JSON and unexpected character

Question

Considering this result I get from an ajax call:

 [
    {
        "field1": "2381",
        "field2": "1233",
        "field3": "43.79489333333333",
        "field4": "11.22697833333333"
    },
    {
        "field1": "2381",
        "field2": "1774",
        "field3": "45.70752833333334",
        "field4": "9.489278333333333"
    }
]

and having an ajax call it keeps returning "unexpected character" error and I have this kind of call I use:

jQuery.ajax({ 
    type: "GET",
    dataType: "json",
    url: "/myUrl.php",
    success: function(data) {
        console.log(data);
        var arrayObjects = JSON.parse(data);
    }
});

So since I read on the internet this kind of ajax calls, it says:

[{"value": "test"}] is valid

So I wonder why my object keeps returning "unexpected character".

*Where* does your code return "unexpected character"? What is the output of `console.log(data)`? — , Nov 26 '13 at 13:25
this is the output of console.log(data): [Object { field1="2381", field2="1233", field3="43.79489333333333", more...}, Object { field1="2381", field2="1774", field3="45.70752833333334", more...}] — Luigino, Nov 26 '13 at 13:27
@Moho, "it's already in the JSON format, not a string" Perhaps you meant "it's already an object, not a JSON string"? JSON is always a string, when you are using the JSON syntax in your code to create native objects it's simply an object literal, not JSON. — plalx, Nov 26 '13 at 13:39

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 26 '13 at 13:33

When using jQuery.ajax, if you specify the dataFormat, it will try to automatically parse the response according to the specified format before passing the data to the callback function.

Therefore, what you receive in your callback is not a JSON string, it's a JavaScript object already, which doesn't require any parsing.

jQuery.ajax({ 
    type: "GET",
    dataType: "json", // <-- this specifies the data format already
    url: "/myUrl.php",
    success: function(data) {
        console.log(data[0]); //logging first record
        //var arrayObjects = JSON.parse(data); //not needed

    }
});

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 26 '13 at 13:27

0

It seems the data returned from the API is already an array.

You're trying to parse an array, so the error.

so change

var arrayObjects = data;

answered Nov 26 '13 at 13:27

Praveen

55,303
33
133
164

but in the PHP I use this line of code: echo json_encode($results); – Luigino Nov 26 '13 at 13:31

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 26 '13 at 13:29

0

By setting dataType: "json" you are telling jQuery to parse the received data as JSON, so data is delivered to the success() function as a Javascript array.

See: http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.ajax/

answered Nov 26 '13 at 13:29

Claudi

5,224
17
30

JSON and unexpected character

3 Answers3

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