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Json - Quick Guide Json - Overview

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55 views

Json - Quick Guide Json - Overview

Uploaded by

Hamdan Yuwafi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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JSON - QUICK GUIDE

http://www.tutorialspoint.com/json/json_quick_guide.htm Copyright © tutorialspoint.com

JSON - OVERVIEW
JSON or JavaScript Object Notation is a lightweight text-based open standard designed for human-
readable data interchange. Conventions used by JSON are known to programmers, which include
C, C++, Java, Python, Perl, etc.

JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation.

The format was specified by Douglas Crockford.

It was designed for human-readable data interchange.

It has been extended from the JavaScript scripting language.

The filename extension is .json.

JSON Internet Media type is application/json.

The Uniform Type Identifier is public.json.

Uses of JSON
It is used while writing JavaScript based applications that includes browser extensions and
websites.

JSON format is used for serializing and transmitting structured data over network connection.

It is primarily used to transmit data between a server and web applications.

Web services and APIs use JSON format to provide public data.

It can be used with modern programming languages.

Characteristics of JSON
JSON is easy to read and write.
It is a lightweight text-based interchange format.
JSON is language independent.

Simple Example in JSON


The following example shows how to use JSON to store information related to books based on their
topic and edition.

{
"book": [

{
"id":"01",
"language": "Java",
"edition": "third",
"author": "Herbert Schildt"
},

{
"id":"07",
"language": "C++",
"edition": "second"
"author": "E.Balagurusamy"
}
]
}

After understanding the above program, we will try another example. Let's save the below code as
json.htm

<html>
<head>
<title>JSON example</title>

<script language = "javascript" >

var object1 = { "language" : "Java", "author" : "herbert schildt" };


document.write("<h1>JSON with JavaScript example</h1>");
document.write("<br>");
document.write("<h3>Language = " + object1.language+"</h3>");
document.write("<h3>Author = " + object1.author+"</h3>");

var object2 = { "language" : "C++", "author" : "E-Balagurusamy" };


document.write("<br>");
document.write("<h3>Language = " + object2.language+"</h3>");
document.write("<h3>Author = " + object2.author+"</h3>");

document.write("<hr />");
document.write(object2.language + " programming language can be studied " +
"from book written by " + object2.author);
document.write("<hr />");

</script>

</head>

<body>
</body>

</html>

Now let's try to open json.htm using IE or any other javascript enabled browser that produces the
following result −

You can refer to JSON Objects chapter for more information on JSON objects.

JSON - SYNTAX
Let's have a quick look at the basic syntax of JSON. JSON syntax is basically considered as a subset
of JavaScript syntax; it includes the following −

Data is represented in name/value pairs.

Curly braces hold objects and each name is followed by ':'colon, the name/value pairs are
separated by , comma.

Square brackets hold arrays and values are separated by ,comma.

Below is a simple example −

{
"book": [

{
"id":"01",
"language": "Java",
"edition": "third",
"author": "Herbert Schildt"
},

{
"id":"07",
"language": "C++",
"edition": "second"
"author": "E.Balagurusamy"
}

]
}

JSON supports the following two data structures −

Collection of name/value pairs − This Data Structure is supported by different


programming languages.

Ordered list of values − It includes array, list, vector or sequence etc.

JSON - DATATYPES
JSON format supports the following data types −

Type Description

Number double- precision floating-point format in JavaScript

String double-quoted Unicode with backslash escaping

Boolean true or false

Array an ordered sequence of values

Value it can be a string, a number, true or false, null etc

Object an unordered collection of key:value pairs

Whitespace can be used between any pair of tokens

null empty

Number
It is a double precision floating-point format in JavaScript and it depends on implementation.
Octal and hexadecimal formats are not used.

No NaN or Infinity is used in Number.

The following table shows the number types −

Type Description

Integer Digits 1-9, 0 and positive or negative

Fraction Fractions like .3, .9

Exponent Exponent like e, e+, e-, E, E+, E-

Syntax

var json-object-name = { string : number_value, .......}

Example
Example showing Number Datatype, value should not be quoted −

var obj = {marks: 97}

String
It is a sequence of zero or more double quoted Unicode characters with backslash escaping.

