what is the use of $.toJSON() function. it seems that it convert the data in json format. here is the code snippet
data: $.toJSON({ name: $("input[type=text]").val() })
without using $.toJSON() function we can supply data manually in josn format like
data: { name: $("input[type=text]").val() }
it will also work i think. please discuss. thanks
First, toJSON is not a native jQuery method.
Assuming it does the same as JSON.stringify, it is not the same as assigning an object to the data option. From the documentation (emphasis mine):
Data to be sent to the server. It is converted to a query string, if not already a string. It's appended to the url for GET-requests.
So if you don't pass a string (i.e. the object), the data is converted to a query string, not JSON.
To be more precise
data: $.toJSON({ name: $("input[type=text]").val() })
would result in this URL (assuming GET (%22 is ")):
http://some_server.com/?{%22name%22:%22somevalue%22}
This would make the value difficult to access I suppose. It makes more sense using this ina POST request.
On the other hand,
data: { name: $("input[type=text]").val() }
results in
http://some_server.com/?name=somevalue
Maybe important to point out is that in your example
{ name: $("input[type=text]").val() }
is not "JSON format". It is a JavaScript object literal. JSON is a data exchange format, and although its syntax is similar to JavaScript's object literals, it is something completely different.
JSON-format and JSON-object are two different things!
The toJSON (a plugin method) does the following:
toJSON: Serializes a javascript object, number, string, or array into JSON.
data: $.toJSON({ name: $("input[type=text]").val() }) will give you JSON string
data: { name: $("input[type=text]").val() } will give you javascript object
$.getJSON function, not the $.toJSON function.