How to read both single object & array of objects in json using javascript/jquery.

Question

Hi, I wrote the json reader to read the data & works fine with the below data.

{"menu": {
  "id": "file",
  "value": "File",
  "popup": {
    "menuitem": [
      {"value": "New", "onclick": "CreateNewDoc()"},
      {"value": "Open", "onclick": "OpenDoc()"},
      {"value": "Close", "onclick": "CloseDoc()"}
    ]
  }
}}

but the when json returns the single menuitem from api like

{"menu": {
  "id": "file",
  "value": "File",
  "popup": {
    "menuitem": 
      {"value": "Close", "onclick": "CloseDoc()"}

  }
}}

menuitem is an object instead of an array. So, my json reader is failing to read as i'm readin the array of menuitem by looping.

solution is greatly appreciated. How this is handled by other major sites?

Answer 1

http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.parseJSON/

Answer 2

jQuery's makeArray is perfect for this.
http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.makeArray/

It'll take anything and return a array, so if it's already an array it passes it as-is, but if it's a scalar it makes a single-valued array out of it. Then you can iterate the result.