Module Js.Json

Utility functions to manipulate JSON values

Efficient JSON encoding using JavaScript API @see <https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/JSON> MDN

Types

type t

The JSON data structure

type _ kind =
  1. | String : string kind
  2. | Number : float kind
  3. | Object : t Js.dict kind
  4. | Array : t array kind
  5. | Boolean : bool kind
  6. | Null : t Js.null kind

Underlying type of a JSON value

type tagged_t =
  1. | JSONFalse
  2. | JSONTrue
  3. | JSONNull
  4. | JSONString of string
  5. | JSONNumber of float
  6. | JSONObject of t Js.dict
  7. | JSONArray of t array

Accessor

val classify : t -> tagged_t
val test : 'a -> 'b kind -> bool

test v kind returns true if v is of kind

val decodeString : t -> string option

decodeString json returns Some s if json is a string, None otherwise

val decodeNumber : t -> float option

decodeNumber json returns Some n if json is a number, None otherwise

val decodeObject : t -> t Js.dict option

decodeObject json returns Some o if json is an object, None otherwise

val decodeArray : t -> t array option

decodeArray json returns Some a if json is an array, None otherwise

val decodeBoolean : t -> bool option

decodeBoolean json returns Some b if json is a boolean, None otherwise

val decodeNull : t -> 'a Js.null option

decodeNull json returns Some null if json is a null, None otherwise

Construtors

Those functions allows the construction of an arbitrary complex JSON values.

val null : t

null is the singleton null JSON value

val string : string -> t

string s makes a JSON string of the string s

val number : float -> t

number n makes a JSON number of the float n

val boolean : bool -> t

boolean b makes a JSON boolean of the bool b

val object_ : t Js.dict -> t

object_ dict makes a JSON object of the Js.dict dict

val array : t array -> t

array a makes a JSON array of the Js.Json.t array a

The functions below are specialized for specific array type which happened to be already JSON object in the Melange runtime. Therefore they are more efficient (constant time rather than linear conversion).

val stringArray : string array -> t

stringArray a makes a JSON array of the string array a

val numberArray : float array -> t

numberArray a makes a JSON array of the float array a

val booleanArray : bool array -> t

booleanArray makes a JSON array of the bool array a

val objectArray : t Js.dict array -> t

objectArray a makes a JSON array of the JsDict.t array a

String conversion

val parseExn : string -> t

parseExn s parses the string s into a JSON data structure

Returns a JSON data structure

  • raises SyntaxError

    if given string is not a valid JSON. Note SyntaxError is a JavaScript exception.

(* parse a simple JSON string *)

let json =
  try
    Js.Json.parseExn {| "foo" |}
  with
  | _ -> failwith "Error parsing JSON string"
in
match Js.Json.classify json with
| Js.Json.JSONString value -> Js.log value
| _ -> failwith "Expected a string"
(* parse a complex JSON string *)

let getIds s =
  let json =
    try
      Js.Json.parseExn s
    with
    | _ -> failwith "Error parsing JSON string"
  in
  match Js.Json.classify json with
  | Js.Json.JSONObject value ->
    (* In this branch, compiler infer value : Js.Json.t Js.dict *)
    begin match Js.Dict.get value "ids" with
    | Some ids ->
      begin match Js.Json.classify ids with
      | Js.Json.JSONArray ids ->
        (* In this branch compiler infer ids : Js.Json.t array *)
        ids
      | _ -> failwith "Expected an array"
      end
    | None -> failwith "Expected an `ids` property"
    end
  | _ -> failwith "Expected an object"

  (* prints `1, 2, 3` *)
  let _ =
    Js.log (getIds {| { "ids" : [1, 2, 3] } |})
val stringify : t -> string

stringify json formats the JSON data structure as a string

Returns the string representation of a given JSON data structure

(* Creates and stringifies a simple JS object *)

let dict = Js.Dict.empty () in
Js.Dict.set dict "name" (Js.Json.string "John Doe");
Js.Dict.set dict "age" (Js.Json.number 30.0);
Js.Dict.set dict "likes"
  (Js.Json.stringArray [|"bucklescript";"ocaml";"js"|]);

Js.log (Js.Json.stringify (Js.Json.object_ dict))
val stringifyWithSpace : t -> int -> string

stringify json formats the JSON data structure as a string

Returns the string representation of a given JSON data structure

(* Creates and stringifies a simple JS object with spacing *)

let dict = Js.Dict.empty () in
Js.Dict.set dict "name" (Js.Json.string "John Doe");
Js.Dict.set dict "age" (Js.Json.number 30.0);
Js.Dict.set dict "likes"
  (Js.Json.stringArray [|"bucklescript";"ocaml";"js"|]);

  Js.log (Js.Json.stringifyWithSpace (Js.Json.object_ dict) 2)
val stringifyAny : 'a -> string option

stringifyAny value formats any value into a JSON string

  (* prints ``"foo", "bar"`` *)
  Js.log (Js.Json.stringifyAny [| "foo"; "bar" |])

Best-effort serialization, it tries to seralize as many objects as possible and deserialize it back

val deserializeUnsafe : string -> 'a

It is unsafe in two aspects

  • It may throw during parsing
  • when you cast it to a specific type, it may have a type mismatch
val serializeExn : 'a -> string

It will raise in such situations:

  • The object can not be serlialized to a JSON
  • There are cycles
  • Some JS engines can not stringify deeply nested json objects