Character is a single character string i.e. a string with length 1.

The table shows string types −

Type Description

" double quotation

\ reverse solidus

/ solidus

b backspace

f form feed

n new line

r carriage return

t horizontal tab

u four hexadecimal digits

Syntax

var json-object-name = { string : "string value", .......}

Example
Example showing String Datatype −
var obj = {name: 'Amit'}

Boolean
It includes true or false values.

Syntax

var json-object-name = { string : true/false, .......}

Example

var obj = {name: 'Amit', marks: 97, distinction: true}

Array
It is an ordered collection of values.

These are enclosed in square brackets which means that array begins with .[. and ends with
.]..

The values are separated by , comma.

Array indexing can be started at 0 or 1.

Arrays should be used when the key names are sequential integers.

Syntax

[ value, .......]

Example
Example showing array containing multiple objects −

{
"books": [
{ "language":"Java" , "edition":"second" },
{ "language":"C++" , "lastName":"fifth" },
{ "language":"C" , "lastName":"third" }
]
}

Object
It is an unordered set of name/value pairs.

Objects are enclosed in curly braces that is, it starts with '{' and ends with '}'.

Each name is followed by ':'colon and the name/value pairs are separated by , comma.

The keys must be strings and should be different from each other.

Objects should be used when the key names are arbitrary strings.

Syntax

{ string : value, .......}

Example
Example showing Object −

{
"id": "011A",
"language": "JAVA",
"price": 500,
}

Whitespace
It can be inserted between any pair of tokens. It can be added to make a code more readable.
Example shows declaration with and without whitespace −

Syntax

{string:" ",....}

Example

var i = " sachin";


var j = " saurav"

null
It means empty type.

Syntax

null

Example

var i = null;

if(i == 1){
document.write("<h1>value is 1</h1>");
}
else{
document.write("<h1>value is null</h1>");
}

JSON Value
It includes −

number integerorfloatingpoint
string
boolean
array
object
null

Syntax

String | Number | Object | Array | TRUE | FALSE | NULL

Example
var i = 1;
var j = "sachin";
var k = null;

JSON - OBJECTS
Creating Simple Objects
JSON objects can be created with JavaScript. Let us see the various ways of creating JSON objects
using JavaScript −

Creation of an empty Object −

var JSONObj = {};

Creation of a new Object −

var JSONObj = new Object();

Creation of an object with attribute bookname with value in string, attribute price with
numeric value. Attribute is accessed by using '.' Operator −

var JSONObj = { "bookname ":"VB BLACK BOOK", "price":500 };

This is an example that shows creation of an object in javascript using JSON, save the below code
as json_object.htm

<html>
<head>
<title>Creating Object JSON with JavaScript</title>

<script language = "javascript" >

var JSONObj = { "name" : "tutorialspoint.com", "year" : 2005 };

document.write("<h1>JSON with JavaScript example</h1>");


document.write("<br>");
document.write("<h3>Website Name = "+JSONObj.name+"</h3>");
document.write("<h3>Year = "+JSONObj.year+"</h3>");

</script>

</head>

<body>
</body>

</html>

Now let's try to open Json Object using IE or any other javaScript enabled browser. It produces the
following result −
Creating Array Objects
The following example shows creation of an array object in javascript using JSON, save the below
code as json_array_object.htm

<html>
<head>
<title>Creation of array object in javascript using JSON</title>

<script language = "javascript" >

document.writeln("<h2>JSON array object</h2>");

var books = { "Pascal" : [


{ "Name" : "Pascal Made Simple", "price" : 700 },
{ "Name" : "Guide to Pascal", "price" : 400 }],

