How to convert a complex javascript object to string and back

Question

I have an object that contains arrays which is made up of other arrays it also contains methods. The problem that i am facing is that i can't use JSon because of the multidimensional arrays and the methods.

The reason i want to convert it to a string is to store into the Iphone's localStorage.

you can only store text inside of there and i was hoping for a way to store a complex object about a user as a string and able to deserialize it again after. Is there even a way to do this. I don't know javascript well enough to write my own api. That was the option i started to try and look into at this point :(

can't you just save the .js script and then attempt to eval() it at runtime ? But I don't know if you can actually read and execute from local storage. — BigMike
– BigMike, Commented May 23, 2012 at 13:04
Im coming from c++ took a course on it so in my mind keeping the object as one made sense. i guess i could just move methods outside the object it's self. I do use Jquery. I wanted to persist them so that when i reconstruct the object. i can perform the various methods. some methods are to update the object — Lpc_dark
– Lpc_dark, Commented May 23, 2012 at 13:54

Jakub Konecki · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-23 13:03:20Z

2

Serialize it to JSON. You can serialize / deserialize complex objects and arrays.

There is no way you can serialize methods (code).

For local storage persistence I would recommend Lawnchair.

answered May 23, 2012 at 13:03

Jakub Konecki

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3 Comments

Alnitak Over a year ago

@mplungjan yes, because alert() does an implicit .toString() on each argument. The JSON serialiser will refuse to do so.

mplungjan Over a year ago

So we can add it ourselves, no?

Jakub Konecki Over a year ago

@mplungjan - but why do you want to persist methods in the first place?

Anupam · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-23 13:09:55Z

0

no need to store in localStorage you can use global array any where in your application try this once

answered May 23, 2012 at 13:09

Anupam

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1 Comment

Lpc_dark Over a year ago

no i need the localStorage so they can exit and come back to it later. the object contains alot of things

Alnitak · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-23 13:11:37Z

0

It's normally possible to serialise a method using myfunc.toString()

So, you could use a replacer function in JSON.stringify() and JSON.parse() to recognise methods, and call .toString() on them, and them somehow recognise them on parsing and turn them back into first class functions.

However - note that a reconstructed function will not have access to the original object's scope, i.e. private variables, or methods, etc.

e.g.

function A() {
    var foo = 'bar';
    this.test = function test() { console.log(foo) };
};

var b = new A();
var f = b.test.toString();  // the text of the method
b.test2 = new Function(f);

b.test2();
> undefined

answered May 23, 2012 at 13:11

Alnitak

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Comments

vadimk · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-28 08:03:02Z

0

well, there is a way to convert object with functions to string and vise verse. take a look at this plugin:

http://www.eslinstructor.net/jsonfn/

good luck,

-Vadim

answered Aug 28, 2012 at 8:03

vadimk

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