JSON

JSON reads JSON text into Foundation objects and writes them back (NSJSONSerialization in shape). Objects become a Map, arrays an Array, and the scalars a String, a Number or Null. From 0.72.

#import "JSON.xc"          // not in the Foundation umbrella: import it by name

Overview

try
    {
    Map* m = (Map*)JSON.parse(String.withCString("{\"name\":\"xc\",\"tags\":[1,2.5,true,null]}"));
    String* name = (String*)m.get(String.withCString("name"));
    Stdio.printf("%s\n", JSON.stringify(m).cString());   // {"name":"xc","tags":[1,2.5,true,null]}
    }
catch (JSONError e)
    {
    Stdio.printf("%s\n", e.message().cString());        // bad JSON at byte 12: …
    }

JSON	Foundation
object	Map with String keys, in the order the text has them
array	Array
string	String, UTF-8, with \u escapes and surrogate pairs decoded
number	Number: an int when written without . or an exponent and it fits 64 bits, otherwise a double
true / false	Number.withBool
null	Null.null()

Numbers are exact both ways. An integer keeps all 64 bits. A double is read correctly rounded and written in the shortest form that reads back as the same bits, always with a . or an exponent (3.0, 1.0e+300), so it reads back as a double.

Objects keep their keys in the order the text has them, so a parse and a write give the members back in the same order. A key that appears twice keeps its last value. Nesting deeper than 256 is refused.

Availability

Every target except xt6502. Coder reads its archives with the same parser.

Topics

Reading · parse · parseData

Writing · stringify · stringifyPretty · data

Errors · JSONError

---

Reading

parse

static Object* parse(String* text) throws

The value text holds: a Map, Array, String, Number or Null. Any value may be the root, so "42" parses to a Number. Throws a JSONError for text that is not one complete JSON value.

parseData

static Object* parseData(Data* data) throws

The same, from UTF-8 bytes.

↑ Topics

Writing

The writers accept the classes above, and write a null reference as null. They throw a JSONError for anything else: another class, a Map key that is not a String, a NaN or infinite double (JSON has no spelling for them), or a String that is not valid UTF-8.

stringify

static String* stringify(Object* v) throws

v as compact JSON: no spaces or newlines.

stringifyPretty

static String* stringifyPretty(Object* v) throws

v as indented JSON: two spaces a level, "key": value, one member or element a line, empty containers as {} and [], and a final newline.

{
  "a": [
    1,
    2
  ],
  "b": {}
}

data

static Data* data(Object* v) throws

The compact text as UTF-8 bytes.

↑ Topics

Errors

JSONError

class JSONError <Error>
String* message(void)

What the methods throw. A parse error gives the byte offset where reading stopped, as in bad JSON at byte 4: unterminated array; a write error names what could not be written, as in JSON: a Set cannot be written as JSON.

↑ Topics