Javascript - String to multi-layered array

Question

My function gets a string from a webservice, which represents a multi layered array structure. I then assign it to a variable. Something like this:

//incoming = [ [1,2,3], ['a','b','c'], [{v:1437, f:'1437 - Point A'}, {v:1440, f:'1440 -  Point B'}, {v:1445, f:'1445 -  Point C'}], [6.7,8.2,9.2] ]  -- this is the incoming string
   arrays =  incoming;

When I try to pass this to another function, javascript always warns me that this is a string, not an array (which the function requires to split it up later to get the smaller arrays).

So far I tried this:

var globalArray = [];

$.each(arrays, function(key, object) {
    var innerArray = [];
    innerArray=object;
    globalArray.push(innerArray);
});

But then the globalArray will not contain multiple arrays, but a lot of strings which will become siblings.

[ 1,2,3,a,b,c,{v:1437, f:'1437 - Point A'}, {v:1440, f:'1440 -  Point B'}, {v:1445, f:'1445 -  Point C'},6.7,8.2,9.2 ]

How could I recreate the array structure based on the content of the string?

why not change the input at the webservice to a valid JSON string? — Nina Scholz
– Nina Scholz, Commented Jan 8, 2017 at 17:21
Can you please show me how it would look like? Whenever I used JSON, I had names before the actual values as keys, so I could decompress. In a case like this I am bit unfamiliar of it's technique, how can I decompress it to an array which has the inner arrays in it. — Macskasztorik
– Macskasztorik, Commented Jan 8, 2017 at 17:22
assuming a right formated array, a JSON string looks like '[[1,2,3],["a","b","c"],["e","f","g"],[6.7,8.2,9.2]]' for it. — Nina Scholz
– Nina Scholz, Commented Jan 8, 2017 at 17:24

Nina Scholz · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-08 17:38:18Z

1

You could use a JSON string

[[1,2,3],["a","b","c"],[{"v":1437,"f":"1437 - Point A"},{"v":1440,"f":"1440 - Point B"},{"v":1445,"f":"1445 - Point C"}],[6.7,8.2,9.2]]

as defined by the standard and parse it with JSON.parse for getting an object.

var json = '[[1,2,3],["a","b","c"],[{"v":1437,"f":"1437 - Point A"},{"v":1440,"f":"1440 - Point B"},{"v":1445,"f":"1445 - Point C"}],[6.7,8.2,9.2]]',
    object = JSON.parse(json);

console.log(object);

.as-console-wrapper { max-height: 100% !important; top: 0; }

answered Jan 8, 2017 at 17:38

Nina Scholz

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Macskasztorik Over a year ago

Thank you Nina for the detailed answer and example!

Balázs Édes · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-08 17:34:06Z

1

Step 1 - Output valid JSON from your endpoint, something like this:

[ 
  [1,2,3], 
  ["a","b","c"],
  [
    {"v":1437, "f":"1437 - Point A"}, 
    {"v":1440, "f":"1440 -  Point B"}, 
    {"v":1445, "f":"1445 -  Point C"}
  ],
  [6.7,8.2,9.2] 
]

Step 2 - Parse the input with JSON.parse()

Not sure what's going on with the service, but literally every language has multiple decent JSON encoder/parser. Please use them. Never try to manually serialize your data especially if it's almost json.

answered Jan 8, 2017 at 17:34

Balázs Édes

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1 Comment

Macskasztorik Over a year ago

Thank you for the answer! As suggested, I made sure to use a JSON instead of a String. I wish I could accept two answers at the same time. Thank you again!

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