"Scala" : [
{ "Name" : "Scala for the Impatient", "price" : 1000 },
{ "Name" : "Scala in Depth", "price" : 1300 }]
}

var i = 0
document.writeln("<table border = '2'><tr>");

for(i = 0;i<books.Pascal.length;i++){
document.writeln("<td>");
document.writeln("<table border = '1' width = 100 >");
document.writeln("<tr><td><b>Name</b></td><td width = 50>" +
books.Pascal[i].Name+"</td></tr>");
document.writeln("<tr><td><b>Price</b></td><td width = 50> +
books.Pascal[i].price +"</td></tr>");
document.writeln("</table>");
document.writeln("</td>");
}

for(i = 0;i<books.Scala.length;i++){
document.writeln("<td>");
document.writeln("<table border = '1' width = 100 >");
document.writeln("<tr><td><b>Name</b></td><td width = 50>" +
books.Scala[i].Name+"</td></tr>");
document.writeln("<tr><td><b>Price</b></td><td width = 50>" +
books.Scala[i].price+"</td></tr>");
document.writeln("</table>");
document.writeln("</td>");
}

document.writeln("</tr></table>");

</script>

</head>

<body>
</body>

</html>

Now let's try to open Json Array Object using IE or any other javaScript enabled browser. It
produces the following result −
JSON - SCHEMA
JSON Schema is a specification for JSON based format for defining the structure of JSON data. It was
written under IETF draft which expired in 2011. JSON Schema −

Describes your existing data format.


Clear, human- and machine-readable documentation.
Complete structural validation, useful for automated testing.
Complete structural validation, validating client-submitted data.

JSON Schema Validation Libraries


There are several validators currently available for different programming languages. Currently
the most complete and compliant JSON Schema validator available is JSV.

Languages Libraries

C WJElement LGPLv3

Java json-schema-validator LGPLv3

.NET Json.NET MIT

ActionScript 3 Frigga MIT

Haskell aeson-schema MIT

Python Jsonschema

Ruby autoparse ASL2.0; ruby-jsonschema MIT

PHP php-json-schema MIT. json-schema Berkeley

JavaScript Orderly BSD; JSV; json-schema; Matic MIT; Dojo; Persevere


modifiedBSDorAFL2.0; schema.js.

JSON Schema Example


Given below is a basic JSON schema, which covers a classical product catalog description −

{
"$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#",
"title": "Product",
"description": "A product from Acme's catalog",
"type": "object",

"properties": {

"id": {
"description": "The unique identifier for a product",
"type": "integer"
},

"name": {
"description": "Name of the product",
"type": "string"
},
"price": {
"type": "number",
"minimum": 0,
"exclusiveMinimum": true
}
},

"required": ["id", "name", "price"]


}

Let's the check various important keywords that can be used in this schema −

Keywords Description

$schema The $schema keyword states that this schema is written according to the
draft v4 specification.

title You will use this to give a title to your schema.

description A little description of the schema.

type The type keyword defines the first constraint on our JSON data: it has to be
a JSON Object.

properties Defines various keys and their value types, minimum and maximum
values to be used in JSON file.

required This keeps a list of required properties.

minimum This is the constraint to be put on the value and represents minimum
acceptable value.

exclusiveMinimum If "exclusiveMinimum" is present and has boolean value true, the instance
is valid if it is strictly greater than the value of "minimum".

maximum This is the constraint to be put on the value and represents maximum
acceptable value.

exclusiveMaximum If "exclusiveMaximum" is present and has boolean value true, the instance
is valid if it is strictly lower than the value of "maximum".

multipleOf A numeric instance is valid against "multipleOf" if the result of the division
of the instance by this keyword's value is an integer.

maxLength The length of a string instance is defined as the maximum number of its
characters.

minLength The length of a string instance is defined as the minimum number of its
characters.

pattern A string instance is considered valid if the regular expression matches the
instance successfully.

You can check a http://json-schema.org for the complete list of keywords that can be used in
defining a JSON schema. The above schema can be used to test the validity of the following JSON
code −

[
{
"id": 2,
"name": "An ice sculpture",
"price": 12.50,
},

{
"id": 3,
"name": "A blue mouse",
"price": 25.50,
}
]

JSON - COMPARISON WITH XML


JSON and XML are human readable formats and are language independent. They both have
support for creation, reading and decoding in real world situations. We can compare JSON with
XML, based on the following factors −

Verbose
XML is more verbose than JSON, so it is faster to write JSON for programmers.

Arrays Usage
XML is used to describe the structured data, which doesn't include arrays whereas JSON include
arrays.

