Send Object as string, not JSON, via Node Express

Question

Ok, I want the response to be a plain string, not JSON.

Ex. this object

let obj = {
  foo: 'bar',
  baz: 1
}

Should be returned as

"{foo: 'bar', baz: 1}"

Instead of

{"foo": "bar", "baz": 1}

Why? I need to use the string as a link in quickchart

<img src="https://quickchart.io/chart?c={type:'line',data:{labels:['January','February', 'March','April', 'May'], datasets:[{label:'Dogs', data: [50,60,70,180,190], fill:false,borderColor:'blue'},{label:'Cats', data:[100,200,300,400,500], fill:false,borderColor:'green'}]}}">

The double quotes in JSON break the image link.

Or, maybe suggest a better way.

JSON is always a string (and "{foo: 'bar', baz: 1}" isn't JSON) — Andreas
– Andreas, Commented Feb 18, 2020 at 12:11
Write your own serialiser, it's not difficult if your object property values are just strings and numbers. — RobG
– RobG, Commented Feb 18, 2020 at 12:12
@Andreas — But not a string in the format the OP is asking for. "{foo: 'bar', baz: 1}", as you said, isn't JSON, but it is what the OP wants. — Quentin
– Quentin, Commented Feb 18, 2020 at 12:12
try to use encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify(obj)). Make sure that the response type is 'plain/text' — dima golovin
– dima golovin, Commented Feb 18, 2020 at 12:15

Quentin · Accepted Answer · 2020-02-18 12:24:25Z

9

The double quotes in JSON break the image link.

You have an XY problem.

The problem is that using " characters in an attribute value delimited by " characters will break the attribute value.

While avoiding using " characters in the data is a solution, it isn't a good one (largely because avoiding them without breaking other stuff is hard). A better solution is to correctly escape them.

const json = JSON.stringify(obj);
const url_escaped_json = encodeURIComponent(json);
const img = `<img src="https://quickchart.io/chart?c=${url_escaped_json}" alt="...">`;

Note that this doesn't use HTML escaping (which would replace " with "), because you are putting the data into a URL so it needs URL escaping first (and that will replace " with %20 rendering the HTML escaping unneeded).

edited Feb 18, 2020 at 12:24

answered Feb 18, 2020 at 12:19

Quentin

949k136 gold badges1.3k silver badges1.4k bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

Sir Rubberduck Over a year ago

Perfection! Thank you for the great explanation. Love the XY problem pointer.

FGRibreau · Accepted Answer · 2020-02-19 10:58:12Z

0

You might leverage a dedicated API for that like Image-Charts that handles such encoding issue nicely:

https://image-charts.com/chart?cht=lc
&chd=a:50,60,70,180,190|100,200,300,400,500
&chs=900x400
&chdl=Dogs|Cats&chdlp=t&chdls=444444,15
&chxt=x,y
&chxl=0:|January|February|March|April|May
&chg=1,1
&chco=0018F5,377E22

Disclaimer: I'm Image-Charts founder.

answered Feb 19, 2020 at 10:58

FGRibreau

7,2793 gold badges42 silver badges49 bronze badges

Comments

Jarasandha · Accepted Answer · 2020-02-18 12:10:20Z

-4

You can use JSON.stringify for this.

let obj = {
  foo: 'bar',
  baz: 1
}

console.log(JSON.stringify(obj));

This will convert the object into string.

answered Feb 18, 2020 at 12:10

Jarasandha

12 bronze badges

1 Comment

Quentin Over a year ago

A string, yes. The string format the OP is asking for: No.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Send Object as string, not JSON, via Node Express

3 Answers 3

1 Comment

Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

1 Comment

Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related