How do you serialize javascript objects with methods using JSON

Question

I am looking for an enhancement to JSON that will also serialize methods. I have an object that acts as a collection of objects, and would like to serialize the methods of the collection object as well. So far I've located ClassyJSON. Any thoughts?

Answer 1

Try to get away without serializing javascript code. That way lies a world of pain. Debugging will be much easier if code can only come from static files, not from a database. Instead, walk your JSON responses after you receive them and pass the appropriate data to the appropriate object constructors.

If you absolutely must serialize them, calling toString() on a function will return its source.

Answer 2

If you use WCF framework to develop RESTful web service, that is very easy to achieve. Simply create your data structure classes with your desired collection with DataContract, DataMember attributes.

[DataContract]
public class Foo
{
    [DataMember]
     public string FooName {get;set;}
    [DataMember]
     public FooItem[] FooItems {get;set;}
}


[DataContract]
public class FooItem
{
    [DataMember]
    public string Name {get;set;}
}

Answer 3

I don't think serializing methods is ever a good idea. If you intend to run the code serverside, you open yourself to attacks. If you want to run it client side, you are better off just the local methods, possibly referencing the name of the method you are going to use in the serialized objects.

I do believe though that "f = "+function() {} will yield you a to string version that you can eval: var test = "f = "+function() {alert("Hello");};

eval(test)

And for good json handling, I would recommend prototype, which has great methods for serializing objects to json.