Parsing
JavaScript's eval method parses JSON. When applied to JSON, eval returns the described object.

Example
Individual examples of XML and JSON −

JSON

{
"company": Volkswagen,
"name": "Vento",
"price": 800000
}

XML

<car>
<company>Volkswagen</company>
<name>Vento</name>
<price>800000</price>
</car>

JSON WITH PHP


This chapter covers how to encode and decode JSON objects using PHP programming language.
Let's start with preparing the environment to start our programming with PHP for JSON.

Environment
As of PHP 5.2.0, the JSON extension is bundled and compiled into PHP by default.

JSON Functions

Function Libraries

json_encode Returns the JSON representation of a value.

json_decode Decodes a JSON string.


json_last_error Returns the last error occurred.

Encoding JSON in PHP jsonencode

PHP json_encode function is used for encoding JSON in PHP. This function returns the JSON
representation of a value on success or FALSE on failure.

Syntax

string json_encode ( $value [, $options = 0 ] )

Parameters
value − The value being encoded. This function only works with UTF-8 encoded data.

options − This optional value is a bitmask consisting of JSON_HEX_QUOT, JSON_HEX_TAG,


JSON_HEX_AMP, JSON_HEX_APOS, JSON_NUMERIC_CHECK, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT,
JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES, JSON_FORCE_OBJECT.

Example
The following example shows how to convert an array into JSON with PHP −

<?php
$arr = array('a' => 1, 'b' => 2, 'c' => 3, 'd' => 4, 'e' => 5);
echo json_encode($arr);
?>

While executing, this will produce the following result −

{"a":1,"b":2,"c":3,"d":4,"e":5}

The following example shows how the PHP objects can be converted into JSON −

<?php
class Emp {
public $name = "";
public $hobbies = "";
public $birthdate = "";
}

$e = new Emp();
$e->name = "sachin";
$e->hobbies = "sports";
$e->birthdate = date('m/d/Y h:i:s a', "8/5/1974 12:20:03 p");
$e->birthdate = date('m/d/Y h:i:s a', strtotime("8/5/1974 12:20:03"));

echo json_encode($e);
?>

While executing, this will produce the following result −

{"name":"sachin","hobbies":"sports","birthdate":"08\/05\/1974 12:20:03 pm"}

Decoding JSON in PHP jsond ecode

PHP json_decode function is used for decoding JSON in PHP. This function returns the value
decoded from json to appropriate PHP type.

Syntax
mixed json_decode ($json [,$assoc = false [, $depth = 512 [, $options = 0 ]]])

Paramaters
json_string − It is an encoded string which must be UTF-8 encoded data.

assoc − It is a boolean type parameter, when set to TRUE, returned objects will be converted
into associative arrays.

depth − It is an integer type parameter which specifies recursion depth

options − It is an integer type bitmask of JSON decode, JSON_BIGINT_AS_STRING is


supported.

Example
The following example shows how PHP can be used to decode JSON objects −

<?php
$json = '{"a":1,"b":2,"c":3,"d":4,"e":5}';

var_dump(json_decode($json));
var_dump(json_decode($json, true));
?>

While executing, it will produce the following result −

object(stdClass)#1 (5) {
["a"] => int(1)
["b"] => int(2)
["c"] => int(3)
["d"] => int(4)
["e"] => int(5)
}

array(5) {
["a"] => int(1)
["b"] => int(2)
["c"] => int(3)
["d"] => int(4)
["e"] => int(5)
}

JSON WITH PERL


This chapter covers how to encode and decode JSON objects using Perl programming language.
Let's start with preparing the environment to start our programming with Perl for JSON.

Environment
Before you start encoding and decoding JSON using Perl, you need to install JSON module, which
can be obtained from CPAN. Once you downloaded JSON-2.53.tar.gz or any other latest version,
follow the steps mentioned below −

$tar xvfz JSON-2.53.tar.gz


$cd JSON-2.53
$perl Makefile.PL
$make
$make install

JSON Functions

Function Libraries
encode_json Converts the given Perl data structure to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string.

decode_json Decodes a JSON string.

to_json Converts the given Perl data structure to a json string.

from_json Expects a json string and tries to parse it, returning the resulting reference.

convert_blessed Use this function with true value so that Perl can use TO_JSON method on the
object's class to convert an object into JSON.

