Accessing Multidimensional Object JavaScript

Question

Ok. After about an hour of trying to think of different ways to do this, my noobness is prevailing (and this question will prove it).

I have a JSON object that looks like so:

{
    newEvent: {
        Event: {
            name: "Something",
            timestamp: {
                month: "07",
                day: "27",
                year: "2013",
                hour: "07",
                min: "42",
                meridian: "pm"
            },
            duration: "2",
            durationMeasure: "min"
        }
    },
    msg: "Event Added"
}

It gets returned in a jquery ajax complete callback function thingy, so its sitting inside a param called data.
Using Chrome, I can console.log() data,data.newEvent,data.msg,data['newEvent'],and data['msg']. The only one that returns anything other than undefined, is data (which prints what's above)

My question: How in the WORLD do I get to anything in data?! Any insight for a JavaScript noob would be greatly appreciated! =)

EDIT: A code snippet:

function eventAdditionalFinish(data,textStatus) {
    console.log("data: ",data,"\n");
    console.log("data['newEvent']: ",data['newEvent'],"\n");
    console.log("data['msg']: ",data['msg'],"\n");

    console.log("data.newEvent: ",data.newEvent,"\n");
    console.log("data.msg: ",data.msg,"\n");
}

Output from Chrome's console:

data:  {"newEvent":{"Event":{"name":"Something","timestamp":{"month":"07","day":"27","year":"2013","hour":"07","min":"42","meridian":"pm"},"duration":"2","durationMeasure":"min"}},"msg":"Event Added"}
data['newEvent']:  undefined 
data['msg']:  undefined 
data.newEvent:  undefined 
data.msg:  undefined

works fine when referenced by name thusly: jsfiddle.net/uCPFP... what's the rest of your code look like? (tested in Firefox and Chromium, at least) — Pete Scott
– Pete Scott, Commented Jul 28, 2013 at 0:03
That's no JSON, it's just a JS object, but your code should work... — elclanrs
– elclanrs, Commented Jul 28, 2013 at 0:04
@mohkhan actually thats a C&P fail. There were a few things after durationMeasure I excluded from this object. Thanks though. =) — Oberst
– Oberst, Commented Jul 28, 2013 at 0:06
How are you parsing the returned data? jQuery's intellisense, or are you declaring dataType:json — Ohgodwhy
– Ohgodwhy, Commented Jul 28, 2013 at 0:11

Basic · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-28 00:21:06Z

1

Ok,

if you use jQuery's json() function in place of ajax(), it will parse the response into a json object.

If, however, you're using the stock functions and getting the result as a string called data then you need something like this to convert it into an object...

response = JSON.parse(data);

you can then do...

response.newEvent.blah;

as you'd expect.

Note that your example isn't actually valid json. Property names should be quoted...

{
    "newEvent": {
        "Event": {
            "name": "Something",
            "timestamp": {
                "month": "07",
                ...

As someone else has pointed out, you could also tell ajax() to convert the result to an object for you (exactly as if you'd called json()) by specifying the data type...

$.ajax({
     ...
     dataType: 'json',
     success: function(data) {
         alert(data.newEvent.Event.name);   
     }
});

answered Jul 28, 2013 at 0:21

Basic

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2 Comments

Basic Over a year ago

My pleasure. Do check out json.org for the definitive json syntax. Javascript (and many other languages) often support a more lax interpretation of the standard but you might run into problems when you use a new library/language and realise it doesn't support the syntax you're using

Oberst Over a year ago

I will definitely read that a little bit later! No idea that site existed.

Antoine · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-28 00:21:40Z

1

I guess it's because you receive a string back from the server. So two options:

Specify dataType: 'json' in your ajax parameters.
Or use JSON.parse(data) before trying to access the elements

answered Jul 28, 2013 at 0:21

Antoine

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Oberst Over a year ago

Sorry. JSON.parse(data) is what I needed. But Basic beat you to the answer by 35 secs. =P Thank you though!

The D Merged · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-28 00:26:34Z

0

The following notation should work, just tested it with a similar example

$.ajax({
         url:    'yoururl',
         success: function(data) {
             alert(data.newEvent.Event.name);   
         },
         async:   false
    });

What you will get as the data variable in this case is an object with attributes. To access the attributes write: ObjectsName.attributeName

if there are attributes that are also objects containing attributes, those ones can be accessed like: ObjectsName.attributeName1.attrubteName2 (where attribute1 is also an object containing attributes)

Please correct me if im wrong here, im also new to javascript/jquery-ajax but i had the same problem yesterday:)

edited Jul 28, 2013 at 0:26

answered Jul 28, 2013 at 0:19

The D Merged

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