Javascript toSource() method not working

Question

I'm getting a "Object doesn't support this property or method error", does anyone know why?

I do have values plugged into userId, fname, lname, oname, sam, hasAccess

function Employee(id, fname, lname, oname, sam, access) {
    this.id = id;
    this.fname = fname;
    this.lname = lname;
    this.oname = oname
    this.sam = sam;
    this.access = access;
}

var emp = new Employee(userId, fname, lname, oname, sam, hasAccess);

var jsonstuff = emp.toSource(); //Breaking here

Although this link says its possible http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/jsref_toSource_string.asp

Thanks everyone.

Answer 1

Try using a JSON serializer instead. toSource is Mozilla specific and not supported by IE.

If you are just debugging then your best bet is going to be to install Firebug and use console.dir(emp); to print the contents of an object to the console window.

Update: Just notice that on the link you posted it says, "Note: This method does not work in Internet Explorer!" And on the MDC page is says "Non-Standard".

Answer 2

You can either call toString instead, or put in a condition like this...

var jsonstuff = (emp.toSource) ? emp.toSource() : emp.toString();

EDIT:

Since this is not working for you, you might want to use JSON.stringify()

Answer 3

toSource() does not work in Internet Explorer or Safari. It is Gecko-only. See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/171407/implementing-mozillas-tosource-method-in-internet-explorer for alternatives.

Answer 4

I suggest using an existing library or plugin:

• ExtJs: http://extjs.com/deploy/dev/docs/?class=Ext.util.JSON
• jQuery: http://code.google.com/p/jquery-json/
• Dojo: http://api.dojotoolkit.org/jsdoc/1.3/dojox.json.ref.toJson