Encoding JSON in Perl encode json

Perl encode_json function converts the given Perl data structure to a UTF-8 encoded, binary string.

Syntax

$json_text = encode_json ($perl_scalar );

or

$json_text = JSON->new->utf8->encode($perl_scalar);

Example
The following example shows arrays under JSON with Perl −

#!/usr/bin/perl
use JSON;

my %rec_hash = ('a' => 1, 'b' => 2, 'c' => 3, 'd' => 4, 'e' => 5);
my $json = encode_json \%rec_hash;
print "$json\n";

While executing, this will produce the following result −

{"e":5,"c":3,"a":1,"b":2,"d":4}

The following example shows how Perl objects can be converted into JSON −

#!/usr/bin/perl

package Emp;
sub new{

my $class = shift;

my $self = {
name => shift,
hobbies => shift,
birthdate => shift,
};

bless $self, $class;


return $self;
}

sub TO_JSON { return { %{ shift() } }; }

package main;
use JSON;

my $JSON = JSON->new->utf8;
$JSON->convert_blessed(1);
$e = new Emp( "sachin", "sports", "8/5/1974 12:20:03 pm");
$json = $JSON->encode($e);
print "$json\n";

On executing, it will produce the following result −

{"birthdate":"8/5/1974 12:20:03 pm","name":"sachin","hobbies":"sports"}

Decoding JSON in Perl decode json

Perl decode_json function is used for decoding JSON in Perl. This function returns the value
decoded from json to an appropriate Perl type.

Syntax

$perl_scalar = decode_json $json_text

or

$perl_scalar = JSON->new->utf8->decode($json_text)

Example
The following example shows how Perl can be used to decode JSON objects. Here you will need to
install Data::Dumper module if you already do not have it on your machine.

#!/usr/bin/perl
use JSON;
use Data::Dumper;

$json = '{"a":1,"b":2,"c":3,"d":4,"e":5}';

$text = decode_json($json);
print Dumper($text);

On executing, it will produce following result −

$VAR1 = {
'e' => 5,
'c' => 3,
'a' => 1,
'b' => 2,
'd' => 4
};

JSON WITH PYTHON


This chapter covers how to encode and decode JSON objects using Python programming language.
Let's start with preparing the environment to start our programming with Python for JSON.

Environment
Before you start with encoding and decoding JSON using Python, you need to install any of the JSON
modules available. For this tutorial we have downloaded and installed Demjson as follows −

$tar xvfz demjson-1.6.tar.gz


$cd demjson-1.6
$python setup.py install

JSON Functions
Function Libraries

encode Encodes the Python object into a JSON string representation.

decode Decodes a JSON-endoded string into a Python object.

Encoding JSON in Python encode


Python encode function encodes the Python object into a JSON string representation.

Syntax

demjson.encode(self, obj, nest_level=0)

Example
The following example shows arrays under JSON with Python.

#!/usr/bin/python
import demjson

data = [ { 'a' : 1, 'b' : 2, 'c' : 3, 'd' : 4, 'e' : 5 } ]

json = demjson.encode(data)
print json

While executing, this will produce the following result −

[{"a":1,"b":2,"c":3,"d":4,"e":5}]

Decoding JSON in Python decode


Python can use demjson.decode function for decoding JSON. This function returns the value
decoded from json to an appropriate Python type.

Syntax

demjson.decode(self, txt)

Example
The following example shows how Python can be used to decode JSON objects.

#!/usr/bin/python
import demjson

json = '{"a":1,"b":2,"c":3,"d":4,"e":5}';

text = demjson.decode(json)
print text

On executing, it will produce the following result −

{u'a': 1, u'c': 3, u'b': 2, u'e': 5, u'd': 4}

JSON WITH RUBY


This chapter covers how to encode and decode JSON objects using Ruby programming language.
Let's start with preparing the environment to start our programming with Ruby for JSON.
Environment
Before you start with encoding and decoding JSON using Ruby, you need to install any of the JSON
modules available for Ruby. You may need to install Ruby gem, but if you are running latest
version of Ruby then you must have gem already installed on your machine, otherwise let's follow
the following single step assuming you already have gem installed −

$gem install json

Parsing JSON using Ruby


The following example shows that the first 2 keys hold string values and the last 3 keys hold arrays
of strings. Let's keep the following content in a file called input.json.

