I have observed that in php you can encode an array and the resulting json does not carry the square brackets.However,in my javascript array,
var arrCars = new Array("Toyota", "Mercedes", "BMW");
var jsonStr = JSON.stringify(arrCars);
alert(jsonStr);
i keep getting the square brackets.I have also noticed that if i use json stringfy,
var foo = {};
foo.bar = "new property";
foo.baz = 3;
var JSONfoo = JSON.stringify(foo);
i get the json without the square just like i wanted.What must i do to my array to do away with the brackets?.
There's a difference between an array ([]) and an object ({}) in javascript. Your first example uses an array. Your second example uses an object. The main difference is that when you have an array ([]) the index can only be a zero based integer. Whereas an object can have property names that are strings.
The correct JSON for the array in your first example is ["Toyota","Mercedes","BMW"], and the correct JSON for the object in your second example is either {"bar":"new property","baz":3} or {"baz":3,"bar":"new property"}.
A JSON string contains either an object or an array, so it always has either curly brackets {} or square brackets [].
If you get anything else, the result is not correct. If you expect anything else, your expectation is wrong.
If you want the curly brackets instead of the square brackets, you have to serialise an object, not an array.
Not sure why you don't want brackets, since brackets are the normal way to make an array literal (as opposed to using the Array() function, as you do, which is way old-school)
If you want the JSON without the brackets, such as if you are building a bigger JSON string or something, you can use something like this:
function jsonifyArrayWithoutBrackets(a) {
var output = [];
for (var i=0; i<a.length; i++)
output.push(JSON.stringify(a[i]));
return output.join(',');
}
Or, obviously, just trim the brackets off after using a single call to JSON.stringify().
Related
I have this string:
[
{"id":"001",
"name":"Charlie"},
{"id":"002",
"name":"Ellie"},
]
Them, I save this string in a variable and I parse it:
function parseJSON(string){
var mylovelyJSON = JSON.stringify(string);
alert(mylovelyJSON[id]);
}
When I make my alert, I get and "undefined", I also tried with "mylovelyJSON.id", And I get the same.
Could not be a Json? I get this string from an php array.
There are many things wrong here
Your JSON is invalid
You have an extra , just before the end of the array that you need to remove
You need to parse
JSON.stringify converts a JavaScript data structure into a string of JSON.
You need to go the other way and use JSON.parse.
Square-bracket notation takes strings
mylovelyJSON[id] takes the value of id (which is undeclared so, in this case, would throw a reference error) and gets the property with the name that is the same as that value.
You need either mylovelyJSON["id"] or mylovelyJSON.id
You have an array
Your JSON consists of an array of objects, not a single object.
You need to get an object out of the array before you can access properties on it.
mylovelyJSON[0]["id"]
var json_text = '[{"id":"001","name":"Charlie"},{"id":"002","name":"Ellie"}]';
parseJSON(json_text);
function parseJSON(string){
var result_of_parsing_json = JSON.parse(string);
document.body.appendChild(
document.createTextNode(result_of_parsing_json[0]["id"])
);
}
Two things are wrong here
Your array ends with a comma, which isn't valid json
You are converting a string to javascript, and stringify does the opposite of that.
So something like this might work:
var id = 0;
function parseJSON(string){
var mylovelyJSON = JSON.parse(string);
alert(mylovelyJSON[id]);
}
Note I am assuming that id is a global variable...
I want to print all the key value pairs of a JSON object.
I don't know the keys of the object, so I am trying to get all the keys and corresponding values in a loop.
But it appears that I am missing something obvious.
My perl code
%some_data = ("key1" => "value1","key2" => "value2","key3" => "value3","key4" => "value4");
my $json = encode_json \%some_data;
print $json; # it prints {"key2":"value2","key4":"value4","key1":"value1","key3":"value3"}
my simple javascript code
var jsonObj=$json;
var keys= Object.keys(jsonObj);
for (var i = 0; i < keys.length; i++){
document.write("<br /> ");
document.write(keys[i]);
// document.write(jsonObj.[keys[i]]); # doesnt work
}
document.write(jsonObj.key1); #works
Just use for..in to loop an object:
for (var key in jsonObj) {
document.write(key);
document.write(jsonObj[key]);
}
You can't retrieve the value associated with a JavaScript object key by performing jsonObj.[keys[i]]. You should change that line to say jsonObj[keys[i]]. The dot notation will only work for a key that exists in the object. Since [keys[i]] is not actually a property of that object, you cannot use dot notation and must instead use square-bracket notation.
Your "doesn't work" line should be:
document.write(jsonObj[keys[i]]);
^--- no "."
You're combining the square-bracket notation (jsonObj[keys[i]]) and the dot notation (jsonObj.key1) when attempting to call document.write(); they're equivalent to each other so you should only be using one of them. In this case, since the key is dynamic, you should only be using the square bracket notation:
document.write(jsonObj[keys[i]]);
This seems to be a common source of confusion from what I've seen, and apparently I'm no exception. I've read a few tutorials on this, and I still can't quite get my head around it. From what I can gather, Arrays are objects in Javascript, just like Strings and other variable types. But I still don't get how that helps me declare a multidimensional array with alphanumeric keys.
In PHP I can simply write:
$calendar = array();
foreach ($schedule->currentExhibitions as $key) {
$calendar[$key["ExhibitionID"]]["startDate"] = date("Y,n,j", strtotime($exhibition["StartDate"]));
$calendar[$key["ExhibitionID"]]["endDate"] = date("Y,n,j", strtotime($exhibition["StartDate"]));
}
But in Javascript trying something similar will create errors. Should I create an Array and fill it will Objects? If so, how would I go about doing so? Or should I just use an Object entirely and skip having any sort of Array? (If so, how do I create a multidimensional Object?)
