Don't include empty strings or nulls with jQuery's $.param()

Question

I am using jQuery's $.param() to serialize an object in the following format:

var queryParams = {
    firstNm: null,
    lastNm: 'M',
    id: null,
    email: null
}

When I use $.param(queryParams), I get the following:

firstNm=&lastNm=M&id=&email=

What I would like to have instead is simply:

lastNm=M

I would like any parameters that are null or empty to not show up in the output. Is this possible using jQuery's $.param(), or will it require custom serialization?

EDIT:

This is NOT a duplicate of this question. That question pertains more to the MediaWiki API and has to do with not including the = when a parameter is null or empty, and only including the key of the key value pair. My question is whether it is possible to leave off the key value pair entirely from the output if the value is null or empty.

possible duplicate of [URL parameters without values](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11088184/url-parameters-without-values) — Marcos Pérez Gude, Sep 16 '15 at 13:07

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 16 '15 at 13:17

8

You can write your own function to exclude null and empty values:

var queryParams = {
  firstNm: null,
  lastNm: 'M',
  id: null,
  email: null
}

function isEmpty(value){
  return value == null || value == "";
}

for(key in queryParams)
  if(isEmpty(queryParams[key])) 
     delete queryParams[key]; 

// queryParams now =  { lastNm: "M"}

and if you get this values from form you can do the following:

$("#form :input[value!='']").serialize()

answered Sep 16 '15 at 13:17

mohamed-ibrahim

10,837
4
39
51

I think this is the best solution. Seems like the `$.param()` method should accept a third parameter, something like `includeEmpty`. – Andrew Mairose Sep 16 '15 at 13:52
@AndrewMairose caref – izogfif Sep 06 '19 at 07:23

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 06 '18 at 12:42

Another alternative to achieve removal of empty parameters in the serialized string.

var serializeURLParameters = function(oParameters) {
    return "?" + Object.keys(oParameters).map(function(key) {
        if(oParameters[key]) {
            return key + "=" + encodeURIComponent(oParameters[key]);
        }
    }).filter(function(elem) {
        return !! elem;
    }).join("&");
}

Leo Javier · Answer 3 · 2015-09-16T13:52:53.600

0

Here you can exclude the null values, keeping your properties in your object: https://jsfiddle.net/leojavier/bxc57o3v/2/

var queryParams = {
        firstNm: null,
        lastNm: 'M',
        id: null,
        email: null
    }
    var query = {}
    for(item in queryParams) {
        if(queryParams[item] != null && queryParams[item].length > 0) {
            query[item] = queryParams[item]
            console.log(query)
            console.log($.param(query));
        }
    }

edited Sep 16 '15 at 13:52

answered Sep 16 '15 at 13:29

Leo Javier

1,383
12
19

1

Good idea, but in my case, it's fine to delete the properties, because I am immediately redirecting to a new page that includes the serialized object as parameters in the URL – Andrew Mairose Sep 16 '15 at 13:57

Don't include empty strings or nulls with jQuery's $.param()

3 Answers3