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I am trying to define a pure JSON string as an argument in a Javascript function.

Below is the way I want to define it:

<a href="#" onclick="js_func('arg_1', 'arg_2', '{"key": "value"}'); return false">Link</a>

Firebug gives me an error alert: unterminated string literal, even when I escape the double-quotes on the JSON string.

How can I solve this?

Thanks.

share|improve this question
 
whats with the return false. can you put more than one command into an event like that? and no semicolon? im not 100% here so sorry if this is acceptable –  jon_darkstar Jan 9 '11 at 7:14
 
@jon, see [HTML: What's the effect of adding 'return false' to an onclick event ? ](stackoverflow.com/questions/128923/…). –  Matthew Flaschen Jan 9 '11 at 7:16
 
@Matt - come on sending me that link is kind of condescending. I know returning fales stops the behavior that would otherwise occur. what is the point here? Why not skip the hyperlink reference at all? –  jon_darkstar Jan 9 '11 at 7:24
 
is it not allowed to have an anchor with no href attribute? is that the point? –  jon_darkstar Jan 9 '11 at 7:26
 
@jon, if it seemed condescending, I'm sorry. It wasn't meant to be. You can have an empty href, or you can use "#". Without return false (or equivalent), the first will cause a reload, and the second will cause a jump to the top of the page. –  Matthew Flaschen Jan 9 '11 at 7:33
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3 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Use &quot; for your double quotes, then in js_func(), replace them with actual double quote characters (") before evaluating your JSON string. (thanks for the demo Matthew, I updated your fiddle with the example from the question:)

http://jsfiddle.net/brillyfresh/kdwRy/1/

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3  
The unescaping is already done by the browser - demo. –  Matthew Flaschen Jan 9 '11 at 7:21
1  
brillyfresh essentially has the answer to the question here, with the correction from Matthew (that no unescape is necessary on the JS end). The reason Chuck is getting the error is because the browser sees the " before key and thinks it's the end of the onclick attribute's value. –  Ken Franqueiro Jan 9 '11 at 8:20
 
Thanks brillyfresh, this worked for me. Thanks for Matthew as well. Much appreciated. –  Obinwanne Hill Jan 9 '11 at 11:14
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up vote 1 down vote

simply defining the link as <a href="#" onclick="js_func('arg_1', 'arg_2', {key: 'value1'}); return false;">Link</a> works fine. JSON is valid JavaScript, you don't need to enclose it in ''s.
I also suggest to use an EventListener (element.addEventListener()), this makes the html cleaner and would reduce this problem to nothing.

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Well, his code was attempting to pass a JSON string. You're passing a JavaScript object generated from a object literal. There's a difference. Usually, you would want the literal here, but not necessarily. You're right that using addEventListener could greatly simplify things. –  Matthew Flaschen Jan 9 '11 at 7:35
 
i thought he may had the believe that every argument given in onclick has to be "stringified" - thats certainly not the case and hence my answer. –  Samuel Herzog Jan 9 '11 at 7:58
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up vote -1 down vote

ryou are either trying to pass the parsed object or pass a string

Object: onclick="js_func(arg_1, arg_2, {'key': 'value'});"

String: on_click="js_func('arg_1', 'arg_2', '{\"key\": \"value\"}'); return false"

All I've got handy to test is firebug interpreter but both worked fine for me.

>>>>'{\"key\": \"value\"}'
"{"key": "value"}"
>>>> {'key': 'value'}
Object {key="value"}

(I don't mean to presume whether arg_1 and arg_2 are strings or variable names, and it doesnt matter. just did the same thing as with the JSON)

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return false prevents the event from propagating, thus preventing the browser from handling the click as it normally would. –  Emmett Jan 9 '11 at 7:24
 
what is 'normally would' in this case? it does it on every click. when does the link actually get followed? –  jon_darkstar Jan 9 '11 at 7:24
 
The normal behavior is to follow the link ("#" in this case). –  Emmett Jan 9 '11 at 7:27
 
but EVERY click returns false. in what case does that actually happen? –  jon_darkstar Jan 9 '11 at 7:28
 
@jon, the link never gets followed. It's essentially pretending to be a link, while really only triggering JavaScript. –  Matthew Flaschen Jan 9 '11 at 7:34
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