Sorry for the newbish quesion!
If your keys are strictly numerical and ordered starting at zero, then an array makes sense and you can use square bracket notation just like you would in php, although you will need to initialize sub-arrays if you want to have multiple dimensions :
var myArray = [];
myArray[0] = [];
myArray[0][0] = "something interesting";
If your keys are not numerical, ordered and starting at zero, then you should use an object (all keys are strings), which still allows the square bracket notation :
var myObject = {};
myObject["1A"] = {};
myObject["1A"]["3B"] = "something interesting";
In Javascript, an array is an object, who's keys are numerical, sequential, indexes.
As soon as you want to use alpha-numerica (aka strings) keys, you use a regular object.
In JS to do what you want, you'd do the following (using more or less your php code).
var calendar = {};
Object.keys(schedule.currentExhibitions).forEach(function(key) {
var ex = schedule.currentExhibitions[key];
calendar[ex.exhibitionId] = calendar[ex.exhibitionId] || {}; //if the key doesn't exist, create it.
calendar[ex.exhibitionId].startDate = date(); //some js date function here
calendar[ex.exhibitionId].endDate = date(); //your js date function here
});
I look at Multidimension as nesting, and at multiple levels of nestings as complex objects. For example:
var parent = [];//top holder
var child1 = {};
child1.name = "Jim";
parent.push(child1);
In this simple example, you can access child1 like this:
parent[0]["name"] //Jim
So that is, in a way, multidemensional. Instead of using ["name"] as an indexer, or child1 as an object it could also be an array, like this:
var parent = [];//top holder
var child1 = [];
child1.push("Jim");
parent.push(child1);
In this example, you could get Jim with:
parent[0][0];//Jim
So for complex examples you may have multiple levels of these nestings (or dimensions).
parent[0]["Child"].grandChild[5]["cousin"].name //etc
Where that would just be a continuation of the previous examples down the line.
If you want to preserve order or you want to access by numeric index, use an array. The value of the array can be a single value or an object or array itself (so each value in the array can contain more than a simple value).
If you want to access by a unique alphanumeric key, then use an object and assign properties to it.
Arrays have numeric indexes. They do not have alphanumeric indexes.
Objects have string keys.
Because an array is also an object, it can have both types of keys, but using a string key is not an array access, it's accessing a property of the object.
When you ask for the .length of an array, you only get the length of the numeric indexes. It does not include other properties of the object.
An array of objects is a very practical data structure in javascript and is used quite often when either order or index by numeric index is important.
If order is not important or you don't need to access by numeric index and just want to access by an alpha numeric string, then you should just use an object and set a properties on it with keys that are your alphanumeric string.
How can you use the value of a key-value pair as the key in a different key-value pair in javascript?
I'd like to do the following:
var gizmos = {gizmo1: "G1"};
var things = {gizmos.gizmo1: "T1"};
So that things essentially equals:
var things = {"G1": "T1"};
Like this:
var gizmos = {gizmo1: "G1"};
var things = {};
things[gizmos.gizmo1] = "T1";
There's no way to do it as part of the object initializer (aka object "literal"), you have to do it after.
The reason it works is that in JavaScript, you can access (get or set) a property on an object in two ways: Either using dotted notation and a literal, e.g. foo.bar, or using bracketed notation and a string, e.g. foo["bar"]. In the latter case, the string doesn't have to be a string literal, it can be the result of any expression (including, in this case, a property lookup on another object).
Side Note: If you change gizmos.gizmo1 after you do the things[gizmos.gizmo1] = "T1"; line, it does not change the name of the property on things. There's no enduring link, because the value of gizmos.gizmo1 was used to determine the property name during the things[gizmos.gizmo1] = "T1"; line (just like it is in any other expression).
var gizmos = {gizmo1: "G1"};
var things = {};
things[gizmos.gizmo1]="T1";
To get the value for a given key on an object use object["key"] or object.key
Doing so
var x = new Array();
x['length']=5;
will make x an array of 5 undefined items, but I actually want to have the value '5' stored at key 'length'.
Is that possible?
In javascript arrays do not have keys. You are looking for objects:
var x = {}
x.length = 5;
I have to parse a file containing many words and store the number of occurences of each word
Use an object, and make the words the keys. You aren't storing sequential / ordered data, so you shouldn't use an array.
var word_count = {};
for (var i; i < words.length; i++) {
var word = words[i];
if (word_count[word]) {
word_count[word]++;
} else {
word_count[word] = 1;
}
If you want to do this you'd be better off creating an object rather than an array. This should give you what you want.
var x = {};
x['length'] = 5;
You can call methods on a javascript object using two different syntaxes. The familiar 'dot' syntax with parens to invoke the method, and the square bracket syntax. You can 'call' a method on a javascript object using the syntax myObj["methodname"](args). This is handy when you want to construct the method name dynamically using strings. Remember, objects in javascript are very much like a hash table (dictionary) where keys denote property and function names. If a key's value holds a function, it can be invoked (using parentheses).
In your example, Array has a method called 'length'. You are inadvertently calling its setter (which sets the length of the array to empty values, i.e., undefined).
Putting that all aside, you really do want a hash (associative array) in this case. An array is an offset indexed data structure.
A simple object literal like myObj = {} will suffice to give you hash semantics (again, objects in javascript are already like hashes) and you can then call myObj.whatever = "some value"
You could use objects instead of arrays to store your data. But if you need to use Arrays (you might need to use their functionality), You could cripple the words and store them as array keys.
Use some kind of simple rule to follow to bypass all the possible keywords. For example prefix all your array keys with a "_" character. This way you could always restore the original words from the keys, by simply removing their first character, and you are sure you are not referencing any specific property of the Array objects (like the length property).