{
"President": "Alan Isaac",
"CEO": "David Richardson",

"India": [
"Sachin Tendulkar",
"Virender Sehwag",
"Gautam Gambhir",
],

"Srilanka": [
"Lasith Malinga",
"Angelo Mathews",
"Kumar Sangakkara"
],

"England": [
"Alastair Cook",
"Jonathan Trott",
"Kevin Pietersen"
]

Given below is a Ruby program that will be used to parse the above mentioned JSON document −

#!/usr/bin/ruby
require 'rubygems'
require 'json'
require 'pp'

json = File.read('input.json')
obj = JSON.parse(json)

pp obj

On executing, it will produce the following result −

{
"President"=>"Alan Isaac",
"CEO"=>"David Richardson",

"India"=>
["Sachin Tendulkar", "Virender Sehwag", "Gautam Gambhir"],

"Srilanka"=>
["Lasith Malinga ", "Angelo Mathews", "Kumar Sangakkara"],

"England"=>
["Alastair Cook", "Jonathan Trott", "Kevin Pietersen"]
}
JSON WITH JAVA
This chapter covers how to encode and decode JSON objects using Java programming language.
Let's start with preparing the environment to start our programming with Java for JSON.

Environment
Before you start with encoding and decoding JSON using Java, you need to install any of the JSON
modules available. For this tutorial we have downloaded and installed JSON.simple and have
added the location of json-simple-1.1.1.jar file to the environment variable CLASSPATH.

Mapping between JSON and Java entities


JSON.simple maps entities from the left side to the right side while decoding or parsing, and maps
entities from the right to the left while encoding.

JSON Java

string java.lang.String

number java.lang.Number

true|false ava.lang.Boolean

null null

array java.util.List

object java.util.Map

On decoding, the default concrete class of java.util.List is org.json.simple.JSONArray and the


default concrete class of java.util.Map is org.json.simple.JSONObject.

Encoding JSON in Java


Following is a simple example to encode a JSON object using Java JSONObject which is a subclass of
java.util.HashMap. No ordering is provided. If you need the strict ordering of elements, use
JSONValue.toJSONString map method with ordered map implementation such as
java.util.LinkedHashMap.

import org.json.simple.JSONObject;

class JsonEncodeDemo {

public static void main(String[] args){


JSONObject obj = new JSONObject();

obj.put("name", "foo");
obj.put("num", new Integer(100));
obj.put("balance", new Double(1000.21));
obj.put("is_vip", new Boolean(true));

System.out.print(obj);
}
}

On compiling and executing the above program the following result will be generated −

{"balance": 1000.21, "num":100, "is_vip":true, "name":"foo"}

Following is another example that shows a JSON object streaming using Java JSONObject −
import org.json.simple.JSONObject;

class JsonEncodeDemo {

public static void main(String[] args){

JSONObject obj = new JSONObject();

obj.put("name","foo");
obj.put("num",new Integer(100));
obj.put("balance",new Double(1000.21));
obj.put("is_vip",new Boolean(true));

StringWriter out = new StringWriter();


obj.writeJSONString(out);

String jsonText = out.toString();


System.out.print(jsonText);
}
}

On compiling and executing the above program, the following result is generated −

{"balance": 1000.21, "num":100, "is_vip":true, "name":"foo"}

Decoding JSON in Java


The following example makes use of JSONObject and JSONArray where JSONObject is a
java.util.Map and JSONArray is a java.util.List, so you can access them with standard operations of
Map or List.

import org.json.simple.JSONObject;
import org.json.simple.JSONArray;
import org.json.simple.parser.ParseException;
import org.json.simple.parser.JSONParser;

class JsonDecodeDemo {

public static void main(String[] args){

JSONParser parser = new JSONParser();


