Question

This will work :

var json = { 'items': [{ 'id': 72, 'quantity': 1, 'format': '90ml' }, { 'id': 72, 'quantity': 4, 'format': '70ml'}] }
alert(json.items[1].id);

This will NOT work :

var json = $.cookie('json_string');
alert(json.items[1].id);

the json_string in the cookie is EXACTLY the same as in example #1. After fooling around, I realized I need to do this to make it work:

    eval("var json = " + $.cookie("json_cart"));

Is this the correct way to do it? It seems like a hack, im facing some challenges when trying to make this javascript / c# json communication, i tought it would be very easy. Anyway. At least I got it running now.

Answer 1

This is NORMAL

• In your first case, you are using an object literal.
• In the second case, this is a string containing data formatted using the JSON data-interchange format.

To de-serialize the string to an object, and assuming you target modern browsers, you could use the native function to do:

var myObj = JSON.parse($.cookie('json_string'));

Or you could import json2.js from the official JSON website and use the same line as above.

Or, as mentioned by subhaze, you can be completely jQuery-y and use:

var myObj = jQuery.parseJSON('{"name":"John"}');

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A Note About URL-Encoding

If the string is encoded in the cookie, then you need to decode it first, using decodeURIComponent() like this:

var myObj = JSON.parse(decodeURIComponent($.cookie('json_string')))

A Note About Quoted Keys

Your JSON is actually invalid, as it requires double-quoted keys. You should use double-quotes (") to wrap around your keys and your string values.

Check It

To quickly check for the validity of your JSON, try JSONLint.

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Your question is very similar to others. So, in the future, be sure to check for similar questions first by checking the JSON tag or searching for your issue.