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up vote 3 down vote favorite

I'm querying a remote server and receiving a json reponse. The format of the reponse depends on the number of objects in the response. If there is a single object it looks similar to:

"results": {
  "meeting": {
    "location": "Location A",
    "time": "1378033200"
  }
}

But if there is more then one object in the response, I get an array of objects instead:

"results": {
  "meeting": [
    {
      "location": "Location A",
      "time": "1378033200"
    },
    {
      "location": "Location B",
      "time": "1379250000"
    }
  ]
}

The complete response from the server includes a "count" variable, so I can distinguish between the two situations. In my Javascript at the moment I first check the count, and if there is exactly one object, I read out the location and time information similar to:

var location = results.meeting.location;
var time = results.meeting.time;

If there is anything other than exactly one object, I do

for(var i=0; i<count; i++) {
  var location = results.meeting[i].location;
  var time = results.meeting[i].time;
}

This works, but I'm wondering if there is a more elegant way of handling the two situations?

share|improve this question
1  
Can you alter the JSON response? That would be the most elegant way. –  Adrian Wragg Jul 16 '13 at 11:49
3  
Yep, your parsing code is fine. I would change the JSON to always be an array. –  Yotam Omer Jul 16 '13 at 11:50
2  
I agree with @YotamOmer. meeting should always be an array, even if you only have one or even zero items in it. This will save you a lot of trouble, because you don't have to distinguish betweet two possiblities. It's also the more consistent way to do it. –  basilikum Jul 16 '13 at 11:53
    
Thanks for your inputs - I agree, but unfortunately I cannot change the response. –  Tom Jul 16 '13 at 13:31

3 Answers 3

up vote 5 down vote accepted

Always you can loop it as an array,

if(!(results.meeting instanceof Array)){
   results.meeting = [results.meeting];
}

So you will get always an array , if one an array with one data

So and after always

var count = results.meeting.length;
for(var i=0; i<count; i++) {
  var location = results.meeting[i].location;
  var time = results.meeting[i].time;
}
share|improve this answer
    
Works nicely, thanks! –  Tom Jul 16 '13 at 13:32
up vote 0 down vote

The best way to handle this situation is to change your JSON response so that meeting is always an array, even if it only has one entry. If you aren't able to update the way the JSON is being created, a simple way is to test using instanceof:

if(results.meeting instanceof Array) {
    //array
} else {
   //object
}
share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

You could do:

var meetings = result.count ? result.meeting : [result.meeting];

But the better overall design certainly is to always return an array in the first place.

share|improve this answer

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