util.inspect - JSON compliant

[metamind]

Hi,

It would be great if util.inspect could have a flag that would output
the results in a JSON compliant manner (putting quote marks around the
strings). I am inspecting some big objects and I would like to be able
to put the util.inspect output into a JSON object browser (such as the
FF extension JSONView)

[Isaac Schlueter]

If you have a JSON pretty-printer, why not just use JSON.stringify(myobj)?

--i

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[Darklord]

You could use JSON.stringify it outputs an object as proper json.

Sent from my iPhone

[metamind]

it choked on circular refs.

[Konstantin Käfer]

JSON does not support circular references.

On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 12:08, metamind <no...@craft-e.com> wrote:
> it choked on circular refs.

[YANG Xudong]

How would you expect a JSONifier that doesn't choke on circular refs to work? Like, what is the 'non-choking' way to stringify A after executing 'a={};a.a=a;'?
=======================
杨旭东 YANG Xudong "Wyverald"

Juntos, unidos, triunfará nuestro deseo de ser el mejor

alias please=sudo

please rm -rf /

On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 18:08, metamind <no...@craft-e.com> wrote:

it choked on circular refs.

[Jorge]

On 01/12/2010, at 11:37, YANG Xudong wrote:

> How would you expect a JSONifier that doesn't choke on circular refs to work?
> Like, what is the 'non-choking' way to stringify A after executing 'a={};a.a=a;'?

For sys.inspect() ( now util.inspect() ) I'd like it to be so:

{ a: this } , { a: self } , { a: c'est } , { a: esto } , { a: das } ...

a= { a: [ {}, 27 ] }; a.b= a.a; a.c= a.a[0]; a.d= a.a[1];

{ a: [ {}, 27 ], b: this.a, c: this.a[0], d: 27 }
--
Jorge.

[YANG Xudong]

That AFAIK is not legal JSON.

=======================
杨旭东 YANG Xudong "Wyverald"

Juntos, unidos, triunfará nuestro deseo de ser el mejor

alias please=sudo

please rm -rf /

--

[Jorge]

On 01/12/2010, at 12:18, YANG Xudong wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 19:16, Jorge <jo...@jorgechamorro.com> wrote:
>>
>> For sys.inspect() ( now util.inspect() ) I'd like it to be so:
>>
>> { a: this } , { a: self } , { a: c'est } , { a: esto } , { a: das } ...
>>
>> a= { a: [ {}, 27 ] }; a.b= a.a; a.c= a.a[0]; a.d= a.a[1];
>>
>> { a: [ {}, 27 ], b: this.a, c: this.a[0], d: 27 }
>

> That AFAIK is not legal JSON.

No, it isn't, but sys^H^H^Hutil.inspect() is not a JSON.stringify()er...
--
Jorge.

[metamind]

also, the good thing about inspect is that it doesn't bother going
right to the leaves of every object, you can specify the depth of
reporting you want.

[Marco Rogers]

This came up just recently. I guess I understand why people need
this. metamind's use case is the most relevant I've seen so far. But
maybe you should move away from discussing it in terms of
util.inspect. The purpose of that function is not to produce
actionable data. It's not even geared towards JSON in particular.
It's for any javascript object, and it produces a representation of
the object that is geared towards a human "inspecting" it. An
implementation of JSON.stringify that handles circular references is
something different entirely. Though you could use the inspect code
as a basis. It wouldn't be difficult to throw it in a userland module
and modify the output to be more JSON-y.

FYI, I was curious how browser console's handle circular objects.
Short answer is they don't. They'll represent each circular reference
as a separate object that can be descended into infinitely. But it
does so lazily so it doesn't blow the stack. Whatever json browser
you use, make sure it's that smart :)

:Marco

[metamind]

The way inspect handles circular refs is fine (it just says that the
ref is circular). Inspect results can be v. long and so its easy to
loose your place wrt indentation (especially with all the functions
being enumerated). I just wanted to be able to copy the console output
into a text file, point a browser at it then collapse some of the
larger objects that I'm not interested in.

[Isaac Schlueter]

util.inspect will never be JSON compatible. It allows functions and
circular links, which browsers won't know how to parse. It's not even
valid JavaScript, because it's for humans, not machines.

JSONView can't collapse non-JSON output. If you want JSON compatible
output, use JSON.stringify.

If you want it to handle circular links and other odd things in a
different way, then provide a translator function.

JSON.stringify(myCrazyObject, translatorFunction, indentation)

--i

[Marco Rogers]

I think that's what I said. Maybe with a little less authority.
Forgot about the stringify translator function too.

On Dec 1, 12:15 pm, Isaac Schlueter <i...@izs.me> wrote:
> util.inspect will never be JSON compatible.  It allows functions and
> circular links, which browsers won't know how to parse.  It's not even
> valid JavaScript, because it's for humans, not machines.
>
> JSONView can't collapse non-JSON output.  If you want JSON compatible
> output, use JSON.stringify.
>
> If you want it to handle circular links and other odd things in a
> different way, then provide a translator function.
>
>     JSON.stringify(myCrazyObject, translatorFunction, indentation)
>
> --i
>

[Tim Caswell]

It sounds like what is wanted is a interactive inspector. There are a
few clients that use V8's debugging protocol. I know of one for
Eclipse as well as a few that run in the browser. (node-inspect, Ares
Debugger, Cloud 9 IDE). Then you can grab values and inspect them
interactively the same way you do for browser-side code.

[Dominic Tarr]

i know substack's dnode handles circular references.

but I don't know of the top of my head whether it's stringify/parse is available as a standalone package

[Alexey Petrushin]

Have similar need, I store some JSON data in files, and in order to be able to inspect it the JSON generated with pretty print option. The problem though - it's too bloated, util.inspect has much nicer format.

    var obj = {a: [1, 2, 3]}

    

inspect will print

    { a: [ 1, 2, 3 ] }

    

JSON.stringify

    {

      "a": [

        1,

        2,

        3

      ]

    }