Json is a high-performance bidirectional conversion framework. This module is a fork of the dkjson library by David Kolf, removing LPeg support and registration of the _G.json global. On Wikia, it serves as a polyfill for the mw.text.jsonEncode and mw.text.jsonDecode PHP interfaces available in Scribunto core. Json is able to perform within one order of magnitude (20%) to its PHP counterpart, while also supporting multiline comments. JSON is a data serialisation format by the IETF and JS developer Douglas Crockford that maps data in objects consisting of arrays (key-value pairs) and lists (ordered element collections). The json.encode function will use two spaces for indentation when it is enabled, matching the behaviour of mw.text.jsonDecode. If you need to output JSON with four spaces per indent, use string.gsub and parentheses - (json.encode({json.null}):gsub('\n( +)','\n%1%1')). The json.decode function accepts optional arguments to enable the bidirectional processing of any JSON data. The RFC 8259 JSON specification does not support JavaScript's inline and multiline comments, but these are stripped gracefully in the parser anyway along with any whitespace.

Documentation

Package items

json.version ()

Version of the JSON library.

json.encode(value, state) (function)

JSON serialiser in pure Lua for data objects.

Parameters:

• value Lua upvalue to serialise into JSON. A table can only use strings and numbers as keys and its values have to be valid objects as well. (table|string|number|boolean|nil)
• state Serialiser state/option configuration. (table; optional)
  • state.indent Whether the serialised string will be formatted with newlines and indentations. If not, the encoded JSON will be compressed to one line. (boolean; optional)
  • state.keyorder Array that specifies the ordering of keys in the encoded output. If an object has keys which are not in this array they are written after the sorted keys. (table; optional)
  • state.level Initial level of indentation used when state.indent is enabled. For each level, four spaces are added. Default: 0. (number; optional)
  • state.bufferlen The target length of the buffer array, to validate against the true buffer length. (number; optional)
  • state.tables Internal set for reference cycles. It is written to by the table scanning utilities and has every table that is currently processed attached as a key. The set key becomes temporary when the table value is absent. (number; optional)
  • state.exception Custom exception handler, called when the encoder cannot encode a given value. See json.encode_exception for a example function and the handler parameter description. (function; optional)

Error: Exceptions for invalid data types, reference cycles in tables or custom encoding failures thrown by any __tojson metafields. (line 729)

Returns: JSON string representation of the data object, or boolean for state.bufferlen validity. The Lua values for ECMAScript's Inf and NaN are encoded as null per the JSON specification. The tables within the object are only serialised as arrays if the following rules apply:

• All table keys are numerical non-zero integers.
• More than half of the array elements are non-nil values IF the array size is greater than 10.

(string|number)

json.decode(str, position, null, mt) (function)

JSON parser in pure Lua for valid JSON strings. Converts a JSON string representation of Lua data into the corresponding Lua table or primitive.

Parameters:

• str JSON string representation of value. (string)
• position Internal argument for start character position. Default: 1 - start of string. (string; optional)
• null Value to use for JSON's null value. Accepts json.null for internal bidirectionality. Default: nil. (string|table; optional)
• mt Assign metatables to objects for internal bidirectionality. (boolean; optional)

Error: Exception with character position upon parsing failure. (line 760; optional)

Returns: Deserialised Lua data from JSON string.

json.quote(value) (function)

JSON double quote escape generator from UTF-8 strings.

Parameter: value Unquoted string representation of key. (string)

Returns: Double quote with Unicode backslash escapes.

See also: github:douglascrockford/JSON-js/blob/2a76286/json2.js#L168

json.add_newline(state) (function)

Newline insertion utility for __tojson metafields. When state.indent is set, this function add a newline to state.buffer and adds spaces according to state.level.

Parameter: state State tracking from json.encode. (table)

json.encode_exception(reason, value, state, defaultmessage) (function)

Exception encoder for debugging malformed input data. This function is passed to state.exception in json.encode. Instead of raising an error, this function encodes the error message as a string.

Parameters:

• reason Error message normally raised. (string)
• value Original value that caused exception. (string)
• state Serialiser state/option configuration. (string)
• defaultmessage Error message normally raised. (string)

json.null (table)

Lua representation of JSON null object. This function is useful for bidirectionality in json.decode.

Field: __tojson Returns 'null' when encoding. (function)

JSON serialisation metafields

The json.encode method supports a series of metafields used in the configuration of serialisation behaviour when encoding Lua.

value.__jsonorder (member • string)

Serialisation order configuration. Overwrites the json.encode keyorder option for any specific table or subtable it is attached to. If a key is not present in the order array, it is serialised after the listed keys.

value.__jsontype (member • string)

Serialisation object class name. Defines which

a Lua table should be rendered as a JSON object or a JSON array. Accepts a value of "object" or "array". This value is only tested for empty tables. Default: "array".

value.__tojson(state) (function)

Serialisation handler function. This function can either add directly to the buffer and return true, or you can return a string. On errors nil and a message should be returned.

Parameters:

• state State tracking for JSON serialisation. (table)
  • state.buffer Buffer array containing the string nodes generated by json.encode. (table)
  • state.bufferlen Buffer length, used for tracking. (table)

Returns:

• JSON representation of the Lua item as a string, or true when the handler inserts data directly into the buffer. If the handler is throwing an exception message, this return value is set to nil. (string|boolean|nil)
• Error message describing serialisation failure, to be thrown in json.encode. (string; optional)