Array is not array

Question

I am running

var n = [];
jQuery.toJSON( n );

On one page I get "[]" on the other ""[]"". On both pages I run the same jQuery version with a toJson Plugin.

In Firefox DOM I can see both arrays have the same function names, but ... different:

all     b(B, A)
any     j(B, A)

all     all(iterator, context)
any     any(iterator, context)

I guess there are some Array.prototype functions before my script. That causing the arrays to be different. I can't change the other code I have to somehow deal with this.

I tried new Array() and jQuery.makeArray(n), still same result. I actually don't care that the arrays are not equal but how do I get the same JSON code for this? It's getting worse if I have strings in the array: ""[\"a\", \"b\"]""

can you try console.dir(n) and see if there is any difference bt the two? — ustun
– ustun, Commented Feb 17, 2012 at 9:42
@ustun yes, I showed the difference in the second box. Same functions names but different implementions. — PiTheNumber
– PiTheNumber, Commented Feb 17, 2012 at 9:55

Willem Mulder · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-22 14:05:08Z

1

The extra quotes are caused by the

Array.prototype.toJSON

function that is defined by the Prototype library and possibly other libraries as well. This function is called by jQuery.toJSON (or JSON.Stringify() for that matter) and produces the extra quotes. If you would use

delete Array.prototype.toJSON // remove toJSON for all Arrays
//or
delete n.toJSON // remove toJSON for specific Array

before you do the jQuery.toJSON, that should work!

As another suggestion, it is better to use

JSON.stringify(object)

instead of jQuery.toJSON. It is supported natively in most browsers. If you want to be sure it works everywhere, use https://github.com/douglascrockford/JSON-js, it is the basis used for the JSON.stringify() function.

For JSON.stringify(), see https://developer.mozilla.org/En/Using_native_JSON for more info.

edited Feb 22, 2012 at 14:05

answered Feb 17, 2012 at 9:35

Willem Mulder

14.1k4 gold badges41 silver badges64 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

10 Comments

PiTheNumber Over a year ago

I did, same problem. Thanks for the idea!

Willem Mulder Over a year ago

In what browser + situation do you get the extra quotes?

Willem Mulder Over a year ago

Hmm, JSON is meant for objects, not for arrays (although they are technically also objects). If you want to JSON-ify arrays, you should first create an object from that array, thén stringify... Could you try that?

PiTheNumber Over a year ago

JSON.stringify( {a: ["test"]} ); => "{"a":"[\"test\"]"}". The object is ok but the array is still wrong.

PiTheNumber Over a year ago

Thanks, I found a even better solution: n.toJSON = null works the same way but does not affect's other arrays. Maybe you can add that to your answer.

|

PiTheNumber · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-17 09:56:48Z

0

My dirty hack for this is:

function cleanJson(s)
{
    if (s[0] == '"')
    {
        s = s.substring(1, s.length-1).replace(/\\"/g,'"');
    }
    return s;
}

Does the job, but I am still looking for a cleaner solution.

answered Feb 17, 2012 at 9:56

PiTheNumber

23.7k17 gold badges114 silver badges191 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Array is not array

2 Answers 2

10 Comments

Comments

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

10 Comments

Comments

Related