Serialize complex form to JSON object using jQuery.

Question

I've been searching for hours for this and haven't found an answer. Please read through the whole question before flaming! :)

I have a form similar to this:

<form id="sample">
 <input name="name" type="text" value="name value" />

 <input name="phone[0][type]" type="text" value="cell" />
 <input name="phone[0][number]" type="text" value="000" />

 <input name="phone[1][type]" type="text" value="home" />
 <input name="phone[1][number]" type="text" value="111" />
</form>

And need to be able to serialize it to this:

{
 name: 'name value',

 phone: [
  {
   type: 'cell',
   number: '000'
  },
  {
   type: 'home',
   number: '111'
  }
 ]
}

I have tried most answers on SO including jquery-json libraries and most of them return something like this:

{
 'name': 'name value',
 'phone[0][type]': 'cell',
 'phone[0][number]': '000',
 'phone[1][type]': 'home',
 'phone[1][number]': '111',
}

This is something I cannot use! :P

Thanks everyone in advance.

Answer 1

With this structure, I don't think any JSON library can do all the work. So, I think that is more easy to write our own conversion loop.

Here is the code to your serialization: http://jsfiddle.net/7MAUv/1/

The logic is pretty simple, the secret is the eval to run Strings like dynamic commands. I tried to make it as easier as possible, almost all lines are commented.

BTW, feels free to make questions.

Answer 2

Try this code I wrote for you... Works fine for me, just using your data result. You can work on it and make a simple jQuery plugin...

The sample need JSON.stringify to work fully.

var d = {
    'name': 'name value',
    'phone[0][type]': 'cell',
    'phone[0][number]': '000',
    'phone[1][type]': 'home',
    'phone[1][number]': '111',
};

$(document).ready(function(){

    arrangeJson(d);
    alert(JSON.stringify(d));
});

function arrangeJson(data){
    var initMatch = /^([a-z0-9]+?)\[/i;
    var first = /^\[[a-z0-9]+?\]/i;
    var isNumber = /^[0-9]$/;
    var bracers = /[\[\]]/g;
    var splitter = /\]\[|\[|\]/g;

    for(var key in data) {
        if(initMatch.test(key)){
            data[key.replace(initMatch,'[$1][')] = data[key];
        }
        else{
            data[key.replace(/^(.+)$/,'[$1]')] = data[key];
        }
        delete data[key];
    }


    for (var key in data) {
        processExpression(data, key, data[key]);
        delete data[key];
    }

    function processExpression(dataNode, key, value){
        var e = key.split(splitter);
        if(e){
            var e2 =[];
            for (var i = 0; i < e.length; i++) {
                    if(e[i]!==''){e2.push(e[i]);} 
            }
            e = e2;
            if(e.length > 1){
                var x = e[0];
                var target = dataNode[x];
                if(!target){
                    if(isNumber.test(e[1])){
                        dataNode[x] = [];
                    }
                    else{
                        dataNode[x] ={}
                    }
                }
                processExpression(dataNode[x], key.replace(first,''), value);
            }
            else if(e.length == 1){
                dataNode[e[0]] = value;
            }
            else{
                alert('This should not happen...');
            }
        }
    }
}