Send non-empty json data as query string with custom format

Question

Trying to send a json data by GET.
Json data:

var data = {
    country: {
        name: "name",
        code: 1
    },
    department: {},
    cars: ["bmw", "ferrari"],
    books: []
}

Sending code:

var posting = $.ajax({
    url: "/do",
    type: "GET",
    traditional: true,
    data: data,
    dataType: "json"
});

posting.done(function (data) {
    // handle result
});

If traditional=true the (parsed, decoded) query string is

country[name]:name
country[code]:1
cars[]:bmw
cars[]:ferrari

If traditional=false the (parsed, decoded) query string is

country:[object Object]
department:[object Object]
cars:bmw
cars:ferrari

The desired one should be

country:{"name": "name", "code":1}
cars:bmw
cars:ferrari

or

country:{"name": "name", "code":1}
cars:["bmw", "ferrari"]

In other words, the empty objects and arrays should be omitted. The object should be encoded correctly. Tried with different contentType along with JSON.stringify() without luck. Is there a way to this?

try data = encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify(data)); before ajax call — Farhan, Aug 06 '15 at 11:16
sorry try this, this will remove empty objects: try data = $.param(data);before ajax call — Farhan, Aug 06 '15 at 11:29
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/23774231/how-do-i-remove-all-null-and-empty-string-values-from-a-json-object.. Almost same question, though the answer did not work for me as per required by you..So i wrote mine.. Please make the question title general as my function in answer `removeFirstLevelEmptyPropertiesFromJSON` . However i could do it recursive if you need it — Sami, Aug 06 '15 at 13:29
Thank you @Sami for your effort. I already realized that I need to write code to remove empty attributes, and using $.isEmptyObject for that. — Uluk Biy, Aug 06 '15 at 13:32
@Farhan thanks for your input. I totally changed the logic of sending data to the server, and actually this question is obsolete anymore. — Uluk Biy, Aug 06 '15 at 13:33

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 06 '15 at 11:33

As per my understand what I understand question is to send multidimensional json array in url. I have test following code on local host. Hope this will help you. I am so junior then your reputation but just trying to help

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script>
var data = {
    country: {
        name: "name",
        code: 1
    },
    department: {},
    cars: ["bmw", "ferrari"],
    books: []
}

    data = $.param(data);

    var posting = $.ajax({
        url: "test.php",
        type: "GET",
        traditional: true,
        data: data,
        dataType: "json"
    });

    posting.done(function (data) {
        console.log(data);
    });
    </script>

PHP file

    <?php
    echo "<pre>"; print_r($_REQUEST); echo "</pre>";
    ?>

Result I am getting

<pre>Array
(
    [country] => Array
        (
            [name] => name
            [code] => 1
        )

    [cars] => Array
        (
            [0] => bmw
            [1] => ferrari
        )

)
</pre>

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 06 '15 at 13:24

JS Fidle Demo

var data = {
    country: {
        name: "name",
        code: 1
    },
    department: {},
    cars: ["bmw", "ferrari"],
    books: []
};

function isEmpty(obj) 
{
    for(var prop in obj) 
    {
        if(obj.hasOwnProperty(prop))
            return false;
    }
    return true;
}

function removeFirstLevelEmptyPropertiesFromJSON(obj)
{
  var isArray = obj instanceof Array;
  for (var k in obj)
  {
      if (obj[k] instanceof Array)  
      {
          if(obj[k].length == 0)
              delete obj[k];
      }
      else
      {
          if(isEmpty(obj[k]))
              delete obj[k];
      }
  }
}
removeFirstLevelEmptyPropertiesFromJSON(data);

var modifiedData = JSON.stringify(data);
alert(modifiedData);

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 06 '15 at 13:38

I changed the logic of sending the json data by sending the whole object in one key=value pair:

$.each(data, function (key, value) {
    if ($.isEmptyObject(value)) {
        delete data[key];
    }
});

var posting = $.ajax({
    url: "/do",
    type: "GET",
    traditional: false,
    data: "data=" + JSON.stringify(data),
    dataType: "json"
});

and do parsing on server side.

Send non-empty json data as query string with custom format

3 Answers3