Javascript in your JSON

Anonymous Monk has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi there monks,
I'm looking for a module on CPAN that can convert Javascript code snippets to JSON, apart from also doing the more common data-structure to JSON conversion. I've tried JSON::XS, ::Syck, ::PP and neither seem to be able to do this:

my $data = { 
    age=>18, 
    handler=>\"function(){ alert('hello, worldly') }" 
};
my $json = encode_json( $data )
[download]

And the output should look like this:

{ age: 18, 
 handler: function(){ ... }
}
[download]

But it usually converts it to: ...handler: "function(...)"

I know I've seen something that can do that somewhere. I think the usual implementation would use scalar references (ie \"function(){ }") to achieve this. But none of the regular JSON modules seem to accept it.

Any clues?
Thanks,
miguel

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Re: Javascript in your JSON by derby (Abbot) on Apr 08, 2009 at 12:09 UTC
lmgtfy. -derby	[reply]
Re^2: Javascript in your JSON by Anonymous Monk on Apr 08, 2009 at 19:08 UTC
I agree that putting scripts in a JSON structure is definitely not in the JSON standard. Even though JSON, before being a data-exchange standard, was just the run-of-the-mill javascript object notation in which script coderefs are perfectly acceptable. The thing is that most ajax based frameworks, such as ExtJS, accept, or even recommend putting scripts in a JSON structure. So I guess I'll keep looking for a module that can dump that... or write my own. cheers, -- miguel	[reply]
Re^3: Javascript in your JSON by ikegami (Patriarch) on Apr 08, 2009 at 19:14 UTC
A JSON file that includes arbitrary JavaScript code is not a JSON file, it's a JavaScript file. You should be looking for tools to help you generate JavaScript, not JSON.	[reply]
Re^3: Javascript in your JSON by derby (Abbot) on Apr 08, 2009 at 19:30 UTC
I think it's really easy to confuse/conflate Javascript object literal notation with JSON - they're not the same thing. -derby Update: hmmm ... well that was vague. JSON is a subset of Javascript object literal notation that's used for DATA exchange. That's why if want to pass around function definitions in JSON, you'll need to de-stringify them - basically subverting the concept of JSON being just for DATA exchange.	[reply]
Re: Javascript in your JSON by Anonymous Monk on Apr 08, 2009 at 10:02 UTC
Any clues? You're out of luck because thats not JSON, that is javascript	[reply]
Re: Javascript in your JSON by Anonymous Monk on Apr 09, 2009 at 09:46 UTC
As I said, I totally agree that is not JSON, as JSON is a standard per json.org which does not include scripting. But I never implied that scripting was part of the JSON standard. I was just looking for a way to augment my JSON structure with scripting. For the record, I've just found this simple but effective module, JavaScript::Dumper. It's based on JSON::PP and that does the trick. cheers -miguel	[reply]