@list": []
  },
}

And when using the components generator, the following instantiation (i.e. config) can be defined:

{
  ...
  "@type": "MyComponent1",
  "param1": [],
}

Both of these will lead to an instantiation of ex:MyModule/MyComponent1 with the following parameter mapping:

Parameter	Value
ex:MyModule/MyComponent#param1	[]