Return JSON Objects instead of JSON arrays with JSON-SERVER

Question

I am using json-server to push json data as REST api.

Server returns (above) for get request like this:

http://localhost:3000/items?itemid=534

return:

[
  {
    "itemid": 534,
    "type": "textcontent",
    "icon": "http://exampple.com/1png",
    "title": "John",
    "description": "Description",
    "url": "http://example.net/project/doSomething"
  }
]

return is JSON array, but not JSON object.

What should i do, to return json object

Data file is: data.json

{
  "items": [
    {
      "itemid": 534,
    "type": "textcontent",
    "icon": "http://exampple.com/1png",
    "title": "John",
    "description": "Description",
    "url": "http://example.net/project/doSomething"
    },
    {
      "itemid": 234,
    "type": "textcontent",
    "icon": "http://exampple.com/2png",
    "title": "Smith",
    "description": "Description2",
    "url": "http://example.net/project/doSomething2"
    }
    ]
}

Are you asking how you turn the JSON array into JSON object with rxjs after you receive it on the client? Could you please clarify? — jamesRH, Mar 01 '16 at 15:13

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 01 '16 at 20:35

If you change your data to be like this:

{
  "items": [
    {
      "id": 534,
      "type": "textcontent",
      "icon": "http://exampple.com/1png",
      "title": "John",
      "description": "Description",
      "url": "http://example.net/project/doSomething"
    },
    {
      "id": 234,
      "type": "textcontent",
      "icon": "http://exampple.com/2png",
      "title": "Smith",
      "description": "Description2",
      "url": "http://example.net/project/doSomething2"
    }
  ]
}

Then you can access the individual items with urls like this: http://localhost:3000/items/534

Thanks Sami, but problem is not in queryString parameters. Problem in retrieving not array but object — Emin Hasanov, Mar 01 '16 at 20:40

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 01 '16 at 20:54

It is very simple. All you need to do is map the data once you have it on the client. I have used the Rx.Observable.from method but this will work with another other methods like fromPromise.

const data = [{
    "itemid": 534,
    "type": "textcontent",
    "icon": "http://exampple.com/1png",
    "title": "John",
    "description": "Description",
    "url": "http://example.net/project/doSomething"
  }
];

const data$ = Rx.Observable.from(data)
  .map(arr=> {
     return JSON.stringify({
       "items": arr
     });
  });

 data$.subscribe(x=> console.log(x));
 // this will print out something like this
//{"items":{"itemid":534,"type":"textcontent","icon":"http://exampple.com/1png","title":"John","description":"Description","url":"http://example.net/project/doSomething"}}

Also note that you could just return {'items':arr} if you just need an object after the fact.

Andreas Jägle · Answer 3 · 2016-03-01T22:57:41.367

I assume this is the desired behaviour for the URL scheme you are using. The server should only return a single object if you use an URL identifying a single resource.

When you are using query params, your request says "please return all matching items that have an item_id of 534". This means that json-server will of course return an array of items. There is no special knowledge that this itemid is a unique one. If you want to specify one special item, you should use the URL of the specific item which should look somehow like http://localhost:3000/items/534.

This post explains the concepts pretty good: http://www.vinaysahni.com/best-practices-for-a-pragmatic-restful-api

Update

I got your question wrong. You want to have all resulting data contained under one special key instead of the array value directly. Looking into the docs of json-server it seems to be easily possible to extend the existing behaviour. Could the router.render() function help you achieving your goals? https://github.com/typicode/json-server#module

router.render = function (req, res) {
  res.jsonp({
    yourkey: res.locals.data
  })
}

If you want the key to match the type of resource you are querying, you probably have to take a look in the req object to find out which entity type was requested.

Thanks @ajaegle, but i need that response for all items should return not as an object — Emin Hasanov, Mar 01 '16 at 22:13
Your answer is usefull, but i found solution with .`map(res => JSON.parse(res.text))` `JSON.parse` helps to parse this object. If you consideryour post must be marked as an aswer, i am ready — Emin Hasanov, Mar 02 '16 at 05:58

Return JSON Objects instead of JSON arrays with JSON-SERVER

3 Answers3