Import AJAX data into an array. [JavaScript]

Question

I have a simple AJAX script to load a file into an array.

var loadGame = function() {
  var xhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
  xhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
    if (this.readyState == 4 && this.status == 200) {
      game = this.responseText
    }
  };
  xhttp.open('GET', 'games/' + $('.meta').html() + '.game', true);
  xhttp.send();
}

However, game is treated as a string, not an array, even if this.responseText is a valid array. How can I get JS to treat this.responseText as an array when I store it to game?

Can you elaborate? I've seen something like this, but I'm really looking for a built in command to convert between types. — Julian Lachniet
– Julian Lachniet, Commented Oct 23, 2016 at 23:54
can I elaborate? Better than that, I can link to documentation ... built in command to convert between types - what does the received data look like ... exactly — Jaromanda X
– Jaromanda X, Commented Oct 23, 2016 at 23:56
The file contents: ['a','b'], and how AJAX import it: "['a','b']". — Julian Lachniet
– Julian Lachniet, Commented Oct 23, 2016 at 23:58
@T.Chmelevskij - so would ["a", "b"] - which is why I asked why you'd need to add extra complexity — Jaromanda X
– Jaromanda X, Commented Oct 24, 2016 at 0:06

Jaromanda X · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-24 00:11:55Z

1

because the file uses ' to delimit strings, JSON.parse wont work

the following may help depending on the data

game = JSON.parse(this.responseText.split("'").map(function(x) { return x.replace(/"/gm, "'"); }).join('"'));

If any values have ' or " in then, this wont work very well though

Another far simpler solution is using eval ...

eval("game=" + this.responseText);

Just be careful using eval

edited Oct 24, 2016 at 0:11

answered Oct 24, 2016 at 0:06

Jaromanda X

1

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Comments

youssouf · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-23 23:59:25Z

0

xhttp.responseText is always a string. however, you can get it as an array using JSON.parse(xhttp.responseText). Before you can use JSON.parse, you should encode it in json in the server. in php, you can do it is json_encode function. like the following

    //php
  $response = array("a", "b", "c", "d");
  echo json_encode($response);

using JSON.parse in the client will return ["a", "b", "c", "d"];

answered Oct 23, 2016 at 23:59

youssouf

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2 Comments

Julian Lachniet Over a year ago

Nice suggestion, but I am importing from a file already in array format.

youssouf Over a year ago

so, simply use JSON.parse(xhttp.responseText) to get it in array format.

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