Tell me more ×
Stack Overflow is a question and answer site for professional and enthusiast programmers. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 0 down vote favorite

I receive from the server a JSON like the following:

{"0":{"0":"image1.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"0"},"1":{"0":"image66.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"1"},"2":{"0":"image12.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"2"},"3":{"0":"image44.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"3"},"4":{"0":"image34.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"4"},"5":{"0":"image33.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"5"},"6":{"0":"image21.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"6"},"7":{"0":"image32.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"7"},"8":{"0":"image13.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"8"},"9":{"0":"image11.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"9"},"10":{"0":"image03.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"10"},"length":"12"}

The developer who coded this used JSON_FORCE_OBJECT as a parameter of the json_encode method in PHP.

In JavaScript is there any "magics" (that is, not a custom function) to convert this structure to a multidimensional array?

I would want something like:

[["image1.jpg","texthere","2"],["image66.jpg","texthere","1"]]...

Disclaimers: - I'm looking for a native implementation (not JQuery); - The PHP can be eventually changed (if needed);

Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance.

share|improve this question
1  
well, an easy way to do it is to tell the developer NOT to force it into an object and build it the right way. what's more time consuming? changing that flag, or building code that transforms it? –  Joseph the Dreamer Apr 12 '12 at 10:18
 
@Joseph, I think you'll find that writing a few lines of code is much faster than having to deal with an incompetent developer. –  Andrew Dunn Apr 12 '12 at 10:52
 
Ok, and, aside from "manually" adding (in PHP) a length key that contains the number of keys, is there any other way to count how many arrays are stored in the JSON? –  Battery Apr 12 '12 at 10:53
add comment

3 Answers

up vote 0 down vote accepted

The easiest way I can think of to do what you want is to use regular expressions to convert the JSON from object literals to array literals.

Unfortunately, Simon Cowell is more magical than this approach.

//I don't know why you don't want a custom function.
function dataToArray(data)
{
    data = data.replace(/"[0-9]+":/g,"");          //Remove all index keys
    data = data.replace(/,"length":"[0-9]+"/g,""); //Remove length key-value pair
    data = data.replace(/{/g,"[");                 //Change the left brackets
    data = data.replace(/}/g,"]");                 //Change the right brackets

    return JSON.parse(data);
}
share|improve this answer
 
Andrew, first of all, thanks for the "incompetent" :-) Second thing: I thought there was something less CPU intensive, given I'm using a JS framework in a mobile context (this means less memory resources). Third think: I thought there was a way to count the elements inside a JSON. Anyway, one asks things because he wants to learn more, not to make you loose time. –  Battery Apr 12 '12 at 10:58
 
I wasn't calling you incompetent!!! D: Simply the person who programmed the server side code! Unless you refer to yourself in the third person. And I think you'll find the CPU and RAM capabilities of phones which can actually execute javascript would be more than enough to compute regular expressions, which are actually very efficient and simple computation-wise, with. If anything it's parsing JSON that you should worry about! –  Andrew Dunn Apr 12 '12 at 11:00
 
Oh, sorry :-) I thought it was referred to me. The problem is that "the incompetent" produced an enormous JSON and I'm trying to reduce damages by eliminating the inner keys. Thanks for your reply and sorry again. –  Battery Apr 12 '12 at 11:36
add comment
up vote 0 down vote

Not magic, but you can loop over the data and test what type of value it has.

A basic example would be as follows. It doesn't have the error checking I'd want in production code though.

var data = {"0":{"0":"image1.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"0"},"1":{"0":"image66.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"1"},"2":{"0":"image12.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"2"},"3":{"0":"image44.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"3"},"4":{"0":"image34.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"4"},"5":{"0":"image33.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"5"},"6":{"0":"image21.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"6"},"7":{"0":"image32.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"7"},"8":{"0":"image13.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"8"},"9":{"0":"image11.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"9"},"10":{"0":"image03.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"10"},"length":"12"};

function data_to_array(data) {
    var array = [];
    for (var key in data) {
        var value = data[key];
        if (typeof value === 'string') {
            array[key] = value;
        } else {
            array[key] = data_to_array(value);
        }
    }
    return array;
}

var array = data_to_array(data);
console.log(array);

Make sure you add hasOwnProperty checks if your object prototypes might be messed with. You should probably also add a check to make sure that only integer keys are added to the array.

share|improve this answer
add comment
up vote 0 down vote

There is no built-in functions. If you have JSON string, you can do string replacement, otherwise you have to loop as shown below.

var dataObject = {"0":{"0":"image1.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"0"},"1":{"0":"image66.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"1"},"2":{"0":"image12.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"2"},"3":{"0":"image44.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"3"},"4":{"0":"image34.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"4"},"5":{"0":"image33.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"5"},"6":{"0":"image21.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"6"},"7":{"0":"image32.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"7"},"8":{"0":"image13.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"8"},"9":{"0":"image11.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"9"},"10":{"0":"image03.jpg","1":"texthere","2":"10"},"length":"12"};

function getArray(object){
     var array = [];
     for(var key in object){
        var item = object[key];
        array[parseInt(key)] = (typeof(item) == "object")?getArray(item):item;
     }
     return array;
}

var dataArray = getArray(dataObject);
share|improve this answer
add comment

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.