String s = "[0,{\"1\":{\"2\":{\"3\":{\"4\":[5,{\"6\":7}]}}}}]";

try{
Object obj = parser.parse(s);
JSONArray array = (JSONArray)obj;

System.out.println("The 2nd element of array");


System.out.println(array.get(1));
System.out.println();

JSONObject obj2 = (JSONObject)array.get(1);


System.out.println("Field \"1\"");
System.out.println(obj2.get("1"));

s = "{}";
obj = parser.parse(s);
System.out.println(obj);

s = "[5,]";
obj = parser.parse(s);
System.out.println(obj);

s = "[5,,2]";
obj = parser.parse(s);
System.out.println(obj);
}catch(ParseException pe){
System.out.println("position: " + pe.getPosition());
System.out.println(pe);
}
}
}

On compiling and executing the above program, the following result will be generated −

The 2nd element of array


{"1":{"2":{"3":{"4":[5,{"6":7}]}}}}

Field "1"
{"2":{"3":{"4":[5,{"6":7}]}}}
{}
[5]
[5,2]

JSON WITH AJAX


AJAX is Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, which is used on the client side as a group of
interrelated web development techniques, in order to create asynchronous web applications.
According to the AJAX model, web applications can send and retrieve data from a server
asynchronously without interfering with the display and the behavior of the existing page.

Many developers use JSON to pass AJAX updates between the client and the server. Websites
updating live sports scores can be considered as an example of AJAX. If these scores have to be
updated on the website, then they must be stored on the server so that the webpage can retrieve
the score when it is required. This is where we can make use of JSON formatted data.

Any data that is updated using AJAX can be stored using the JSON format on the web server. AJAX is
used so that javascript can retrieve these JSON files when necessary, parse them, and perform one
of the following operations −

Store the parsed values in the variables for further processing before displaying them on the
webpage.

It directly assigns the data to the DOM elements in the webpage, so that they are displayed
on the website.

Example
The following code shows JSON with AJAX. Save it as ajax.htm file. Here the loading function
loadJSON is used asynchronously to upload JSON data.

<html>
<head>
<meta content = "text/html; charset = ISO-8859-1" http-equiv = "content-type">

<script type="application/javascript">
function loadJSON(){
var data_file = "http://www.tutorialspoint.com/json/data.json";
var http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
try{
// Opera 8.0+, Firefox, Chrome, Safari
http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
}catch (e){
// Internet Explorer Browsers
try{
http_request = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");

}catch (e) {

try{
http_request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}catch (e){
// Something went wrong
alert("Your browser broke!");
return false;
}

}
}

http_request.onreadystatechange = function(){

if (http_request.readyState == 4 ){
// Javascript function JSON.parse to parse JSON data
var jsonObj = JSON.parse(http_request.responseText);

// jsonObj variable now contains the data structure and can


// be accessed as jsonObj.name and jsonObj.country.
document.getElementById("Name").innerHTML = jsonObj.name;
document.getElementById("Country").innerHTML = jsonObj.country;
}
}

http_request.open("GET", data_file, true);


http_request.send();
}

</script>

<title>tutorialspoint.com JSON</title>
</head>

<body>
<h1>Cricketer Details</h1>

<table class = "src">


<tr><th>Name</th><th>Country</th></tr>
<tr><td><div id = "Name">Sachin</div></td>
<td><div id = "Country">India</div></td></tr>
</table>

<div class = "central">


<button type = "button" onclick = "loadJSON()">Update Details </button>
</div>

</body>

</html>

Given below is the input file data.json, having data in JSON format which will be uploaded
asynchronously when we click the Update Detail button. This file is being kept in
http://www.tutorialspoint.com/json/

{"name": "brett", "country": "Australia"}

The above HTML code will generate the following screen, where you can check AJAX in action −

CRICKETER DETAILS

Name Country

Sachin India

When you click on the Update Detail button, you should get a result something as follows. You
can try JSON with AJAX yourself, provided your browser supports Javascript.
CRICKETER DETAILS

Name Country

brett Australia

Loading [MathJax]/jax/output/HTML-CSS/fonts/TeX/fontdata.js

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